High-Impact Palynology in Petroleum Geology
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
High-impact palynology in AUTHOR Valentı´ Rull ϳ PDVSA Exploration, petroleum geology: Production and Upgrading—Caracas, Venezuela, PA1394, P.O. Box 02-5304, Miami, Applications from Venezuela Florida, 33102–5304; [email protected] Valentı´Rull has worked in Venezuela since (northern South America) 1981. He is a biologist and holds an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. in paleoecology. He Valentı´ Rull worked at Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research-IVIC as a palynologist from 1981 to 1989 and at Petro´leos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) Exploration and Production as a ABSTRACT senior palynologist since 1990. He has been chairman of Past Global Changes (PAGES) at This article documents the application of high-impact palynology the International Geosphere-Biosphere (HIP) in the Maracaibo Basin of Venezuela and its influence on such Programme (IGBP) for Venezuela since 1997. exploration and production aspects as regional planning and strat- He has conducted basic and applied research egies, risk reduction, optimal drilling decisions and investment, pe- in ecostratigraphy, biogeography, evolution, troleum-system modeling, new discoveries, and secondary recovery paleoclimatology, and paleoecology of the by fluid injection, among others. High-impact palynology has been Neotropics, from Late Cretaceous to defined as the coupling of high-resolution sequence biostratigraphy, Quaternary. He has taught palynology, multidisciplinary work, and the alignment of palynology with the paleoecology, and ecostratigraphy at the IVIC and the Central University of Venezuela attainment of business goals. The first part of this article explains (UCV). Rull has published approximately 65 the high-resolution ecostratigraphic methods used and the concept journal articles, 50 congress abstracts, and 60 of integrated work applied. The second part of the article shows technical reports. His personal Web site is the results obtained in selected case studies, which illustrate the Ͻhttp://mipagina.cantv.net/valenti/ advantages of HIP. Among the most relevant studies are high-res- vrchome.htmϾ olution ecostratigraphic frames at a basin level, timing between structural trap formation and oil migration, differentiation of pe- troleum systems in adjacent reservoirs, the concept of palynoblocks ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in structurally complex areas to estimate missing sections, strati- This article is dedicated to the memory of Fer- graphical models for exploratory wells with better predictions of nando Cassani. I feel especially indebted to M. target horizons, fine-scale reservoir correlations, and discovery of Antonieta Lorente for constant support and new reservoirs. The use of HIP in other areas is recommended, with encouragement. Special thanks to Estela Di palynology as a common in-house practice within multidisciplinary Giacomo and Mercedes Hidalgo for their help teams formed especially for each specific task. in palynology, and Carlos de Sousa in compu- tation. Many people contributed during the development of the case studies presented. INTRODUCTION Among them, I would like to mention J. F. Ar- minio, F. Cassani, I. Dura´n, A. Fasola, F. Galea, H. Gamero, S. Ghosh, M. C. Go´mez, R. Higgs, In the oil industry, palynology is a stratigraphic tool especially use- S. Mederos, G. Norris, P. Pestman, R. Pittelli, ful in the study of rocks deposited in continental, coastal, and C. Poumot, O. Quintero, M. Ruiz, J. Schiller, I. shallow-marine settings. Palynological analyses are used mainly for Truskowski, and M. Vela´squez. The critical re- chronostratigraphic correlations, paleoenvironmental studies, and view of three referees (L. Maher and two the evaluation of potential source rocks. The integration of paly- anonymous reviewers) and the associate edi- nology with other geological disciplines, such as sedimentology, tor (J. Kupecz) notably contributed to the im- provement of the manuscript. I am also grate- ful to J. Crux for grammatical revision. Copyright ᭧2002. