The Windermere turbidite system, exposed in the southern Canadian Cordillera, east-central British Columbia, is a continental scale, passive margin, submarine fan system, part of which is well exposed in the Castle Creek study area. Here millimetre- to decametre-scale sedimentological and stratigraphic observations identified five facies in interchannel strata: very thin- to medium-bedded turbidite (F1), thick-bedded turbidite (F2) coarse-tail graded structureless sandstone (F3), mudstone clast breccia (F4) and carbonaceous mudstone (F5) and four architectural elements: channel (AE1), distal levee (AE2), overbank splays (AE3) and crevasse splays (AE4). These elements are assembled into a predictive depositional model that describes the initiation and evolution of sandy splay elements developed in distal levee strata of deep-marine slope channels. These data can be used in hydrocarbon exploration to identify and differentiate splay deposits in core and on seismic, and thereby improve the accuracy of subsurface reservoir models.

An expansive panel of well exposed (periglacial) strata of the Upper Kaza Group permitted a detailed study of the stratal architecture of proximal basin floor deposits in the Neoproterozoic Windermere turbidite system. Detailed stratigraphic and petrographic analyses identified six lithofacies: poorly-sorted, clast-rich mudstone (F1), thin-bedded siltstone and mudstone (F2), thick-bedded, massive sandstone (F3), medium-scale, cross-stratified sandstone (F4), mudstone-clast breccia (F5), and medium-bedded turbidites (F6). The spatial distribution of these facies identify five architectural elements: heterolithic feeder channel deposits (FA1), thin-bedded intralobe turbidites (FA2), terminal splay deposits (FA3), distributary channel deposits (FA4), and isolated scours (FA5). FA 1-4 are genetically related and form the basic building blocks of large-scale basin floor depositional lobes. FA 5, which is isolated to the stratigraphic top of the study area, is interpreted to have formed in a base-of-slope setting, and its superposition on FA 1-4 suggests the long-term progradation of the Windermere turbidite system.

The Windermere turbidite system, exposed in the southern Canadian Cordillera, east-central British Columbia, is a continental scale, passive margin, submarine fan system, part of which is well exposed in the Castle Creek study area. Here millimetre- to decametre-scale sedimentological and stratigraphic observations identified five facies in interchannel strata: very thin- to medium-bedded turbidite (F1), thick-bedded turbidite (F2) coarse-tail graded structureless sandstone (F3), mudstone clast breccia (F4) and carbonaceous mudstone (F5) and four architectural elements: channel (AE1), distal levee (AE2), overbank splays (AE3) and crevasse splays (AE4). These elements are assembled into a predictive depositional model that describes the initiation and evolution of sandy splay elements developed in distal levee strata of deep-marine slope channels. These data can be used in hydrocarbon exploration to identify and differentiate splay deposits in core and on seismic, and thereby improve the accuracy of subsurface reservoir models.

An expansive panel of well exposed (periglacial) strata of the Upper Kaza Group permitted a detailed study of the stratal architecture of proximal basin floor deposits in the Neoproterozoic Windermere turbidite system. Detailed stratigraphic and petrographic analyses identified six lithofacies: poorly-sorted, clast-rich mudstone (F1), thin-bedded siltstone and mudstone (F2), thick-bedded, massive sandstone (F3), medium-scale, cross-stratified sandstone (F4), mudstone-clast breccia (F5), and medium-bedded turbidites (F6). The spatial distribution of these facies identify five architectural elements: heterolithic feeder channel deposits (FA1), thin-bedded intralobe turbidites (FA2), terminal splay deposits (FA3), distributary channel deposits (FA4), and isolated scours (FA5). FA 1-4 are genetically related and form the basic building blocks of large-scale basin floor depositional lobes. FA 5, which is isolated to the stratigraphic top of the study area, is interpreted to have formed in a base-of-slope setting, and its superposition on FA 1-4 suggests the long-term progradation of the Windermere turbidite system.

