Question-1:

Convergent, Divergent and Transform continental margins can provide oil & gas?
Answer:
Oil and gas can occur along virtually any type of continental margin whether it is divergent,
convergent or transform type, provided that favorable structural, necessary depositional, proper
trapping and stratigraphic conditions are present for petroleum generation and accumulation.
Divergent Type: Oil and gas fields along the Atlantic Coasts of Africa and South America and along
the Gulf Coasts of Texas and Louisiana involve fault blocks, salt domes, carbonate banks, and reefs.
They are fields typical of divergent continental margins. The Hewett gas field in the British North Sea
experienced similar development.
Convergent Type: Since several types of convergent continental margins are possible, a variety of
petroleum fields is possible. Fields in Sumatra on the shelf side of the volcanic Barisan Mountains like
Minas Field are excellent examples of production from the convergent continental margin.
Continent to continent collision formed important petroleum producing structures along the Zagros
zone of southwestern Iran.
Transform Type: Several types of structures can be formed where two continental blocks move past
each other along a transform shear zone. The most important of these relative to petroleum
occurrences are the faulted folds that are distributed in echelon along the primary transform shear
zone. Dominguez Field is an example which is typical of the fields of southern California along the
Newport Inglewood trend.

Question-2:
Which types of rocks are important to the source and reservoir beds? OR, why rocks are
important to the petroleum industry?

Answer:
Rocks are important to the petroleum industry because they provide source beds and reservoirs for
hydrocarbons.
Igneous Rocks & Petroleum: Igneous rocks have no source potential. Fractured igneous rocks or
porous and permeable weathered igneous rocks can and do provide adequate reservoirs in many
locations including California, Nevada and Utah. The volcanic Garrett Ranch formation is an
important oil reservoir in the Eagle Spring and Trap Springs fields of east-central Nevada. Oil
produced from the Garrett Ranch formation was generated in underlying Lake Sediments and older
marine beds and migrated into the reservoir.
Sedimentary Rocks & Petroleum: All petroleum source rocks are sedimentary. Black shale, rich in
preserved organic materials, is considered to have the best source bed characteristics. Some carbonate
rocks have excellent source bed potential. Recent data suggest that evaporates from highly saline
environments may act as source beds.
Petroleum reservoir rocks include many types of sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks containing
intrinsic porosity and permeability such as sandstone, conglomerate, and reef limestone are considered
good reservoirs. Sedimentary rocks with limited porosity can become good reservoirs if fractured.
Sedimentary rocks can and do act as reservoir seals.
Metamorphic Rocks & Petroleum: Metamorphic rocks have no petroleum source potential.
Fractured and weathered porous and permeable metamorphic rocks are locally significantly
productive. The La Paz field, Venezuela, the El Segundo field, California, and portion of the Central
Kansas uplift are all productive from metamorphic reservoirs. Unfractured and unweathered
metamorphic rocks have no permeability and can provide effective reservoir seals.
Question-3:
Write notes on three of the following: (a) Superposition (b) Stratigraphy (c) Transgression and
Regression (d) Correlation involving an unconformity (e) Lithologic correlation or Correlation
of stratigraphic sections.

Answer:
(a) Superposition: Superposition is fundamental to the study of layered rocks and means that in
any normal sequence the oldest rocks, deposited first, are on the bottom and the youngest
rocks, deposited last, are on the top.
Any sequence of sedimentary rocks is considered to have been deposited horizontally, nearly
so, and in order to reflect normal superposition must not be overturned by deformation. A well
drilled through a normal sedimentary sequence will encounter the youngest rocks on the
surface and progressively older rocks with greater depth. As erosion attacks terrain underlain
by a normal rock sequence, successively older rocks will be exposed as younger rocks are
removed.
(b) Stratigraphy: Strata, or layers of sedimentary rock, vary in distribution, thickness and
character with changes in depositional environment and sediment supply. Changes in
characteristics of sedimentary rocks are important since they control parameters important to
the discrimination of potential petroleum sourced and reservoir rocks. Stratigraphy is the study
and classification of layered rocks, their depositional succession, and geographic distribution.
In its name is specific allusion to study of the origin and character of layered sedimentary
rocks.
(c) Transgression and Regression: Inasmuch as sea level is routinely changing so do
depositional conditions. The sea encroaches upon the land and as it transgresses, conditions of
deposition change: the water deepens and wave energy and sediment grain size diminish. As
the sea retreats or regresses, depositional conditions change again and the water becomes
shallower, and wave energy and sediment grain sizes increase. Perhaps emergence and erosion
may occur. Water depth and energy conditions vary. Temperature, salinity, turbidity and
faunal and floral conditions change. Periodic, consistent transgression and regression results in
cyclic sedimentation that represent repetition of similar conditions.
(d) Correlation involving an unconformity: Any interruption of deposition whether large or
small in extent is an unconformity. A surf that separates one set of rocks from another younger
and bedded set, and that represents a period of non deposition, weathering or erosion to the
deposition of the younger set.
According to Wikipedia “An unconformity is a buried erosion surface separating two rock
masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In
general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval of time before deposition of the
younger, but the term is used to describe any break in the sedimentary geologic record.”
Attach figure from book

(e) Lithologic correlation:

Geologists can draw stratigraphic sections for several outcrops (or cores) in an area,
and then trace beds from one section to another. This is called Lithologic correlation.
Basically, correlation demonstrates the equivalency of rock units across an area. The
sections being correlated are commonly miles apart. Basically, a correlation is a
hypothesis that units in two widely separated sequences are equivalent. Clearly, the more
 unique characteristics that two sections share, the greater the probability that the
correlation is correct.

