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Structural Restoration and Basin and Petroleum Systems Modeling Structural Restoration and Basin and Petroleum Systems Modeling: Case Studies from the Monagas Fold and Thrust Belt, Venezuela and the Moroccan Atlantic Margin Von der Fakultät für Georessourcen und Materialtechnik der Rheinisch -Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften genehmigte Dissertation vorgelegt von Martin Neumaier, MSc aus Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland Berichter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ralf Littke Univ.-Prof. Peter A. Kukla, Ph.D. Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 24.04.2015 Diese Dissertation ist auf den Internetseiten der Hochschulbibliothek online verfügbar Abstract This thesis proposes a workflow of integrating structural restoration and basin and petroleum systems modeling. It describes advantages and limitations, and its practical application in structurally complex geological environments dominated by tectonic compression and salt tectonics. The first part of the thesis (chapter 1) presents a study of the Monagas Fold and Thrust Belt onshore northern Venezuela and its deformed foreland basin. The chapter presents for the first time a two-dimensional structural restoration in combination with full PVT three-phase hydrocarbon migration modeling in the study area. The model contributes to the further understanding of the evolution of petroleum systems in fold and thrust belts in general and increases the knowledge of the study area in particular, as it explains the hydrocarbon charge of the main known fields and the relative absence of charge in other areas. In a more theoretical part, the study challenges the simple backstripping approach by applying the structural restoration technique for improved petroleum systems modeling. Particular attention is paid to the decompaction and compaction limitations and its implications for the modeling results. The second part of the thesis (chapters 2 and 3) addresses the offshore Essaouira salt basin and the outer Atlantic margin of Morocco. Chapter 2 focuses on the geodynamic and structural development of the study area. The work reveals for the first time the diachronic nature of geodynamic events related to the bypass of the Canary Island hotspot and the Atlas orogeny, and their influence on the folding of the deep-water margin and the salt tectonics. The chapter further proposes a conceptual model for the salt tectonic evolution through geologic time, explaining the regional variations as observed across the margin at present day. A salt restoration workflow, involving decoupled subsalt and salt-overburden restoration with salt-area balancing, and salt Page | 2 withdrawal and extrusion processes, was developed to improve the temporal resolution of salt tectonics and associated regional deformation. Chapter 3 applies for the first time structural restoration combined with petroleum systems modeling to the Moroccan Atlantic margin. The regional basin model, which reaches out to the western edge of the Moroccan Atlantic margin, contributes to the understanding of the thermal maturity of different potential source rock levels in this frontier exploration province. The integration of the structural restoration with petroleum systems modeling allowed to model hydrocarbon migration in the context of mobile salt, leaving behind an amalgamated basin stratigraphy after salt withdrawal and extrusion. Finally, the models have been used together with the regional observations and north-south variations to evaluate the prospectivity of speculative oil and gas plays and their likely changes along the yet little explored margin. Page | 3 Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Dissertation behandelt den Arbeitsfluss von integrierter Retrodeformation (structural restoration) und Becken- und Kohlenwasserstoffsystem-Modellierung (basin and petroleum systems modeling). Vor- und Nachteile sowie praktische Anwendungsbeispiele in Gebieten mit Kohlenwasserstoffpotenzial und mit strukturell komplexer Geologie mit kompressiver Tektonik und Salztektonik werden beschreiben. Der erste Teil der Dissertation (Kapitel 1) beinhaltet eine Studie des Monagas Falten- und Überschiebungsgürtels und seines deformierten Vorlandbeckens. Es ist die erste Veröffentlichung einer zweidimensionalen Retrodeformation in diesem Gebiet, die mit einer Drei-Phasen- Modellierung der Druck-Volumen-Temperatur Kohlenwasserstoff-Migration verbunden ist. Die Ergebnisse der Modellierung steuern zum erweiterten Verständnis der geologischen Entwicklung von Kohlenwasserstoffsystemen in Falten- und Überschiebungsgürteln im Allgemeinen bei. Desweiteren erklärt das Modell die Füllung der grössten bekannten Ölfelder des Studiengebietes sowie die Abwesenheit von Kohlenwasserstoffen in erdölarmen Teilen. In einem mehr theoretischen Teil der Studie wird die Anwendung von Retrodeformation mit einer vereinfachten Methode ('backstripping') im Rahmen der Modellierung des Becken- und Kohlenwasserstoffsystems verglichen. Insbesondere werden die Einschränkungen bezüglich der Dekompaktion und Kompaktion und ihr Einfluss auf die Ergebnisse der Modellierung diskutiert. Der zweite Teil der Dissertation (Kapitel 2 und 3) behandelt das Salzbecken offshore Essaouira und den äusseren Atlantischen Kontinentalrand von Marokko. Der Schwerpunkt von Kapitel 2 ist die geodynamische und strukturelle Entwicklung des Studiengebietes. Neu ist die Beschreibung der diachronen Natur geodynamischer Vorgänge um den Hotspot der Kanarischen Inseln und der Orogenese des Atlas-Gebirges sowie deren Einfluss auf die Faltung des Page | 4 Tiefseegebiets und die Salztektonik. Ausserdem wird ein konzeptuelles Modell für die Evolution der Salztektonik über die geologische Zeit vorgeschlagen, welches die heutigen regionalen Variationen entlang des Kontinentalrandes erklärt. Ein Retrodeformationsworkflow, welcher die entkoppelte Retrodeformation überhalb und unterhalb des Salzes sowie die Flächenbilanzierung innerhalb des Salzes sowie Prozesse wie Salzentzug und –extrusion beinhaltet, wurde entworfen. Kapitel 3 ist die erste Veröffentlichung einer Retrodeformation sowie eines Becken- und Kohlenwasserstoffsystem-Modellierung des Atlantischen Kontinentalrands von Marokko. Das regionale Modell, welches bis in den äusseren westlichen Kontinentalrand des marrokkanischen Atlantiks reicht, trägt zum Verständnis der thermischen Reife verschiedener potentieller Muttergesteine in dieser relativ unerforschten Provinz bei. Die Integration von Struktur- Restaurierung mit Becken- und Kohlenwasserstoffsystem-Modellierung ermöglichte das Modellieren der Kohlenwasserstoffmigration im geologisch dynamischen Kontext von beweglichem Salz, Salzentzug und -extrusion sowie dem dadurch beeinflussten Sedimentationsgeschehen. Gemeinsam mit den regionalen Nord-Süd-Variationen wurden die vorgestellten Modelle benutzt, um die Prospektivität von Öl- und Gasvorkommen entlang des noch relativ unerforschten Atlantischen Kontinentalrand von Marokko abzuschätzen. Page | 5 Table of contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 Zusammenfassung....................................................................................................................................... 4 Table of contents ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1 - Integrated Charge and Seal Assessment in the Monagas Fold and Thrust Belt of Venezuela. .................................................................................................................................................. 17 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 18 Geologic setting ........................................................................................................................ 19 Modeling methods .................................................................................................................... 23 Modeling ................................................................................................................................... 27 Structural restoration ............................................................................................................. 29 Model input data ................................................................................................................... 31 Modeling results.................................................................................................................... 32 Charge history ........................................................................................................................... 39 Passive margin phase—Mesozoic to Oligocene ................................................................... 40 Main compressional phase—Early to middle Miocene ........................................................ 42 Late compressional and postcompressional phase—Late Miocene to present day
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