The Numidian Flysch Formation is a regionally extensive series of deep marine sandstones and mudstones which crop out in Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, and southern mainland Italy. The formation is dated as Oligocene to mid Miocene and represents an approximately linear series of submarine fans characterised by a quartz rich petrofacies. Their unique regional extent is nearly twice the length of the Angolan margin although issues surrounding provenance and basin context have hampered understanding. The Numidian Flysch Formation was deposited into the Maghrebian Flysch Basin (MFB) which was a foreland basin remnant of the neo-Tethys ocean in the western portion of the present day Mediterranean Basin. The basin was bordered to the north by an active margin which consisted of a southward verging accretionary prism, underlain by European crustal blocks which rode above northwards subducting oceanic crust. To the south, the African margin formed a passive-margin to the basin.The huge amount of geophysical and outcrop data which is becoming increasingly available suggests that submarine slope systems are more complex than previously thought, including topographically complex slopes, a wide variety of density flow types, and flow transformations. This thesis aims to review the sedimentology of the Numidian Flysch Formation in Sicily and Tunisia in light of these developments. Constraining the provenance and basin context of the formation is therefore of paramount importance, and this is also addressed.Commonly used evidence for the provenance of Numidian Flysch sandstones include its quartz rich petrology, an Eburnian and Pan-African age detrital zircon suite, its structural position within the foreland fold and thrust belt, and complex palaeocurrent orientations. when reviewd in their entirety and placed in context of other basin successions, the Numidian Flysch is constrained to a depositional location in the south of the basin, with polycyclic sediment sourced from African basement. The Numidian Flysch Formation is therefore a 'passive margin' sequence as opposed to a flysch sensu stricto. The timing of Numidian Flysch deposition is also coincidental with uplift of the Atlas chain in North Africa, during a period of significantly wetter conditions. A switch from carbonate to clastic deposition results from these conditions, and the Numidian Flysch Formation is considered an offshore extension of this regional sedimentation.Characterisation of outcrops in Sicily and Tunisia shows remarkably similar lithofacies and depositional elements. Sinuous upper slope channel complexes are entrenched within slope deposits to a depth of 100 m and occur within channel systems up to 5.7 km in width. They are filled predominantly with massive ungraded sandstones interpreted to aggrade through quasi-steady turbidity currents, interbedded with normally graded turbidites. Channel elements are subseismic in scale, are nested within complexes and show sinuosity. Coupled with lateral offset stacking, this strongly affects the architecture and facies heterogeneity of channel complexes. When compared to globally reviewed data, the thickness of channel elements as shown through their frequency distribution also suggests a fundamental control upon the degree of slope incision which is as yet unconstrained.In lower slope settings, channel complexes stack aggradationally with a width of over 1000 m. They are also predominantly filled with massive sandstones in fining upwards cycles, and show heterogeneous margins and large scale slumping. In central Sicily, large channel complexes are overlain by a stacked lobe complex, in turn overlain by a channel lobe transition zone. This progression coupled with palaeocurrent variability suggests intraslope deformation strongly impacts transiting flows through changes in flow capacity. Salt tectonics, present in Algeria and Tunisia is a possible forcing mechanism.Taken in context, the sections in Sicily record a proximal to distal palaeogeographic trend which is reconstructed towards the north/northeast once well constrained tectonic rotations are taken into account. Given regional similarities, controls upon slope architecture are interpreted to be similar throughout the basin, and deposits in Sicily therefore provide a good analogue for the remainder of the basin. These results therefore allow for a better constrained fan architecture, along with the allogenic controls upon them. Given the continental extent of this formation, the Numidian Flysch Formation provides a unique opportunity to study controls upon fan architecture once provenance and intraslope topography is factored in.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Integrated approaches in the study of petroleum exploration are increasingly becoming significant in recent times and have yielded much better result as oil exploration is a combination of different related topics. The production capacity in hydrocarbon exploration has been the major concern for oil and gas industries. In the present work an integrated approach was made with seismic, well logs and biostratigraphy for predicting the depositional environment and to understand the heterogeneity within the reservoirs belonging to Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) age of Gamtoos Basin, Offshore South Africa. Objectively, the integrated work was mainly based on seismic stratigraphy (seismic sequence and seismic facie analysis) for interpretation of the depositional environments with combination of microfossil biostratigraphic inputs. The biostratigraphic study provides evidences of paleo depth from benthic foraminifera and information about bottom condition within the sedimentary basin, changing of depositional depth during gradual basinal fill during the Valanginian time. The petrophysical characterization of the reservoir succession was based on formation evaluation studies using well logs to investigate the hydrocarbon potential of the reservoir across Valanginian depositional sequence. Further, the static modeling from 2D-seismic data interpreted to a geological map to 3D-numerical modeling by stochastic model to quantify the evaluation of uncertainty for accurate characterisation of the reservoir sandstones and to provide better understanding of the spatial distribution of the discrete and continuous Petrophysical properties within the study area.