Illustration of lithologic correlation

Fossil successions and occurrences allow correlations or comparisons to be made between rock
sections in different localities and thereby establish age similarities or disparities. Fossils can be
useful in rock sections that change rock type from place to place, but remain the same age
comparison or correlation of strata at several localities illustrates the regional behavior of
stratigraphic sequences.

(f) Correlation of stratigraphic section:

See previous one

Question-4:
Do you agree that porous reef carbonate could be highly productive reservoir rock for
Hydrocarbon?

Answer:
Reef Deposits: Reef is a bank, ridge or mound which can occur in several ways, most of which
involve metabolic activity by plants and animals. Some marine algae remove carbon dioxide from
seawater and decrease the solubility of dissolved calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate
precipitates on the sea floor as banks, which by their shape and position can be called reefs.
Reefs are normally warm water phenomena that grow in tropical water between 300 N & 250 S. It
consists of many different types of Corals, which vary according to locale. The skeletal framework of
a reef is very porous and permeable. Reef produces hydrocarbons abundantly in many parts of the
world. Zelten in Libya & the Golden Lane in Mexico are the best example. Moreover, Devonian
pinnacle reefs are very productive of oil and gas in Alberta Canada.
Reef Deposit and petroleum: Porous reef carbonates can be highly productive reservoir rock. In
many areas they are easily identified on seismic section. Reefs in Mexico, Canada, West Texas and
North Africa are well known for their high rates of oil and gas production. Reef carbonates can be
good source beds in some producing areas. However, since reef organisms require oxygen and reef
development is associated with oxygen, oxidation of organic material can significantly reduce
petroleum generation potential in reefs.
Characteristics of Reef: (a) Reef talus is porous and augments the reservoir character of the reef
itself.
(b) Carbonate beds on the shelf may have some good reservoir potential, some of which do not. So
lime mud has limited reservoir potential unless it is dolomitized.
(c) Oolitic limestone can often highly porous and permeable.
(d) Pelletal limestone can have good porosity and permeability.
(e) Petroleum source potential of algal mats can be high with low oxygen content & high organic
preservatioin.
(f) Terrestrial clastics combine with evaporates and layered carbonate may provide petroleum source
potential.
(g) As rock is usually hard & has limited porosity & permeability, Diagenetic re-crystallization
(dolomitization) and addition of Mg-ion result in a volume decrease and improves porosity.

Question-5:
How flood plain deposition could be a prosperous area for Hydrocarbon?

Answer:
Progression of stream development and the gradual shift from erosion to deposition results in the
formation of a flood plain. Some of the deposits are porous & permeable offering excellent reservoir
potential. Others are finer-grained and when deposited with organic matter that is preserved by burial,
can act as petroleum source beds.
As a river in flood rises above its banks & spills over to deposits natural levees, additional sediments
carrying water extends further from the channel to the margin of the flood plain. The flood waters
move more & more slowly with distance from the channel, allowing finer & finer particle to settle.
Fine grained flood plain deposits can include organic material which can be preserved by burial caused
by subsequent flooding. The organic material thus subsequently buried by younger sediments can be
converted to petroleum & expelled from the fine grained flood plain source beds into coarse grained
natural levee and channel deposits continuing reduction in velocity of channel water causes
progressively finer material to be deposited over the coarse bed.
Water trapped by floods in low floodplain areas behind natural levees often forms swamps. These
areas are also affected by small tributaries that are unable to flow over the natural levees. Organic
materials accumulated in fine grained swamp sediments and distributed over the flood plain have good
petroleum generating potential.
Deposition of a stream is a function of its channel & flood plain. Not all the river system has the
proper combination to provide a source potential area. However when factors combine favorably river
and stream system and their sediments can be very prospective of petroleum
Question-6:
Where do you expect more petroleum deposits in Stream / River or Delta?

