The Aneth Field in the Paradox Basin (SE Utah) has produced nearly 500 MMbbls of oil from phylloid-algal and oolitic carbonate reservoirs of the lower and upper Desert Creek (Paradox Formation, Middle Pennsylvanian) sequences, respectively. The oil resides in a 150 to 200 foot-thick isolated carbonate platform located in a distal ramp setting on the southwest margin of the Paradox Basin. The horseshoe-shaped platform is roughly 12 miles in diameter with an aerial extent of approximately 144 square miles. Evaluation of the platform-to-basin transition on the leeward (southern) margin of the Aneth Platform, the focus of this study, was made possible through Resolute Energy's 2017 donation of well data and core to the Utah Geological Survey Core Research Center. The lower Desert Creek sequence ranges from 50 to 100 feet in thickness and produces from a succession of phylloid-algal, boundstone-capped parasequences in the Aneth Platform. The upper Desert Creek sequence is generally thinner across the platform and is characterized by a succession of oolite-capped parasequences, except on the southern margin of the platform where it ranges from 80 to 115 feet in thickness. The upper Desert Creek thick resulted from southward shedding of platform-derived carbonate sediment and lesser amounts of quartz silt and very fine sand off the low-angle southern platform margin slope. A nine-mile-long, north-south-oriented stratigraphic panel constructed from log and core data permits characterization of thickness and facies trends through the upper Desert Creek from platform (north) to slope to distal basin (south) in the Ratherford unit. In the southern margin, five novel facies for the Aneth Field were analyzed, described, and interpreted using a sequence stratigraphic framework, all of which represent deposition on a gravity-influenced platform-edge slope. It is interpreted that the slope facies association was deposited during transgression and highstand and was generally a result of oversteepened slopes as a function of the carbonate factory on the platform being highly productive. Slope and basin facies range from proximal rudstone and floatstone to thin, graded distal turbidites, the latter of which extend at least five miles into the basin. Compaction of the muddy and fine-grained allochthonous sediment followed by pervasive calcite and anhydrite cementation has destroyed any primary porosity in the platform-derived slope-to-basin sediments.

The Bahamas Island archipelago grows by the precipitation and secretion of calcium carbonate. A majority of this growth is by lateral accretion of shoreline sedimentary deposits. Previous research is not clear on whether the growth is largely due to eustasy, sediment input from catastrophic events, or a combination of both. The Bahamas is an ideal location for studying Holocene carbonate generation and deposition, but there is limited research on the analysis of strandlines in relation to lateral accretion. Carbonate strandline deposits are commonly classified as low-energy beach ridge deposits. Previous researchers have primarily focused on ooid shoals and subtidal regions. Understanding the mechanisms of platform and shoreline growth in the Bahamas is important for creating petroleum reservoir analogs for exploration. We use ground penetrating radar (GPR) to image and interpret the internal fine-scale stratigraphy of Bahamian carbonate strand plains and thereby constrain our understanding of the processes by which the islands grow. Although GPR has been used extensively to analyze the interior of clastic strandline deposits across the world, tropical carbonate settings have received little attention. We are the first to utilize GPR to study strand plains in Crooked Islands, The Bahamas, our primary location for 2D GPR data acquisition. We integrate our interpretation of these data with a 3D GPR data volume collected on Pleistocene eolianites on San Salvador Island, The Bahamas. We used a GSSI (Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc.) bistatic 400-MHz antenna with a field frequency filter of 100"“800 MHz for all datasets. GPR allowed visualization of the interior of the strand plains down to a depth of about 2 m with high resolution. Data processing was performed using state-of-the-art petroleum industry techniques (e.g., gain control, deconvolution, migration, seismic attribute computation) to better visualize the reflectivity. Our data constrains a model that the lateral accretion of carbonate sediment preserved in strandline was deposited in a combination of storm processes and gradual sediment progradation, rather than one or the other. Our conclusions help determine that The Bahamas is ideal for GPR imaging of strandlines due to being assessable, high data quality, no clastic influence, and a dry environment during parts of the world