This study describes the analysis of orientation of elongate quartz grains in turbidite greywackes of the Normanskill Formation, (Ord.) New York. No relationship is found between grain orientation and sole features of the beds. No relationship exists between grain orientations taken at different levels above the base of the beds. Maximum grain size and maximum elongation decrease upwards in the beds. The most elongate grains are those which most clearly show preferred orientation. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Orientador: Joel Carneiro de Castro / Banca: Maria Rita Caetano Chang / Banca: Luiz Carlos Weinschütz / Resumo: Os membros Lontras (Formação Campo Mourão) e Rio Segredo (Formação Taciba) constituem uma sucessão marinha de folhelhos e arenitos turbidíticos, que está encaixada entre diamictitos glaciais daquelas formações. O folhelho Lontras tem uma centena de metros na faixa aflorante norte catarinense, contendo em sua porção superior a fácies "folhelho várvico", na verdade um estrato com gradação de siltito a folhelho (Tde) em escala milimétrica e que é considerado como sendo o turbidito distal da sucessão. O turbidito Rio Segredo tem de 15 a 25 m e consiste de estratos gradacionais portando sequência Bouma em diversas escalas: muito delgado (1 a 3 cm; Tde e Tcde), delgado (3 a 10 cm; Tcde e Tbcde), médio (10 a 30 cm; Tbcde e Tabcde), espesso (30 a 100 cm; Tabc) e muito espesso (acima de 1,0 m; Tabc). Há ainda uma divisão "superior" do Membro Rio Segredo normalmente com 10 a 20 m de espessura, que contém turbiditos areno-argilosos muito delgados (Tcde e Tde). Foram levantados sete perfis faciológicos de detalhe, escala 1:50, de modo a registrar turbiditos com até 5 cm de espessura (1 mm no perfil). Posteriormente, quatro desses perfis foram cronocorrelacionados em uma seção norte-sul: Forcação, Wiegand, Laeisz e Dona Emma, numa extensão de 28 km. A esta seção foi acrescido o perfil Taiózinho, localizado 30 km a oeste do Forcação, entre os dois últimos (semelhança faciológica com o Laeisz). Identificaram-se sete sistemas deposicionais, com uma média de 3 m de espessura por sistema e contidos em três sequências de alta frequência. Os sistemas deposicionais são formados por ciclos turbidíticos de origem marinha, encontrados principalmente nos perfis Laeisz e Taiózinho, com uma organização ascendente de adelgaçamento e granodecrescência. Outros ciclos turbidíticos... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The Lontras shale and overlying Rio Segredo sandstone are members of Campo Mourão and Taciba formations, corresponding to shelf marine and turbidite deposits; they are encased in glacial diamictites of those formations. The Lontras shale is 100 m thick in northern Santa Catarina outcrop belt and it displays a "varved shale" facies in its upper portion. In reality, it represents many mm-scale beds with Bouma sequence Tde, and therefore distal, argillaceous turbidites. The Rio Segredo Member is 15 to 25 m thick and contain beds of different thicknesses: very thin (1 to 3 cm; Tde and Tcde), thin (3 to 10 cm; Tcde and Tbcde), and medium beds (10 to 30 cm; Tbcde and Tabcde). Also, thick (30 to 100 cm) and very thick beds (thicker than 1 m) displays massive or graded sandstones with disperse laminations and cross-laminations resembling Ta, Tb and Tc intervals of Bouma sequence. There is also a Rio Segredo "upper" division with 10 to 20 m thick, consisting of very thin turbidites (Tcde and Tde). Seven detailed facies logs were constructed at 1:50 scale, to represent even 5 cm thin beds (1 mm). Later, four of the logs were put in a north-south stratigraphic section (28 km in length): Forcação, Wiegand, Laeisz and Dona Emma, in a 28 km extension. A fifth log, Taiózinho (distant 30 km west of Forcação), was added to the section between the last two logs, because of its facies similarity with Laeisz log. Seven depositional systems are identified, averaging 3 m thick in, thickness, and they belong to high frequency sequences. The systems are composed of turbidite cycles of marine origin, found mainly in Laeisz and Taiózinho logs: they form thinning- and fining-upward cycles. Turbidite cycles of deltaic origin are observed in Forcação and Dona Emma logs as thickening-up and coarsening-up cycles. In the latter, are included... