Petroleum Geology

Lecture #4

• Basin classification
• Habitat of petroleum
in sedimentary basins

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

Basin classification - introduction
• About 600 sedimentary basins in the
world
• About 25% of the basins (covering
about 50% of the area taken up by
sedimentary basins) are producing
petroleum today
• Basin classification is large scale
discrimination of basins based in part
on:
– sedimentation and tectonic regimes
– petroleum characteristics
• Classification of basin types help in the
evaluation process prior to acquiring
acreage in new areas and in planning
exploration activities:
– evaluate what productive horizons a
sedimentary basin may contain
– evaluate where productive horizons
may be broadly located in a
sedimentary basin
Lecture: 4
• Many basin classification schemes has
been proposed over the years and below
are some examples:
– Bally & Snelson, 1980
– Klemme, 1980
– Stoneley, 1981
– Kingston, Dishroon & Williams, 1983
• More recent classification schemes tend
to have fewer classes of basin types and
incorporate a classification of global
source rocks to locate “Mega Petroleum
Systems”:
– Klemme and Ulmishek, 1990
– Klemme, 1994
© 1998 René O. Thomsen
 Bally and Snelson, 1980
• Three families of basins are
differentiated:

– Basins on rigid lithosphere not associated

with formation of megasutures:
• rifts
• Atlantic type passive margins
• cratonic basins

– Perisutural basins on rigid lithosphere

associated with formation of
compressional megasuture:
• Deep-sea trenches
• Foredeeps
• Chinese type basins

– Episutural basins located and mostly

contained in compressional megasuture:
• forearc basins
• backarc basins
• episutural megashear systems such
as California-type basins

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Klemme, 1980
• Basins are differentiated in
terms of their architectural
characteristics:
– size
– shape
– effective basement profile or
cross section
– surface area to volume ratio
Then related to:
– earth’s crust
– tectonic setting
– basin evolution in the
framework of plate tectonics

• 8 major basins types are

recognized :
1) Interior simple
2) Composite
3) Rift
4) Downwarp
5) Pull-apart
6) Subduction
7) Median
8) Delta

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Kingston, Dishroon & Williams, 1983

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Selley and Morrill, 1983

• Combines the schemes of Huff

(1978, 1980) and Klemme
(1980)
• 10 basin types are identified:
– 2 basin types related to stable
continental plates
– 2 basin types related to plate
divergence
– 4 basin types related to plate
convergence
– 2 basin types that downwarp
into small oceans form a
separate class

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

Interior basins
Williston Basin
Intracratonic sag
• Distinguishing features:
– simple
– single cycle
– no uplands
– in continental interiors
• Depositional history:
– mature, shallow water or marine sediments
(clastic or carbonate prone)
– non-depositional or non-marine late stage
• Reservoir:
– equally sandstone or carbonate
• Source:
– shale
• Hydrocarbons:
• Cap:
– low S, high gravity crude
– shale - less commonly evaporite
– low natural gas
• Trap:
• Risk:
– basement uplift arches and anticlines
– adequate traps
– combination and stratigraphic traps
– presence of shale for source and cap
• Geothermal gradient:
– low to normal

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Foreland basins

Craton margin, composite

• Distinguishing features:
– multy cycle basin on craton edge with
adjacent uplift
• Depositional history:
– 1st cycle mature platform sediments
– 2nd cycle orogenic clastics
• Reservoir:
– mostly sandstone lesser carbonates in
both cycles
• Source:
– overlying or interfingering shale
– locally coal
• Cap:
– shale or evaporite • Hydrocarbons:
• Geothermal gradient – mixed crude, similar to interior
– low to above average basins in 1st cycle
– above average deep thermal gas
• Risks:
– trap efficiency
– reservoir
– source and seal development

