Source Rock Potential Through Geological Time; Basin Restriction's Impact on Source Rocks; Climate (Rain Shadow & Green House versus Ice House); Transgressions; Super-plumes (Nutrients); Sweet Spots!; Basin Phase (extension, compression, or barred); Precambrian Continents; World Neoproterozoic Petroleum Systems; Karelian Shungites; World's Source Rocks

1. Prof. Dr. Hassan Z. Harraz
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University
hharraz2006@yahoo.com
Spring 2019
a function of
Basin
Restriction,
Nutrient Level ,
Sedimentation
Rate & Sea-level
Rise

2. Basin Restriction's Impact on Source Rocks
Climate (Rain Shadow & Green House versus Ice House)
Transgressions
Super-plumes (Nutrients)
Sweet Spots!
Basin Phase (extension, compression, or barred)
Middle East
North Africa
Precambrian Continents
World Neoproterozoic Petroleum Systems
Karelian Shungites
World's Source Rocks
Outline
2

3. Others
112B Bbls - 10%
FSU
78B Bbls - 7%
South America
62B Bbls - 5%
North Africa
60B Bbls - 5%
West Africa
46B Bbls - 4%
Regional Distribution of Global Oil Reserves
North Sea
14B Bbls - 1%
North America
62B Bbls - 4%
3
Middle East
734B Bbls - 64%

4. Plate
Extension,
Convergence
or Barred
Climate
(Rain Shadow)
Low Sediment
Marine
Transgression
Super
Plume
Nutrient
Restricted Basin
4

5. Devonian Ohio Shale I 64 Kty
(Kendall Photo)
 Enable higher concentrations organic carbon:
Allocthonous
Autothonous
 Preserved in:
Black (Anoxic) Shale
(Anoxic) Carbonates
Basin Restriction & Anoxia
5

6. Restricted Basin Settings
6

7. Transgressive Beat To Mesozoic &
Tertiary Source Rocks
7

8. Climate and Source Rock Potential
8
Cyclic Changes in: Climate, Sea Position, Organic Productivity and Sequestration

9. Climate and Source Rock Potential
9
Cyclic Changes in:
Climate, Sea Position,
Organic Productivity
and Sequestration

10. Very fast Seafloor spreading.
Enhanced organic production of oceans from
massive amounts of CO2 from oceanic lava flows.
Produce oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) & super-
greenhouse events in Mesozoic.
Organic matter preserved by anoxia on sea floor
with accumulation of organic rich sediments.
Super-plume Forcing of Organic
Production
10

11. Super Plumes & Time (Abbot & Isley 2002)
Phanerozoic!
Plumes : A Nutrient Beat!
11

12. Sweet Spot!
i) Break Up Margin - Mesozoic of Northern Atlantic:
 Isolated linear belt of interior drainage,
 Restricted entrances to sea,
 Regional drainage away from margin ,
 Arid tropics air system
 Wide envelope of surrounding continents, and
 Juxtaposed source, seal & reservoir,
ii) Collision Margin Restricted Basin:
 Regional drainage into basin,
 Isolated linear belt of interior drainage,
 Restricted entrance to sea,
 Regional drainage away from margin ,
 Arid tropics air system
 Wide envelope of surrounding continents, and
 Juxtaposed source, seal & reservoir,
12

13. 13
Break Up - Mesozoic of Northern Atlanticrestricted
entrances
to sea
regional
drainage
away
from margin
arid tropics air system
wide envelope of surrounding continents
SWEET
SPOT!
juxtaposed source, seal & reservoir

14. Examples of Organic rich rocks at Break Up Margins:
14
Mesozoic of Northern Gulf of Mexico
Mesozoic of North & South Atlantic Margins
Mesozoic of Yemen Rift Belt
Mesozoic & Tertiary of Eritrea
East African Rift
Dead Sea

15. 15
restricted
entrance
to sea
isolated linear
belt of interior
drainage
regional
drainage
into basin
arid tropics air system
wide envelope of surrounding continents
SWEET
SPOT!
juxtaposed source
seal & reservoir
Arabian Gulf
Collision Margin Restricted Basin

16. Examples of Organic rich rocks at Collision Margins
16
Current Arabian Gulf & underlying Late Mesozoic to
Tertiary.
Silurian of Michigan Basin & Western New York
State.
Devonian of Western Canada & NW USA .
Permian of New Mexico & West Texas.
Permian of Zechstein Basin.
Mesozoic to Tertiary of Southern South America.
Tertiary of Mediterranean.
Mesozoic & Tertiary in final phases of Tethys Sea.