Les plateformes carbonatées sont typiquement caractérisées par une architecture sédimentaire et stratigraphique complexe qui s’exprime à une échelle qui peut dépasser le simple affleurement. Ce travail est centré sur les dépôts Barrémien (Crétacé inférieur) de la falaise de Gresse-en-Vercors (sud-est de la France) qui nous procure une fenêtre d’observation à l’échelle de la sismique à travers une bordure de plateforme – analogue des réservoirs du Moyen Orient - idéale pour étudier en continu et à grande échelle le développement des plateformes carbonatées. Cette falaise de 500 m de haut pour 25 km de long permet d’étudier la transition entre les dépôts de peu profonds de la plateforme et ceux du bassin. De nouvelles données biostratigraphiques montrent que la série de plate-forme de Gesse-en-Vercors est essentiellement Barrémien inférieur. Quatre séquences stratigraphiques ont été définies, avec deux épisodes complets de plateforme, séparés par trois « drowning ». Les nouvelles données numériques hautes résolutions (nuage de points LIDAR et photos géoréférencées hautes résolutions) acquises par hélicoptère permettent la réalisation d’un DEM 3D haute résolution pour l’ensemble de l’affleurement. L’intégration des observations stratigraphiques et du DEM dans gOcad abouti à la création d’un modèle 3D en continu de l’architecture stratigraphique et de la répartition des facies de l’affleurement qui peu être utilisé pour interprétations stratigraphiques et sédimentologiques. Le modèle géologique qui en résulte démontre que les données numériques d’affleurement et la modélisation géologique en 3D sont des outils pertinents pour tester la caractérisation des affleurements carbonatés et les modèles conceptuels de système de plateformes carbonatées. Il permet d’appréhender les variations subtiles de profils sédimentaires et d’établir une mosaïque de facies à haute résolution tout au long de la plateforme à l’échelle de la sismique. Cette approche est particulièrement critique en ce qui concerne la caractérisation 3D des clinoformes et des cortèges de dépôts sédimentaires dans un modèle non cylindrique tel que la plateforme carbonaté : par exemple, un prisme de bas niveau apparent ou des lobes distaux qui « onlappent » en 2D correspondent en réalité à des progradations en contexte de haut niveau en 3D. / Carbonate platforms are characterized by complex sedimentary and stratigraphic architectures that can be expressed at length scale exceeding single outcrops. This work focuses on the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) deposits of the Gresse-en-Vercors cliff (southeastern France) that provide a seismic-scale slice though a platform margin - analogous to Middle East reservoirs - ideal to study large scale carbonate platform developments in continuous. The cliffs are 500 m high and extend for 25 km along depositional dip, straddling the transition from shallow water platform to deeper basin. New biostratigraphical data shows that the Vercors platform is mainly Lower Barremian. Four stratigraphic sequences were defined, with two complete platform stages, separated by three drowning events.New high-resolution numerical data (LIDAR point-set and high-resolution georeferenced photos) obtained by helicopter survey, allowed the realization of a 3D high-resolution DEM over the entire outcrops. Integrating the stratigraphic observations and the DEM in gOcad result in a continuous 3D stratigraphic architecture and facies model of the carbonate outcrop that can be used for stratigraphic and sedimentological interpretations. The resulting geological model demonstrates that outcrop numerical data and 3D geological modeling are pertinent tools for improving carbonate outcrop characterization and conceptual models of carbonate platform systems. It allows to establish subtle sedimentary profiles and high resolution facies mosaic along seismic scale platform trend. This approach is particularly critical for the 3D characterization of clinoforms and stratigraphic system tracts in non-cylindrical carbonate systems: for example, apparent low stand wedge or distal onlapping lobes in 2D are in reality prograding high stand systems in 3D.

Le Crétacé inférieur est ponctué de perturbations du cycle du carbone associées à des épisodes de préservation de matière organique et à des crises de la production carbonatée néritique et pélagique. Ces évènements coïncident également avec des refroidissements à très court terme (<1Ma) dont l’origine et les conséquences sont encore imprécises en raison de la faible résolution des courbes de températures dans les eaux de surface. Les études récentes réalisées à partir de modèles climatiques couplés à des modèles géochimiques laissent penser qu’une crise de la production carbonatée pourrait engendrer un refroidissement climatique sur une échelle de temps inférieure à 1 Ma (Donnadieu et al., accepté). Basées sur les dépôts d’âge Valanginien des coupes de La Charce–Vergol et d’Ollioules (Sud-est de la France) et sur les sédiments de l’Aptien du sous-Bassin de Galvé (Nord-est de l’Espagne), des études stratigraphiques, paléoécologiques et géochimiques ont été menées pour établir les relations entre la production carbonatée et le climat au cours du Valanginien et de l’Aptien. Pour cela, des courbes de température à haute résolution pour les eaux de surface ont été établies et mises en regard des évolutions des producteurs néritiques et pélagiques de carbonate. Le Valanginien et l’Aptien présentent tous deux des arrêts polyphasés de la production carbonatée néritique. Certains arrêts précèdent des refroidissements à court terme, dont ceux datés du Valanginien supérieur, du début et de la fin de l’Aptien inférieur. Cette succession suggérerait un lien de cause à effet entre les crises de la production et les fluctuations climatiques. Toutefois, les refroidissements du Valanginien supérieur et de la fin de l’Aptien inférieur sont respectivement précédés par un enfouissement de matière organique continentale et océanique, qui est un processus pouvant également générer une diminution de CO2 et un refroidissement. Ce travail a permis de mettre en évidence les répercutions des changements climatiques sur la production carbonatée par l’intermédiaire de changements de