Why Petroleum Need Basins ?

• Theory of origin of petroleum (still in debate)

• organic : biological, from transformation of organic matters
deposited in sedimentary basins
• inorganic : cosmic or magmatic origin
• Petroleum commonly occur in and have been produced from
sedimentary basins and are absent from areas outside of basins
where igneous and metamorphic rocks dominate.
• This fundamental truth strongly supports the sedimentary-organic
theory for the origin of petroleum.
• Organic matters, source of petroleum, are deposited in sedimentary
basins. That is why petroleum need basins.
• Basin Analysis is the method to explore petroleum in sedimentary
basins.
Basin Analysis
• Basin analysis is the integrated study of sedimentary basins
as geodynamical entities (Allen and Allen, 1990, 2005)
• Basin analysis including the studies of :
• basin-forming tectonics/mechanisms
• basin’s classification
• depositional sequences filling the basin
• structural styles of the basin
• tectonic and stratigraphic evolution
• thermal history of the basin
• petroleum system
Basin Analysis
• The investigation of sedimentary basins need
collaboration of earth scientists from a variety of
disciplines, notably :
• regional geologists
• structural geologists
• stratigraphers
• sedimentologists
• petroleum geochemists
• geophysicists

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

Sedimentary Basin : Definition
• A region of prolonged subsidence of the Earth’s
surface (Allen and Allen, 1990, 2005)
• An area of the Earth’s crust that is underlain by a
thick sequence of sedimentary rocks (Selley, 1985)
• An area of the Earth’s crust with a long history of
subsidence and within which a thick sequence of
sediments has accumulated (Evans, 2000 in
Hancock and Skinner, eds., 2000)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

 Skinner et al. (2004)
Dimension of Basin Relative to Sections of the Earth
AWANG H. SATYANA - BPMIGAS
 Dimension of Basin Relative to Sections of the Crust

Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
 Distribution of Sedimentary Basins of the World

Selley (1985)
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 Sedimentary Basin : Size and Shapes

• Most sedimentary basins cover tens of thousands

of square kilometers and may contain over five
kilometers of sedimentary fill.
• The shapes of basins may be divided into :
• true basins : subcircular in plan view
• troughs : elongate in plan view
• embayments : open out into larger basins
• Depocenter : area of greatest sediment thickness

Selley (1985)
AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
Sedimentary Basin : Size and Shapes

Selley (1985)

Selley (1988)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

Geometry of the
Various Types of
Basins

Selley (1985)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

 Mechanisms of Basin Formation
• Basins can form in four main ways :
• Basins form as a direct result of crustal tension at the
zones of sea floor spreading
• Basins form as a result of crustal compression at
convergent plate boundaries
• Basin form in response to vertical crustal movements
due to phase change of lithosphere and mantle
• Basin form in response to crustal loading due to
sedimentation

Fischer (1975)
AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
Various Types of Basin Formation

in Selley (1985)

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 Mechanisms of Basin Formation
• Purely thermal mechanisms : cooling and
subsidence of the oceanic lithosphere as it moves
away from spreading centres.
• Changes in crustal/lithospheric thickness : thinning
of the crust by mechanical stretching (accompanied
by extensional fault-controlled subsidence).
• Loading of the lithosphere causes a deflection or
flexural deformation and therefore subsidence.

Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
Three Basic Mechanisms for Basin Formation

Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

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Mechanisms of Basin Formation

• From a genetic point of view there are two main

groups of sedimentary basins :
• basins formed by lithospheric stretching
• rift basins, due to extensional fault-controlled subsidence
• strike-slip related basins, due to local stretching in complex
fault zones
• basins formed by flexure of continental and oceanic
lithosphere

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Lithospheric Mechanics
• A knowledge of the behaviour of the lithosphere is
essential if we are to understand the initiation and
development of sedimentary basins.
• Applied forces of whatever origin cause stresses
which result in deformation or strain.
• stress : force per unit area of rock that is transmitted
along the length of rock.
• strain : deformation of rock due to applied stress.
• The formation and evolution of sedimentary basins
occur due to tectonic strain of the lithosphere
under stress.
AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
Lithospheric Mechanics :
Rock Rheology
• Joints and faults are evidence that rocks can behave
as brittle materials, that is, they behave elastically up
to a limit, beyond which they fail by fracturing.
• On the other hand, the widespread occurrence of
folds suggests that rocks can also behave in a ductile
manner.
• Pressure, temperature, strain rate will determine the
brittle to ductile transition.

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

 Continent

Rifting

Passive Margin

Active Margin

Island arc

Collision

Plate Tectonic conceptual model of basin evolution

 BASIN ANALYSIS
SUBSIDENCE
NO SUBSIDENCE NO SEDIMENTARY BASIN
NO SEDIMENTARY BASIN NO HYDROCARBON
NO HYDROCARBON NO MODERN CIVILIZATION ?

SUBSIDENCE Vs PLATE MOTION

VERTICAL MOV. Vs LATERAL MOV.

LATERAL MOVEMENT :INTERACTION BETWEEN PLATE

1. DIVERGENT  SUBSIDENCE DUE TO CRUSTAL SCRATCHING.
2. CONVERGENT  SUBSIDENCE DUE TO CRUSTAL LOADING
3. TRANSFORM  SUBSIDENCE DUE TO BOTH SCRAT. AND LOAD

LATERAL MOV. PROMOTE VERTICAL MOV.

 BASIN ANALYSIS
ORIGIN OF SUBSIDENCE

1. SUBSIDENCE TECTONIC  PLT MOV.

2. SUBSIDENCE THERMIC  CONSEQ. OF LAT MOV.
3. SEDIMENT LOADING  CONSEQ. OF VERT. MOV.
Morphology and Plate Tectonic Setting of the Major
Types of Sedimentary Basins

Selley (1985)

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 Basic Concepts of Plate Tectonics

Selley (1985)
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 Rift Basin Evolution

in Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

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 Relation between Sags, Rifts,
Aulacogens, and Passive Margins

Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
 BASIN ANALYSIS
SUBSIDENCE
L DL

T A

t A

L’

T = 30 KM (CONTINENTAL)
L’ > L
T > t  CRUSTAL THINING
 BASIN ANALYSIS
SUBSIDENCE
LISTRIC FAULT MODEL

BASIN

LISTRIC FAULT

SHEARING STRESS
 BASIN ANALYSIS
SUBSIDENCE
PLANAR FAULT MODEL
 BASIN ANALYSIS
SUBSIDENCE BLOCK ROTATION MODEL

BASIN RANGE

PLANAR FAULT
BLOCK ROTATION

SHEARING STRESS
 Listric Normal Faulting in Rift System and Offsetting by Transform Fault

in Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS
Models of Pull-Apart Basin Development

in Allen and Allen (1990, 2005)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

Continuum Model of
Pull-Apart Basin
Development

in Allen and Allen (1990)

AWANG H. SATYANA – BPMIGAS

BURIAL HISTORY
 BURIAL HISTORY
Objective  Basin history
• Tectonic  Trap Formation
• Basin Filling  Architecture
• Thermal  Maturation

Data:
Thickness
• Well
• Seismic
• Measuring section
 BURIAL HISTORY

Method:
• Backstripping

Assumption: (Mc Kenzie 1978)

• Local subsidence
• Asymptotic thickness evolution
• Linear thickness evolution
 BURIAL HISTORY

Tectonic subsidence correction:

• Paleobathymetry
• Eustatic
• Sediment load