17. Example of Barred Basin Mesozoic - Arabian Gulf
17
Upper Jurassic
Saudi Arabia
Kuwait, Iran
& UAE
restricted
entrance
to sea
structural &
depositional
barrier over
Hercynian
horst blocks
arid tropical air system
wide shadow from adjacent continents
SWEET
SPOT!
juxtaposed source
seal & reservoir

18. Most are carbonate
plays beneath
evaporite seals in
restricted basins
juxtaposing source,
seal and reservoirs
18
Location of Oil
& Gas Fields of
Arabian Gulf
-
Reservoirs
are
Younger
to East
18

19. Restricted
Basins Isolated
by Build Up
Barriers
Organic Rich
Fill
Arabian Gulf
Jurassic
19After Fox & Albrandt,200219

20. Regional Upper Cretaceous (Senonian) Petroleum
Source in argillaceous limestones of North Africa
Lower Paleozoic of North Africa proven and prolific
plays
eg: Tanezzuft Shale of Libya
North African Source Rocks
20

21. Two major source rocks distribution around Mediterranean
Modified from varies sources
21

22. Precambrian Continents
Precambrian play of North Africa “is still immature &
deserves more investigation” quote from Jonathon
Craig – ENI.
Large autochthonous accumulations of organic
matter Rare in Precambrian rocks.
Occurs in Paleoproterozoic sedimentary rocks as
coal-like material.
Derived from Precambrian oil?
Potential matches younger oil plays?
Precambrian Oil?
22

23. World Neoproterozoic Petroleum Systems
Proven
South Punjab (Bikner-Nagaur)
Basin, Pakistan - India
South Oman
Salt Basin
Taoudenni Basin
Mauritania,
Mali, Algeria
Sirte, Cyrenaica
Basin, Libya
Murzuq Basin
SW Libya
Ahnet Basin
Algeria
Tindouf Basin
Morocco, Algeria
Potential
Potwar
Basin
Kufra Basin
SW Libya
Argentina
Bolivia,
& Paraguay
USA Nonesuch
Michigan
Amadeus, Officer
& McArthur Basin
Volga
Ural Province Lena-Tunguske
Province, Siberia
After Jonathon Craig - ENI
23

24. World Record Holder Karelian Shungites
24
Precambrian Shunga Event ~2.0 Ga
Paleoproterozoic ~ 2.0 Ga, Shunga-NW Russia.
600 m thick Upper Zaonezhskaya Formation.
Rich in organic carbon: Corg up to 98%; averages
25% over 9000 km2 along narrow rifted margin.
Include coal-like seams of layered shungite , cross-
cutting diapirs & veins of remobilized liquid
petroleum.
Plume caused magmatism &/or volcanism
Interlayered with mafic volcanic rocks.

25. Karelian Shungites
V.A. Melezhik et al. 1999
25

26. Now for a few
barrels of oil!
26

27. World wide stratigraphic distribution of
major source rocks
Stratigraphic distribution of the
major reservoir rocks world wide
(Modified from Ulmashek and Klemme, 1990)
World's Source Rocks & Reservoirs
27

28. World's Source Rocks
28
World source rock potential through geological time is a function of: Basin Restriction, Nutrient
Level , Sedimentation Rate, and Sea-level Rise.
Contain higher concentrations of allocthonous vs. autothonous organic carbon preserved in:
i) Black (Anoxic) Shale
ii) (Anoxic) Carbonates
Have irregular temporal beat driven by:
i) Climatic response:
 Rain shadow
 East coast/west coast ocean circulation
 Monsoons
ii) World wide transgressions & restricted basins
iii) Sporadic super-plumes
iv) Basin restriction:
Continental plate configuration:
 Initial extension
 Final collision
 Structural barriers and/or buildup barriers.

29. 29
World's Source Rocks …(cont.)
 Most of world's largest oil fields restricted to Southern Tethyan Margin
 Principal Oil Provinces matching this paradigm:
Mesozoic Lee Shore of Pangea:
Eastern Arabian Shelf Giant Fields
Southern Mediterranean Margin
Early Silurian section of northern Gondwanaland (ice cap melt, &
transgression)
Tanezzuft Shale of Libya