producteurs dans les domaines néritiques et pélagiques. Dans un premier temps, la mise en place de conditions froides au Valanginien supérieur et à la fin de l’Aptien inférieur est suivie de remplacements floro-fauniques caractérisés par l’évolution de communautés hétérozoaires à photozoaires. Les bouleversements observés suggèrent un changement drastique des conditions trophiques sous le développement de conditions arides relatives au refroidissement. Dans un second temps, l’évolution des communautés pélagiques au Valanginien répondraient également aux changements climatiques : ces communautés marquées d’un déclin depuis la fin du Valanginien inférieur présentent une courte reprise du début au milieu du Valanginien supérieur. Cette reprise coïncide avec le développement de conditions froides et plus arides occasionnant des conditions trophiques plus faibles / The Early Cretaceous is punctuated by carbon cycle perturbations, associated with organic matter burial episodes and carbonate production crises. These events coincide with short-term cooling (<1Ma), yet the mechanisms are still unclear, because of low resolution in sea surface temperature reconstructions. Recent climatic models suggest that carbonate-platform-collapse events may trigger a short-term ocean cooling episode (Donnadieu et al., accepted). In order to establish relations between climates and carbonate productions, we performed stratigraphic, palaeoecologic and geochemical analyses on Valanginian sediments from the La Charce-Vergol and the Ollioules sections (South-East France) and Aptian sedimentary record of the Galvé subasin (North East Spain). Therefore, high-resolution sea surface temperature curves were reconstructed with regard to the pelagic and neritic carbonate producer evolution. Both Valanginian and Aptian stages are marked by polyphased neritic production drawdown. Moreover, the Late Valanginian, basal and latest Early Aptian carbonate-platform demises predate a short-term cooling occurrence. The chronology of these events may imply that carbonate production decrease may have affected the atmospheric CO2 pool and the climate. Nevertheless, the decreases of water temperature that took place in the Late Valanginian and the latest Early Aptian are also prior to episodes of continental and oceanic organic matter burial, respectively. This process is also known as a CO2 drawdown and cooling generator. The present study allowed establishing climate feedbacks on the pelagic and neritic carbonate producers triggering fluctuations of the carbonate production fluxes. At first, cooler conditions during the Late Valanginien and latest Early Aptian are posterior to floro-faunal changes characterised by heterozoan to photozoan replacements. These suggest a trophic level decrease relative to cool and dryer climatic condition. Subsequently, nannoconid communities seem to record a response to the Late Valanginian climatic change: these producers are characterised by a decline from the latest Early Valanginian onward, interrupted by a recovery from the earliest Late Valanginian up to the mid-Late Valanginian. This recovery coincides with the development of cooling and dryer conditions, triggering low trophic level and thus promoting a subsequent pelagic production recovery.

Les systèmes carbonatés, anciens et actuels, se retrouvent au coeur d’enjeux économiques et sociétaux majeurs, notamment dans le domaine énergétique où ils représentent une part considérable des réserves prouvées de gaz et de pétrole. La présente thèse se focalise sur la plate-forme urgonienne Provençale (Barrémien supérieur–Aptien inférieur), analogue d’affleurement prouvé de réservoirs carbonatés du Moyen-Orient. Près d’une trentaine de coupes stratigraphiques, incluant notamment deux forages réalisés dans le cadre de ce travail, ont été considérées sur l’ensemble du domaine Provençal. La reconnaissance de surfaces d’émersion et d’ennoiement contraintes biostratigraphiquement permet d’appréhender régionalement l’évolution paléogéographique et l’architecture stratigraphique. Plusieurs phases de progradation en direction des bassins adjacents, entrecoupées d’épisodes de perturbation de la production carbonatée, sont identifiées en Provence. Un scénario stratigraphique comparable est proposé pour les plates-formes urgoniennes du Pourtour Vocontien. En Provence, la compartimentation réservoir de la plate-forme urgonienne est principalement contrôlée par le contexte séquentiel des dépôts qui induit une dualité entre des carbonates cimentés précocement et ceux préservant un certain espace poreux. Les règles géologiques définies dans cette étude 1) servent à la réalisation d’un modèle numérique 3-D destiné aux simulations des écoulements à l’échelle de l’aquifère karstique de Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, dont le débit à l’exutoire est classé au cinquième rang mondial, et 2) aident à la prédiction des hétérogénéités sédimentaires et pétrophysiques des systèmes carbonatés / The analysis of carbonate systems is at the heart of major economic and societal challenges, especially in the energy field since they represent significant oil and gas reserves. The present thesis focuses on the Urgonian Provence platform (upper Barremian–lower Aptian interval) which is considered as a valid outcrop analogue of middle East carbonate reservoirs. About thirty stratigraphic sections, including newly acquired cores, are considered throughout the Provence domain. The recognition of biostratigraphically constrained exposure and drowning surfaces enables