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

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

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.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 157, [1] p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 116-120).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 111 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-75).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 26, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 186-203).

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 Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-191). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

A subsurface and surface structural study was completed in the southwest part of the Elk Basin Anticline, Wyoming. The goals of this study were to better improve preexisting geologic surface maps of the area and to better understand subsurface structural relationships. A normal fault with a splay to the north was recorded through sections 25, 26. and 35 of T58N, RI00W. Using well logs to create across section, this fault was traced in the subsurface. Strike and dip measurements in undisturbed areas of the anticline averaged 332° (azimuth) or N28W (quadrant). In an area of anomalous strike (section 26 of T58N, R1 00W), strike readings averaged 303° (azimuth) or N57W (quadrant). This region has been interpreted as an area rotated counter clockwise due to drag on a subsurface tear fault located at the northern end of the anticline. The current study is significant since it lends support to a little studied Laramide structural feature. / Department of Geology

Thesis (M.S. - Geology)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-59).