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-04-17Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:06:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 andrade_lrm_me_rcla.pdf: 1854084 bytes, checksum: 37c55097ff800285da56aac3723135e2 (MD5) / Os membros Lontras (Formação Campo Mourão) e Rio Segredo (Formação Taciba) constituem uma sucessão marinha de folhelhos e arenitos turbidíticos, que está encaixada entre diamictitos glaciais daquelas formações. O folhelho Lontras tem uma centena de metros na faixa aflorante norte catarinense, contendo em sua porção superior a fácies “folhelho várvico”, na verdade um estrato com gradação de siltito a folhelho (Tde) em escala milimétrica e que é considerado como sendo o turbidito distal da sucessão. O turbidito Rio Segredo tem de 15 a 25 m e consiste de estratos gradacionais portando sequência Bouma em diversas escalas: muito delgado (1 a 3 cm; Tde e Tcde), delgado (3 a 10 cm; Tcde e Tbcde), médio (10 a 30 cm; Tbcde e Tabcde), espesso (30 a 100 cm; Tabc) e muito espesso (acima de 1,0 m; Tabc). Há ainda uma divisão “superior” do Membro Rio Segredo normalmente com 10 a 20 m de espessura, que contém turbiditos areno-argilosos muito delgados (Tcde e Tde). Foram levantados sete perfis faciológicos de detalhe, escala 1:50, de modo a registrar turbiditos com até 5 cm de espessura (1 mm no perfil). Posteriormente, quatro desses perfis foram cronocorrelacionados em uma seção norte-sul: Forcação, Wiegand, Laeisz e Dona Emma, numa extensão de 28 km. A esta seção foi acrescido o perfil Taiózinho, localizado 30 km a oeste do Forcação, entre os dois últimos (semelhança faciológica com o Laeisz). Identificaram-se sete sistemas deposicionais, com uma média de 3 m de espessura por sistema e contidos em três sequências de alta frequência. Os sistemas deposicionais são formados por ciclos turbidíticos de origem marinha, encontrados principalmente nos perfis Laeisz e Taiózinho, com uma organização ascendente de adelgaçamento e granodecrescência. Outros ciclos turbidíticos... / The Lontras shale and overlying Rio Segredo sandstone are members of Campo Mourão and Taciba formations, corresponding to shelf marine and turbidite deposits; they are encased in glacial diamictites of those formations. The Lontras shale is 100 m thick in northern Santa Catarina outcrop belt and it displays a “varved shale” facies in its upper portion. In reality, it represents many mm-scale beds with Bouma sequence Tde, and therefore distal, argillaceous turbidites. The Rio Segredo Member is 15 to 25 m thick and contain beds of different thicknesses: very thin (1 to 3 cm; Tde and Tcde), thin (3 to 10 cm; Tcde and Tbcde), and medium beds (10 to 30 cm; Tbcde and Tabcde). Also, thick (30 to 100 cm) and very thick beds (thicker than 1 m) displays massive or graded sandstones with disperse laminations and cross-laminations resembling Ta, Tb and Tc intervals of Bouma sequence. There is also a Rio Segredo “upper” division with 10 to 20 m thick, consisting of very thin turbidites (Tcde and Tde). Seven detailed facies logs were constructed at 1:50 scale, to represent even 5 cm thin beds (1 mm). Later, four of the logs were put in a north-south stratigraphic section (28 km in length): Forcação, Wiegand, Laeisz and Dona Emma, in a 28 km extension. A fifth log, Taiózinho (distant 30 km west of Forcação), was added to the section between the last two logs, because of its facies similarity with Laeisz log. Seven depositional systems are identified, averaging 3 m thick in, thickness, and they belong to high frequency sequences. The systems are composed of turbidite cycles of marine origin, found mainly in Laeisz and Taiózinho logs: they form thinning- and fining-upward cycles. Turbidite cycles of deltaic origin are observed in Forcação and Dona Emma logs as thickening-up and coarsening-up cycles. In the latter, are included... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Esta dissertação de mestrado compreende o artigo submetido à publicação, bem como a nota explicativa, base conceitual e contextualização do tema e objetivos, e por fim uma discussão integradora sumarizando os principais resultados. O tema principal da dissertação são os complexos turbidíticos marinhos profundos da Bacia de Campos, notórios produtores de petróleo e de relevante significância no contexto da matriz energética do Brasil desde os anos 1970. Estes depósitos portadores de hidrocarbonetos foram descobertos após um grande esforço exploratório inicial, e desde então sempre se mostraram reservatórios prolíficos e cada vez mais relevantes na produção de petróleo anual brasileira. Com a descoberta do pré-sal, estima-se a ultrapassagem da capacidade de produção dos turbiditos, mas é inegável que o suporte capital e conhecimento geológico inicial que permitiram a descoberta do pré-sal são diretamente sustentados pela bem estabelecida produção dos turbiditos Cretácicos. O intervalo de estudo é o Cretáceo Superior (Turoniano ao Maastrichtiano), um período globalmente definido por uma transgressão de segunda ordem. Entretanto, dentro de um intervalo estratigráfico não usual, são reconhecidos uma série de corpos areníticos de espessuras consideráveis, os quais podem atingir até 200 metros de arenitos contínuos Estes depósitos foram sistematicamente formados por fluxos gravitacionais associados ou não a cânions, sendo depositados na forma de complexos de leques de assoalho (basin floor fan complexes). A variabilidade de espessura, dimensões laterais e geometrias destes depósitos são muito expressivas, e isso motivou a presente dissertação. A área de estudo compreende os campos produtores