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This thesis investigates the timing and mechanisms involved in the formation of evaporite piercement structures on Ellef Ringnes Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The study includes the interpretation of industry seismic reflection and borehole data to characterize the geometry of the domes, 1D backstripping of wells to investigate the role of tectonic influences on diapirism, and analogue modelling to better understand the mechanisms that drive diapirs with dense anhydrite caps. I propose that basement structures played a significant role in the formation of evaporite domes by triggering and directing salt movement. The domes developed during the Mesozoic by passive growth driven by the differential loading of salt on adjacent fault blocks, which led to their present day asymmetric geometries. Diapir growth rates in the Mesozoic were closely linked to the rate of sedimentation, which was greatly influenced by the amount of accommodation space provided by tectonic subsidence of the basin.

Salt tectonics is a key player in the evolution of many worldwide sedimentary basins on rifted continental margins. For more than a century, the evolving structures have been studied; but focus remained primarily on the onshore and shallow-water regions. The evolution of the poorly studied deep-water salt-tectonic structures is the focus of this thesis. Investigations are performed using 2D numerical models that comprise a viscous salt layer overlain by a frictional-plastic passive margin sedimentary sequence from shelf to deep water. This thesis addresses multiple salt-tectonic processes (gravity spreading, evolution of fold belts and salt canopies, diapirism) in a general context but with special focus on the structural evolution of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Here, multiple phases of gravity-spreading induced salt mobilization and thin-skinned deformation occurred throughout the Cenozoic. During the latest, late Oligocene-Miocene phase, the Perdido Fold Belt (PFB) formed from a 4.5km thick pre-kinematic section as a prominent salt-cored deep-water structure above the pinch-out of the autochthonous salt. It is here demonstrated with analytical as well as numerical calculations that the folding of the PFB can have formed by gravity spreading alone without basement tectonics. A requirement for this deformation is very high pore-fluid pressure in the sediments, which effectively reduces the sediments' mechanical strength. These values are refined using numerical models that couple compaction-induced fluid pressure to mechanical deformation. It is shown that very high fluid pressure is only necessary at the landward base of the deforming system; fluid pressure in other regions may remain moderate. This study shows, for the first time, the regional and dynamic evolution of pore-fluid pressure in a continental margin sedimentary system above salt. Additionally, the contribution of `lateral compaction' during fold-belt evolution is addressed. Landward of the PFB, a large-scale canopy developed during the Eocene. Its evolution is studied by investigating three different concepts of canopy evolution that have been proposed in the scientific literature. A canopy evolving via the mechanism of squeezed diapirs is most similar to the Eocene canopy of the northwestern GoM. A canopy evolving via the mechanism of breached anticlines is similar to that observed above the landward end of the PFB. Dynamic diapir growth is addressed in a neutral stress regime under uneven sedimentation employing a new mechanism of diapir initiation and evolution.