Answer:
Stream Deposits & Petroleum: Stream deposition includes channel & flood plain sediments, which
are closely interrelated. The coarsest deposits are the characteristics of channel deposition and are
subjected to highest stream velocities. Flood plain deposits are variable to course, poorly sorted to fine
grained swamp deposits.
Channel deposits include channel sand & point bars. These deposits are coarse & permeable at the
base and become finer & less permeable at the base and become finer & less permeable upward.
Channel deposits have good reservoir potential.
Floodplain deposits include coarse, poorly sorted natural levee sediments, fine sand, shale and swamp
sediments. Natural levee deposits have some reservoir potential. Fine grained organic rich floodplain
deposits and swamp sediments have good source potential.
Channel deposits are important petroleum reservoirs in the Norwegian statfjord oil in the North Sea.
Deltaic deposits also produce over there which contains about 3 billion battles of oil.
Delta Deposits & Petroleum: Delta sediments contain abundant reservoir and source beds. Reservoirs
include distributary channel, distributary fronts and natural levee sediments. Deltaic distributary
channel, distributary front and cut & fill sandstones produce about 46000 barrels daily from 26 well in
the Bekapai Field in East Kalimantan of Indonesia. Most of the sandstones have 25 to 35% porosity
and permeability exceeding one Darcy. They are limited lateral extent and typical of deltaic
deposition.
Distributary channel contain porous and permeable rocks analogous to continental channel deposits
resulting very good reservoir potential which is similar to that of stream channels.
Intra-channel deposits include floodplain and swamp sediments, which have excellent petroleum
source potential. Growth –faulted deltaic sediments have calculated oil reserves in excess of 645
million barrels in the Nembe Field on the Niger delta, Nigeria.
Thus we can say delta is the more prospective zone for hydrocarbon than stream or channel cones.

Question-7:
“Eugeosyncline rocks are considered not prospective of oil & gas than Miogeosynclinal and
intracratonic basin” justify.

Answer:
On the landward side of the geosyncline, marine sedimentation occurs under more tranquil conditions
than in the Eugeosyncline. The miogeosyncline represents the shelf of the continent where deposition
is in shallow water, is slower, and sediments are not as thick as in the Eugeosyncline. Miogeosynclinal
rocks consist of sandstone, shale, and carbonates, which are considered of oil and gas and produce in
various parts of he world.
However, basins that form in response to local cratonic subsidence are known as intracratonic basins.
They are repositories for marine sedimentation when the craton is undergoing oceanic transgression.
In some cases, intracratonic basins contain sedimentary sections which might exceed 14000 feet in
thickness. Marine deposition in intracratonic basins relates to shallow water environments associated
with shelf condition. Marine clastics, carbonates, and evaporates are typical of some basins from
which good amounts of petroleum have been produced. The Michigan Basin is a good example of an
intracratonic basin, which has produced from barrier bar and beach deposits, reefs, and salt structures.
On the other hand, subduction zones or trenches are places where rapid and chaotic sedimentation
occurs. This part of the geosyncline is called the Eugeosyncline and is located on the seaward side of
the subduction system. Eugeosynclinal sediments are deposited in deep water, are thick and
heterogeneous, and usually are not considered to contain good source beds. Therefore, Eugeosynclinal
beds are not particularly prospective of oil and gas.

Question-8:
Justify depositional basins are most suitable for petroleum occurrences.

Answer:
A general commentary on marine depositional environments in depositional basins comprises a review
of source bed and reservoir rock considerations. There involve a development of source beds high in
organic material and porous and permeable reservoir rocks.
Depositional basins occur on continental margins, and conform generally to certain conceptual styles,
within continental limits, and in oceanic setting diverge in the details of their sediments and structure.
The importance of depositional basins is that they are places in which sediments that generate and
accumulate petroleum are deposited. Source and reservoir beds are products of deposition under many
types of environments, which themselves are functions of the basin in which they occur.
Source beds consist of black shale deposited in the basin and in the lagoon behind a barrier bar or reef.
Black shale in the basin is thicker and better developed than in the lagoon. Deltaic black shales are
excellent source beds.
Petroleum production in the volcanic island-separated basin or active comes from the shelf edge of the
miogeosyncline behind the island arc. An example of this is Tertiary sediments in the back arc basin in
Sumatra. On the other hand, petroleum production in the water-depth separated geosyncline usually
comes from sediments on the shelf where marine clastics and reef carbonates provide good reservoirs.
Parts of offshore Brazil, the Grand Banks, and the North Sea are related to this type of geosyncline.

Question-9:
What are the causes of continental margin?
Answer:
Causes of continental Motion: One theory for plate motion concerns the development of convection
currents within the mantle. Although the mantle is sufficiently viscous to behave as a solid, it may
respond to continuous stress applied by heat and develop convection currents. In this manner the
mantle would flow at temperatures below that of its melting point. Convection cells in the mantle may
occur in pairs and provide a mechanism for the separation of continental masses from a common
spreading center and movements in the curst, produced by convection, would not exceed a few
centimeters per year.
Another possible mechanism for continental movements might involve the body forces produced in
the earth by rotation on its axis. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which the thin, relatively
incompetent crustal materials could respond to rotational forces that affect every part of the earth.
Light weight crustal materials floating on denser, highly viscous lithosphere and mantle materials
might respond to the same rotational forces and similarly move about on the surface of the earth.
Gravitational effects of the sun, moon, and the planets in the solar system create tides within the
earth’s crust what are known as earth tides. It seems possible that earth tides or the forces that cause
them might contribute to the motions of crustal plates on the earth.

Attach figure from book