us to restore the regional palaeogeographic evolution along with the stratigraphic architecture. Several phases of platform progradation toward the adjacent basins, interrupted by episodes of changes in carbonate production, are identified in Provence. A comparable stratigraphic scenario is proposed for the peri-Vocontian Urgonian platforms. In Provence, the reservoir compartmentalisation of the Urgonian platform is mainly controlled by the sequence stratigraphic context that induced a distinction between early cemented carbonates and those preserving part of their original porosity. The geological rules provided in this study 1) are implemented into a 3-D numerical model intended for fluid-flow simulations at the scale of the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse karstic aquifer, whose karst spring is the fifth largest in the world, and 2) help in predicting the sedimentary and petrophysical heterogeneities of carbonate systems

The Sulaiy Formation, which is the oldest unit in the Lower Cretaceous succession, is conformably overlain by the Yamama Formation and it is a challenge to identify the precise age of the two formations using foraminifera and other microfossil assemblages. In the eastern side of Saudi Arabia, the Sulaiy Formation and the base of Yamama Formation are poorly studied. The main objectives of this study is to enhance the understanding of the Sulaiy Formation sequence stratigraphical correlation, regional lateral variations and palaeoenvironmental investigation. Lithological and semi-quantitative micropalaeontological analysis of 1277 thin sections taken from core samples from nine cored wells providing a geographically representative distribution from the Saudi Arabian Gulf. These cores intersected the base of the Yamama Formation and the Sulaiy Formation in the total thickness of cored wells of 843.23 meters (2766.5 feet). On the evidence provided by the foraminifera, the Sulaiy Formation is considered to represent the Berriasian to the lowermost Valanginian. The investigation of the micropalaeontology has provided considerable insights into the biocomponents of Sulaiy and the base of Yamama formations in order to identify their biofacies. These microfossils include rotalid foraminifera, miliolid foraminifera, agglutinated foraminifera, calcareous algae, calcispheres, stromatoporoids, sponge spicules, problematica (e.g. Lithocodium aggregatum), molluscs, corals, echinoderms and ostracods. Systematics of planktic and benthic foraminifera is accomplished using the foraminiferal classification by Loeblich and Tappan (1988) as the main source. The assemblage contains foraminifera that recorded for the first time in the Sulaiy Formation. Other microfossils were identified and recorded to help in the identification of the sedimentary environments. The investigation of the micropalaeontology and the lithofacies analysis have provided evidence the identification of the various lithofacies. About twenty four microfacies were identified on the basis of their bio−component and non-skeletal grains. The lithofacies and the bio−component results have provided the evidence of the sedimentary palaeoenvironmental model namely the Arabian Rimmed Carbonate Platform. This palaeoenvironmental depositional model is characterised by two different platform regimes. They are the Platform Interior and the Platform Exterior each of which have unique sedimentary lithofacies zones that produce different types of lithofacies. Each lithofacies is characterised by special depositional conditions and palaeobathymetry that interact with sea level changes and the accommodation space. The important palaeoenvironments are intertidal, restricted lagoon (subtidal), open marine, deeper open marine, inner shoal, shoal and platform margin. Generating, and testing, a depositional model as a part of formulating a sequence stratigraphical interpretation of a region is a key to understanding its geological development and – ultimately – reservoir potential. The micropalaeontology and sedimentology of the Sulaiy Formation in the subsurface have indicated a succession of clearly defined shallowing−upwards depositional cycles. These typically commence with a deep marine biofacies with wackestones and packstones, capped with a mudstone-wackestone maximum flooding zone and an upper unit of packstone to grainstones containing shallow marine biofacies. The upper part of the Sulaiy Formation is highstand-dominated with common grainstones that host the Lower Ratawi reservoir which is capped by karst that defines the sequence boundary. This karst is identified by its abundant moldic porosity that enhanced the the reservoir quality by increasing its porosities into greater values. Integration of the sedimentology and micropalaeontology has yielded a succession of shoaling−upwards depositional cycles, considered to be 4th order sequences, that are superimposed on a large scale 3rd order system tract shallowing−upwards, highstand-associated sequence of the Sulaiy Formation. The Lower Ratawi Reservoir is located within the latest high-stand portion of a third-order Sulaiy Formation sequence. The reservoir consists of a succession of several sequences, each of which is sub-divided into a lower transgressive systems tract separated from the upper highstand systems tract by a maximum flooding surface (MFS/Z). The last of these depositional cycles terminates in beds of porous and permeable ooid, or ooidal-peloidal, grainstone. The reservoir is sealed by the finer-grained sediments of the Yamama Formation.