This thesis investigates the timing and mechanisms involved in the formation of evaporite piercement structures on Ellef Ringnes Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The study includes the interpretation of industry seismic reflection and borehole data to characterize the geometry of the domes, 1D backstripping of wells to investigate the role of tectonic influences on diapirism, and analogue modelling to better understand the mechanisms that drive diapirs with dense anhydrite caps. I propose that basement structures played a significant role in the formation of evaporite domes by triggering and directing salt movement. The domes developed during the Mesozoic by passive growth driven by the differential loading of salt on adjacent fault blocks, which led to their present day asymmetric geometries. Diapir growth rates in the Mesozoic were closely linked to the rate of sedimentation, which was greatly influenced by the amount of accommodation space provided by tectonic subsidence of the basin.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 244-253. Also available online.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Following successful discovery and production of hydrocarbons, Gabon is one of the key hydrocarbon target countries in Africa. Located in the Lower Congo Basin, the study area is based in Etame Marin Permit (EMP), which is licensed to VAALCO Energy Inc., and has been producing hydrocarbons since 2002. The currently explored and producing reservoirs are in the pre-salt sandstones of the Aptian Gamba Formation, charged with hydrocarbons sourced from the syn-rift lacustrine shale of the pre-Aptian Melania Formation. With the aim of finding potential petroleum plays in the post-salt successions and by using 3D prestack depth migration (PSDM) seismic sections and wireline logs, a detailed study of the post-Aptian stratigraphy and salt tectonics of the EMP was undertaken. Eight distinct reflectors were identified based on gamma ray signatures, stratal terminations and isopach trends. Sediment distribution patterns and the relative sea level history of the succession were determined by applying principles of sequence stratigraphy and salt tectonics. Furthermore, two potential plays have been outlined in the post-salt carbonates of the Albian Madiela Formation as well as in sandstones of the Turonian Azile Formation. These reservoirs might have been charged with hydrocarbons from the pre-salt shale of the Melania Formation and/or potentially also enriched from the Albian and Cenomanian shales. For these post-salt hydrocarbon reservoirs to be charged by the pre-salt source rocks, windows within the extensive evaporitic sealing of the Aptian Ezanga Formation were required. 3D PSDM seismic sections attest that diapirism of the Aptian salt unit generated ample hydrocarbon migration pathways from the pre-salt source rocks to post-salt reservoirs. Five well-developed potential salt windows have been identified, two of which have good probability to have facilitated the upward migration of hydrocarbons, because these salt windows are located up dip of oil producing wells. However, even if hydrocarbons are found in the post-salt reservoirs, similarly to the Yombo Field (located offshore Congo, south of the EMP), these shallow reservoirs in the EMP are likely to produce heavy oils due to biodegradation.

Salt can be removed by viscous flow and dissolution to form a salt weld. A complete weld forms when salt is completely removed by these processes. Where salt removal is incomplete, a partial weld forms. Though welds are frequently mentioned in the literature, the details of weld formation and the properties of salt welds are poorly understood. In Chapter 1, I use analytical and numerical models to quantify the role of viscous flow during salt welding. Where salt flow is limited by boundary drag against the salt contacts, evacuation is slow and up to ~50 m of salt will be left behind in a partial weld. Where salt flow is laterally unrestricted, a vanishingly thin (<< 1 m) smear of salt will remain. I conclude that layer-parallel wall rock translation or dissolution must act to remove any remnant salt to create a complete weld. In Chapter 2, I characterize partial welds containing halite and anhydrite on reflection seismic data by treating welds as thin beds. Below the temporal resolution of reflection seismic data, typically ~25-50 m for modern surveys with peak frequencies of ~10-30 Hz, reflections from the upper and lower evaporite contacts converge and interfere to form a single composite reflection. Thus, partial and complete welds are typically indistinguishable using travel-time differences alone. I then use amplitude information from synthetics and seismic examples to estimate remnant evaporite thickness. In Chapter 3, I investigate fluid flow near and through salt welds. I conclude dissolution during boundary flow can remove up to a few meters of salt per million years. Though dissolution plays a volumetrically insignificant but important role in weld formation, as runaway dissolution can create pathways for focused cross-weld migration of subsurface fluids. I identify features that influence cross-weld migration of subsurface fluids and then develop an empirical relationship between weld geometry and the tendency seal or leak hydrocarbons. I find that in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil, salt welds containing remnant evaporites thinner than ~50 m that are broader than ~25 km2 in area are likely to leak. / text

Beneath Keathley Canyon (KC) off the Southern Coast of Louisiana and Texas, allochthonous salt bodies have attained thicknesses of over 7620 m (25000 feet), providing excellent seals and migration pathways for hydrocarbons produced by post-rift sedimentary deposition. This study analyzes a small portion of the KC area, utilizing Petrel Seismic software and well information from the KC102 (Tiber) well. An intra-Miocene wedge, expressed beneath salt, may provide information about movement of allochthonous salt over Wilcox sands, sediment compaction, and hydrocarbon pathways. Progradational sedimentation is the driving force which leads to faulting in the early Miocene, allowing Jurassic salt to rise, spreading laterally and upwards towards the surface, scarring the sediments beneath it in glacier-like form. This intrusion helped to create the proper conditions for formation of a petroleum play system, maintain reservoir quality sands and temperatures, and create a four way closure in the Eocene for prospective well location.