de Polvo e Peregrino, considerados já bem estabelecidos e com um programa de explotação de longo prazo. Utilizando dados sísmicos convertidos em profundidade e um total de 105 poços, foram selecionadas as linhas sísmicas mais relevantes a fim de desenvolver uma interpretação sismoestratigráfica da área de estudo. Desta forma, o presente trabalho consistiu inicialmente em uma análise de alta resolução dos refletores sísmicos e suas respectivas terminações nas seções sísmicas previamente selecionadas. A interpretação completa dos refletores sísmicos permitiu o reconhecimento das superfícies limítrofes e uma posterior caracterização regional de cinco unidades sismoestratigráficas no intervalo de estudo. Após o reconhecimento das unidades sismoestratigráficas, foram também caracterizadas as principais fácies sísmicas reconhecidas no intervalo estudado a partir do mapeamento regional de pacotessísmicos com assinaturas específicas e correlação com dados litológicos de poços adjacentes. Por fim, utilizando-se dos conceitos básicos de estratigrafia de sequencias, foram construídas cartas cronoestratigráficas visando o reconhecimento das fases evolutivas e uma posterior construção do modelo deposicional com caráter preditivo dos complexos turbidíticos. Como resultado final, obteve-se um modelo deposicional de alta resolução da área mapeada, o qual pode ser utilizado como guia para a predição de depósitos turbidíticos arenosos na Bacia de Campos. A presente dissertação ainda propõe uma metodologia sistemática visando o reconhecimento e caracterização regional de depósitos turbidíticos, a qual compreende significativas implicações para avaliação na distribuição de reservatórios arenosos. / This master's thesis is comprised by a scientific article submitted for publication, an explanatory note, a summary of conceptual basis and contextualization of the theme and objectives, and an integrative discussion summarizing the most important results obtained. The main subject of this dissertation deals with seismic stratigraphic study of the deep marine turbidite complexes of the Campos Basin, which are notorious and extremely important oil producing formations in Brazil since the 1970s. These hydrocarbons deposits were discovered after a great initial exploratory effort, and since then have always been prolific and increasingly relevant reservoirs in Brazilian annual oil production. With the discovery of pre-salt reservoirs, it is estimated that turbidite production capacity is exceeded, but it is undeniable that the initial support and initial geological knowledge that allowed the discovery of the pre-salt is directly supported by the well-established production of the Cretaceous turbidites. The studied interval has an Upper Cretaceous (Turonian to Maastrichtian) age, a period globally defined by a second order transgression. However, within an unusual stratigraphic range, several laterally continuous sandstone bodies with thickness up to 200 meters are regionally recognized in the Campos Basin. These deposits were systematically formed by gravitational fluxes associated or not with canyons and deposited as basin floor fan complexes. The variability of thickness, lateral dimensions and geometries of these deposits are characteristic, providing motivation for the present study The study area comprises the Polvo and Peregrino oilfields, already considered well established and with a long-term exploitation program. Using depth converted 2D seismic data and well data from 105 wells, the most relevant seismic lines were selected to develop a detailed seismic stratigraphic interpretation of the study area. Thus, the present work comprises an initial high-resolution analysis of seismic reflectors and their respective terminations in the previously selected seismic sections. The complete interpretation of the seismic reflectors allowed the recognition of the boundary surfaces and a subsequent regional characterization of five seismic stratigraphic units in the studied interval. After the recognition of the seismic stratigraphic units, the main seismic facies recognized were characterized through regional mapping of seismic packages with specific signatures and correlation with lithological data from adjacent wells. Finally, using the basic concepts of sequence stratigraphy, chronostratigraphic charts were constructed for recognition of the evolutionary phases and to support the construction of a predictive depositional model for the turbidite complexes As a final result, a high resolution depositional model of the study interval was obtained, which can be used as a guide for the prediction of sand dominated turbidite deposits in the Campos Basin. The present dissertation also proposes a systematic methodology for seismic recognition and regional characterization of turbidite deposits, which has significant implications for the evaluation of sand dominated, turbidite reservoir distribution during hydrocarbon exploration.