Thesis (PhD) -- University of South Australia, 1998

2D and 3D basin models have been constructed of the southern and central parts of the Vulcan Sub-Basin, which is located in the Timor Sea, north-western Australia. This work was carried out in order to better elucidate the petroleum migration and accumulation histories and exploration potential of the region. The study area extended from the southern limit of the Swan Graben in the south-west to the northern part of the Cartier Trough in the north-east. The results from the basin modelling have been compared with the seafloor bathymetry and physiography, the spatial distributions of hydrocarbon related diagenetic zones (HRDZs) in the region, as well as the distribution of other leakage and seepage indicators. A new method for identifying potential HRDZs using seismic data has also been developed. The 2D/3D modeling results from the Swan Graben indicate that horizontal and downward oil expulsion from the source rocks of the Late Jurassic Lower Vulcan Formation into the upper Plover Formation sandstones was active from the Early Cretaceous to the present day. Oil migration from the Lower Vulcan Formation into the Late Cretaceous Puffin Formation sands in the Puffin Field was simulated via lateral migration along the bottom of an Upper Vulcan Formation seal and by vertical migration above the seal edge. Modelling also indicates that Late Jurassic sequences over the Montara Terrace are thermally immature and did not contribute to the hydrocarbon accumulations in the region. On the other hand, 3D modelling results indicate that the Middle Jurassic Plover Formation in the Montara Terrace became thermally mature after the Pliocene and hence it could have contributed to both the specific hydrocarbon accumulations and the overall hydrocarbon inventory in the area. In the southern Cartier Trough, the Lower Vulcan Formation is typically at a lower thermal maturity than that seen in the Swan Graben, due to a combination of a relatively recent (Pliocene) increased burial and a thinner Lower Vulcan Formation. Here, horizontal and downward oil/gas expulsion from the Lower Vulcan Formation into the Plover Formation sandstone was active from the Late Tertiary to the present day, which is significantly later than the timing of the expulsion in the Swan Graben. In the central Cartier Trough, the areal extent of both generation and expulsion increased as a result of rapid subsidence and deposition from about 5.7 Ma to the present day. This Pliocene loading has resulted in the rapid maturation of the Early to Middle and Late Jurassic source system and expulsion of oil very recently. Oil migration from the Lower Vulcan Formation into the Jabiru structure, via the Plover Formation carrier bed, was simulated in both the 2D and the 3D modelling. In particular, the 3D modelling simulated oil migration into the Jabiru structure, both from the southern Cartier Trough (after the Miocene) and also from the northern Swan Graben (in the Early Cretaceous). Early gas migration, and the attendant formation of a gas cap, was also simulated. Importantly, this result provides a potential alternative interpretation for the formation of at least some of the residual zones in the Timor Sea, as well as in other areas. Traditionally, most of the residual zones within the Timor Sea have been attributed to fault seal reactivation and failure. However, the simulated early gas cap in the Jabiru structure has formed as a result of gas exsolution as the migrating hydrocarbons entered the Jabiru trap (and its shallow flanks), which was then only located a few hundred metres below the surface. The rapidly decreasing pressure allowed the gas to form a separate phase, with the result that in the Early Cretaceous, in the 3D model, the Jabiru trap was composed of a relatively large gas cap with a thinner (“black oil”) oil leg. Progressive burial through the Tertiary, and the attendant increase in pressure, resulted in the gas going back into solution. The associated decrease in the bulk volume of the hydrocarbon accumulation produced a “residual” oil zone at the base of the column, purely through a change in phase, rather than through loss of hydrocarbons from fault seal failure, for example. The processes outlined in this scenario would be essentially indistinguishable from those produced by fault seal failure when assessing traps using fluid history tools such as GOI. Such a process could be critically important in the case of shallow, low-relief traps, where only the exsolved gas could be trapped, with the “black oil” component displaced below the spill of the trap. Small, sub-commercial gas fields would thus be located around the periphery of the source depocentres - though these would be the result of an early, rather than late, gas charge. Small black oil accumulations could be developed inboard from such gas fields. A new method to extract HRDZs from 3D seismic data has predicted the location of new HRDZs in the northern Vulcan Sub-basin. Further investigation is needed to confirm/refine the method but it has the potential to significantly aid HRDZ mapping (and seal assessment and hydrocarbon migration studies). A workflow for future studies is proposed which includes inputs from basin modelling, leakage and seepage mapping, and fault seal and fault reactivation studies. Implementation of this workflow should ultimately allow a more reliable estimation of GOR prior to drilling. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1277632 / Thesis(M.Sc.)-- Australian School of Petroleum, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

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The existence of magnetization signatures and landform modification antipodal to young lunar impact basins is investigated further by (a) producing more detailed regional crustal magnetic field maps at low altitudes using Lunar Prospector magnetometer data; and (b) examining Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Wide Angle Camera imagery. Of the eight youngest lunar basins, five are found to have concentrations of relatively strong magnetic anomalies centered within 10° of their antipodes. This includes the polar Schrödinger basin, which is one of the three youngest basins and has not previously been investigated in this context. Unusual terrain is also extensively present near the antipodes of the two largest basins (Orientale and Imbrium) while less pronounced manifestations of this terrain may be present near the antipodes of Serenitatis and Schrödinger. The area near the Imbrium antipode is characterized by enhanced surface thorium abundances, which may be a consequence of antipodal deposition of ejecta from Imbrium. The remaining three basins either have antipodal regions that have been heavily modified by later events (Hertzsprung and Bailly) or are not clearly recognized to be a true basin (Sikorsky-Rittenhouse). The most probable source of the Descartes anomaly, which is the strongest isolated magnetic anomaly, is the hilly and furrowed Descartes terrain near the Apollo 16 landing site, which has been inferred to consist of basin ejecta, probably from Imbrium according to one recent sample study. A model for the origin of both the modified landforms and the magnetization signatures near lunar basin antipodes involving shock effects of converging ejecta impacts is discussed.

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-50). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The passive margins of west Greenland and Baffin/Labrador (sedimentary basins and onshore topography therein) developed mainly as a result of Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic rifting processes in the Davis Strait area. The origin and age of topography along the west Greenland margin is a matter of continued debate. Analysis of seismic reflection profiles and 1-D modelling of wells along the Greenland margin of Davis Strait demonstrate that the data are consistent with a model of ancient continental topography affected by Late Cretaceous-early Palaeocene rifting followed by thermal subsidence, where offshore Neogene tectonic uplift is not required. First order analysis of apatite fission track data from southeast Baffin Island reveals that samples experienced contemporaneous cooling from an array of initial temperatures. 1-D modelling suggests that cooling through the partial annealing zone occurred over discrete periods ranging from 100 to 300 Ma. Modelling the 3-D exhumation of a heterogeneous crust demonstrates that some of the variability in observed fission track ages could be attributed to thermal crustal heterogeneity. The results show that the observed data are consistent with a simple exhumation scenario where the present-day high topography is a remnant of that created during Palaeoproterozoic orogenies. In view of new geophysical constraints and newly assessed well data, a number of the exploration wells located on the conjugate west Greenland and Baffin/Labrador margins have been re-modelled to determine whether any new insights might be derived. Model results imply that southeast Baffin area was subject to more intense rifting prior to the onset of magmatism in the early Palaeocene. This in turn suggests that magmatism in the area was related to rifting and not linked to the arrival of a mantle plume at the beginning of the Palaeocene. The thermal histories presented here are consistent with those required for hydrocarbon generation.

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Thesis (PhDGeology)--University of South Australia, 2000.