Ce manuscrit présente la dynamique des dépôts évaporitiques du bassin de Sivas en Turquie et évalue l’impact diagénétique de ces évaporites sur les analogues de réservoirs gréseux. Cette étude s’effectue dans un bassin d’avant-pays ayant la spécificité d’avoir enregistré une intense tectonique salifère, marquée notamment par la présence de mini-bassins oligo-miocènes. Les résultats présentés s’appuient sur des relevés cartographiques de terrain, des descriptions sédimentaires ainsi que sur des analyses pétrographiques et géochimiques.Les premières évaporites du bassin se forment à l’Eocène supérieur lorsque l’avant-pays perd progressivement sa connexion avec le domaine marin, en conséquence de la propagation de la chaine de plis et de chevauchements. La fermeture océanique s’accompagne d’une diminution drastique des apports clastiques. Les faciès turbiditiques évoluent alors vers des dépôts argilo-carbonatés propres à un bassin affamé et anoxique. Les évaporites commencent par précipiter dans des bassins en piggy-back précocement isolés du reste de l’avant-pays. Par surrection tectonique, ces dépôts subissent un démantèlement gravitaire qui induit des accumulations de gypses détritiques au front de la chaîne. Avec l’augmentation des conditions de salinité de l’ensemble du bassin, des plateformes évaporitiques s’établissent ensuite sur les domaines peu profonds et nourrissent en fond de bassin des turbidites de gypse. Enfin, dans un plan d’eau devenu peu profond, l’essentiel de l’avant pays est comblé par de la halite aujourd’hui lessivée en surface. Tout au long de l’Oligo-Miocène, les évaporites éocènes induisent des déformations halocinétiques. Les sels diapiriques sont alors dissous et recyclés sous forme de dépôts gypsifères qui précipitent en domaine continental, au sein d’environnements sebkhaïques à lacustres peu profonds. Ces évaporites de seconde génération ont pu connecter différents émissaires diapiriques pour constituer ce que nous nommons « une canopée resédimentée ». Les sulfates recyclés se sont également accumulés sur des émissaires diapiriques en cours de déflation pour ainsi former de véritables mini-bassins évaporitiques secondaires encapsulés. Sur toute la bordure nord du bassin, et en continuité latérale d’une canopée salifère, les évaporites recyclées ont formé des accumulations majeures de gypse sélénitique lacustre.L’étude diagénétique des grès continentaux de mini-bassins montre une paragenèse ayant été contrôlée au premier ordre par la composition minéralogique des grains détritiques. Ainsi, dans les grès fortement polygéniques, des fluides salins et alcalins probablement dérivés du lessivage des émissaires diapiriques ont interagi avec les grains réactifs pour induire la précipitation précoce de ciments analcitiques. Ces derniers paraissent également avoir été favorisés dans les mini-bassins isolés hydrographiquement par des reliefs diapiriques. Plus localement, des phénomènes de gypsification se sont produits au niveau de dépôts faillés ou fracturés et positionnés à proximité immédiate de structures salifères. Les fluides salins impliqués circulaient par l’intermédiaire de la porosité créée par l’endommagement tectonique.L’ensemble des résultats présentés trouvent des analogies avec d’autres bassins salifères, actuels ou anciens, affectés par des déformations halocinétiques en contexte continental (e.g. le bassin Précaspien, le bassin du Zechstein ou le Great Kavir en Iran). / This manuscript focuses on the various evaporitic systems of the Sivas Basin (Turkey) and assesses the diagenetic impact of saline fluid flow on silicoclastic reservoir analogues. This study takes place in a foreland basin that has the peculiarity of having recorded halokinetic deformations, as evidenced by outcropping Oligo-Miocene mini-basins structures. The results are based on geological field mapping and sedimentary descriptions complemented by petrographic and geochemical analyses.The first evaporites of the basin precipitated during the Late Eocene when the foreland progressively lost its connection with the oceanic domain, as a result of the northward propagation of the fold-and-thrust-belt. Such event first resulted in sediment-starved conditions, with siliciclastic turbidites grading to muddy- and organic-rich facies. The evaporites then formed in early isolated piggy-back basins and were subsequently reworked in the foredeep by tectonically-induced