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Rift basins
Rift basin
• Distinguishing features
– downdropped graben over continental
crust
– dormant divergence
• Depositional history
– pre-rift rocks sedimentary, metamorphic
or granitic
– post-rift fill is restricted facies, initially
non-marine that may become marine
(either clastic or carbonate prone)
• Reservoir
– equally sanstone or carbonate; of pre- and
post-rift cycles
• Source
– overlying or lateral facies shale
• Cap
– basinwide evaporites or thick shales
• Trap
– horst block anticlines
– combination traps related to high blocks • Hydrocarbons
– tilted fault blocks – highly facies-dependent (paraffinic with sandstones;
aromatic with carbonates)
• Geothermal gradient – low to average gas
– normal to high
• Risks
– small trap size
– too high thermal gradient
– source rock development

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Pull-apart basin
Passive margin, divergent margin
• Distinguishing features
– coastal half-grabens down-faulted seaward
– intermediate crust
– result of ocean-floor spreading
• Depositional history
– non-marine rift stage sediments
– restricted facies (carbonates, evaporites, black
shale) in early separation
– prograding clastic wedge in late separation
stage
• Reservoir
– sandstone in all three stages
– some limestine in early separation stage
• Source
– overlying and interfingering shale
• Cap
– shale or evaporite
• Trap • Hydrocarbons
– horst block, salt flow. roll-over and drape – rift stage has parafinic, intermediate gravity crude
anticlines – more aromatic, higher gravity in separation stage
– stratigraphic and combination – gas-prone
• Geothermal gradient • Risks
– below average in marine stages – kerogen maturation
– biodegradation
– pre-separation source rock
– post-separation reservoirs

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Downwarp basins
Downwarp bains
A Open - related to pull-apart, passive margins
B Closed - related to foreland basins
C Trough - related to foreland basins
• Destinguishing features
– basement and depositional downwarp dipping
into small oceans, inland seas or linear suture
zones
– intermediate crust
• Depositional history
– mixed, interfingering shallow marine facies,
either carbonate or clsatic-prone
• Reservoir
– carbonate (C) or mixed (A,B) with sandstone
(A) or carbonate (B) dominant
• Source
– overlying, interfingering and basin-center
shales
– limestone and marls important in B
• Cap
• Hydrocarbons
– mostly shale
– intermediate to mixed gravity crudes
– both shale and evaporites in B
– sandstones more paraffinic, carbonates more aromatic
• Trap – average to high natural gas
– anticlines
• Risks
– salt flow
– low
– combination
– similar to pull-apart (A) and foreland (B,C)
– reefs, pinch-outs and unconformities
• Geothermal gradient
– normal to above average

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Back-arc/fore-arc basins
Convergent margin basins
A fore-arc
B back-arc
C non-arc (strike-slip, California type)
D collision (median, intermontane, successor)
• Distinguishing features
– small, deep, yong
– local extension and strike-slip in regional
compression along convergent plate margins
• Depositional history
– immature poorly sorted clastic sediments
– rapidly intertonguing facies
– shallow to deep and/or volcaniclastic
• Reservoir
– thick sandstones, often multple
– minor reefal limestone
• Source
– abundant thick interbedded shale • Hydrocarbons
• Cap – mostly parafinic to paranic-naphtenic
– shale – variable gravity
• Trap – low natural gas
– drape and compression anticlines • Risks
– strike-slip and thrust structures – maturation
– reefs – leakage
– horst-related combination – deformation too intense
• Geothermal gradient – igneous activity
– low (A), high (B,C), or normal to high (D) – poor reservoir properties

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

 Tertiary deltas
Tertiary deltas
• Distinguishing features
– circular depocenter basin
– on plate triple junction where failed arm rift
meets ocean basin, particularly at divergent or
transcurrent margin
• Depositional history
– prograding wedge of land-derived clastics with
type III kerogen
• Reservoir
– sandstone (pro-delta facies)
• Source
– shale
• Cap
– shale
• Trap
– roll-over anticlines, growth faults, mud or salt
diapirs
– sand lences
• Geothermal gradient • Hydrocarbons
– low – paraffinic to paraffinic-naphthenic crude
– very high natural gas
• Risks
– small trap size
– adequate caprock

Lecture: 4 © 1998 René O. Thomsen

End of Lecture

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