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. Manuscript received June 4, 1999; revised manuscript received February 26, 2001; final acceptance June 25, 2001. AAPG Bulletin, v. 86, no. 2 (February 2002), pp. 279–300 279 geophysics, geochemistry, and petrophysics, is needed METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK for geological modeling and petroleum system studies, which in turn are essential for planning and developing Two main methodological aspects are discussed; one better exploration strategies and for optimizing reser- is conceptual, dealing with ecostratigraphy and other voir exploitation. Good examples of the benefit that quantitative methodologies, and the other organiza- palynology has provided to the oil industry through tional, dealing with the functioning of exploration time are given by Hopping (1967) and McGregor et and production teams and tasks. al. (1996). The recent development of new geological con- Ecostratigraphy cepts and methods, such as sequence stratigraphic analysis and high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) Ecostratigraphy is related to the nature of the fossil seismic technology, has caused significant changes in record. As a discipline based on organic evolution, stratigraphic work. In palynology, and in general in which is directional and nonreversible, palynology biostratigraphy, the classical qualitative or semiquan- considers the ranges of palynomorphs as chronostra- titative studies based on selected marker taxa have tigraphic markers. Indeed, global first and last ap- been enhanced with modern quantitative methods pearances (FAD, LAD) are unique and have chro- that use the whole palynological assemblage (includ- nological meaning. These events, however, can be ing particulate organic matter), high-resolution sam- distorted locally by environmental factors (and, of pling, and multivariate statistical methods (examples course, diagenesis). For example, a LAD could result are presented in Jansonius and McGregor [1996] not from extinction but from the lack of suitable and Jones and Simmons [1999]). To refer to this environments locally for fossil-producing organisms. new approach, Armentrout (1996) used the term Therefore, differences in the environmental toler- ”high-resolution sequence biostratigraphy” (HRSB). ance of these organisms are potentially distorting the Biostratigraphy is no longer viewed as a service, as fossil record. As a result, in the classical biostrati- it was in the past, but as a part of integrated team- graphic frame, fossils are commonly separated into work projects. The integration of HRSB with other chronological and environmental markers, the latter disciplines to develop integrated geological teams has being commonly downgraded as less reliable or bad determined the alignment of biostratigraphy with chronostratigraphic markers. the attainment of business goals, which is called by Modern biostratigraphic concepts, however, are Payne et al. (1999) ”high-impact biostratigraphy” changing this view. Martinsson (1973) introduced (HIB). the concept of ecostratigraphy to develop a new ap- The purpose of the present article is to docu- proach that encompasses all the ecological (biotic ment the application of high-impact palynology and abiotic) aspects in stratigraphy. The basic prem- (HIP) approaches in the Maracaibo Basin (Vene- ise is that evolution does not proceed on isolated zuela) through the analysis of selected case studies. taxa but in the frame of ecosystems and is, there- This is done to open to a wider audience of petro- fore, intimately associated with the ecological suc- leum geologists and related professionals several of cession (Margalef, 1986). Environmental factors, far the potentialities that palynology can offer, as well from being distorting signals, provide the basis for as to encourage beginner biostratigraphers to use more accurate correlations (Brenner and McHargue, these methods. This article is not intended as a re- 1988). They are especially useful in three types of vision but as a methodological update. phenomena: (1) eustatically driven ecological events, The article is divided into two sections, one (2) ecological events at a basin level (for example, methodological and other practical. The first part in- regional anoxic and orogenic events), and (3) global troduces the methods used and their theoretical climatic changes (Brenner and McHargue, 1988; foundations. Emphasis is on ecostratigraphic meth- Gladenkov, 1990; Olo´ riz et al., 1996). Events are ods, mainly palynocycles and ecologs, because they restricted in space, but if the geographical domain have been intensively used in the study area; how- in which they occur is known, a space-dependent ever, other methods are also documented. The sec- stratigraphy is possible. In some cases, this stratig- ond part of the article illustrates the results obtained raphy could be local, but in others (for example, in in selected case studies using ecostratigraphy and eustatic and glacial cycles), it can have a worldwide other quantitative methods and integrated work. extent. 280 High-Impact Palynology Applications (Venezuela) Ecostratigraphy is a challenge for classical biostra- mangrove open forests that expand because of cli- tigraphy, but it is a more realistic approach to the com- mate cooling. munity behavior in time (Rull, 1997a). Evolutionary 5. Herbs. Just before the lowest sea level position, a events are not neglected; on the contrary, they are phase dominated by pollen of herbs indicates placed in their correct context by recognizing that both the reduction of the mangrove fringe