gravitational collapses. With increasing saline conditions, evaporitic platforms developed in shallow-water domains of the foreland, and fed gypsum turbidites in the deep-water setting. Finally, after the general establishment of shallow-water hypersaline conditions, most of the available space was filled by halite deposits, nowadays entirely dissolved at the surface.During the Oligo-Miocene, Eocene evaporites induced halokinetic deformations. The diapiric salts were then recycled as gypsiferous deposits precipitated in sabkha to shallow-water lacustrine setting within salt-walled mini-basins. Such evaporitic deposits of second-generation were able to connect different diapiric structures, forming what we define as a “resedimented canopy”. The recycled evaporites also accumulated in depleting diapiric stems, resulting in the development of peculiar encased evaporitic mini-basins. Finally, along the northern border of the basin, the recycled evaporites formed massive accumulations of lacustrine selenitic gypsum southward connected to a spreading salt canopy.The diagenetic study of Oligocene continental sandstones emplaced within mini-basins highlights a paragenesis controlled at first order by the detrital composition. For instance, in the less sorted sandstones, saline-alkaline fluids, probably resulting from the leaching of diapiric salts, interacted with reactive grains to produce analcitic cements at shallow burial. These cements also seem to have been favored in mini-basins that were hydrographically isolated by diapiric reliefs. More locally, in fractured to faulted sandstones close from a diapiric structures, the porosity has been early to lately occluded by gypsum cements. The saline fluids inducing such cementation were fed by the diapiric evaporites, and reached the reservoirs through the fracture or fault-related porosity.All of these results may find relevant analogies with other ancient or present-day evaporitic basins affected by halokinetic deformation in continental setting (e.g. the Precaspian Basin, the Zechstein Basin or the Great Kavir in Iran).

Approximately 720 square miles of digital 3-dimensional seismic data covering the eastern Mississippi Canyon area, Gulf of Mexico, continental shelf was used to examine the structural and stratigraphic evolution of the geology in the study area. The analysis focused on salt tectonics and sequence stratigraphy to develop a geologic model for the study area and its potential impact on engineering and geologic hazards. Salt in the study area was found to be established structural end-members derived from shallow-emplaced salt sheets. The transition from regional to local salt tectonics was identified through structural deformation of the stratigraphic section on the seismic data and occurred no later than ~450,000 years ago. From ~450,000 years to present, slope depositional processes have become the dominant geologic process in the study area. Six stratigraphic sequences (I-VI) were identified in the study area and found to correlate with sequences previously defined for the Eastern Mississippi Fan. Condensed sections were the key to the correlation. The sequence stratigraphy for the Eastern Mississippi Fan can be extended ~28 miles west, adding another ~720 square miles to the interpreted Fan. A previously defined channel within the Eastern Fan was identified in the study area and extended the channel ~28 miles west. Previous work on the Eastern Fan identified the source of the Fan to be the Mobile River; however, extending the channel west suggests the sediment source to be from the Mississippi River, not the Mobile River. Further evidence for this was found in ponded turbidites whose source has been previously established as the Mississippi River. Ages of the stratigraphic sequences were compared to changes in eustatic sea level. The formation stratigraphic sequences appear decoupled from sea level change with ?pseudo-highstands? forming condensed sections during pronounced Pleistocene sea level lowstands. Miocene and Pleistocene depositional analogues suggest the location of the shifting Mississippi River Pleistocene depocenter is a more dominant influence on sequence formation. Thus, the application of traditional sequence interpretation with respect to sea level change should be reconsidered to also account for the shifting depocenter for both the study area as well as the broader Eastern Mississippi Fan.