Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T08:23:26.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lower Cretaceous of the southern North Sea Basins: reservoir distribution within a sequence stratigraphic framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

J.M. Jeremiah ,
S. Duxbury  and
P. Rawson
J.M. Jeremiah*
Affiliation:
Shell International E&P, 200 N Dairy Ashford, Houston TX 77079, USA
S. Duxbury
Affiliation:
Duxbury Stratigraphic Consultants, 4, Coldstone Avenue, Kingswells, Aberdeen AB15 8TT, UK
P. Rawson
Affiliation:
CEMS, University of Hull, Scarborough Campus, Filey Rd, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 3AZ, UK, and Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
*
Email: jason.jeremiah@shell.com
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Facies belts exhibit a back-stepping trend towards the London Brabant/ Rhenish Massif through the Early Cretaceous. The overall eustatic sea-level rise was punctuated by short-term tectonic events identified either as localised or North Sea wide in extent. The biostratigraphically constrained sequences have, for the first time, allowed a detailed calibration of tectonic and eustatic events on a North Sea scale. The most extensive database available to any North Sea Cretaceous study was available to the authors together with a comprehensive suite of new high-resolution biostratigraphy and sedimentology. This has allowed unique insights into provenance, depositional environment, extent of sequence stratigraphical events and the degree to which unconformities have been tectonically accentuated.

Keywords

Early Cretaceousevent stratigraphytectonically accentuated
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 89 , Issue 3-4 , December 2010 , pp. 203 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2010

References

Abbink, O.A., Calloman, J.H., Riding, J.B., Williams, P.D.B. & Wolfard, A., 2001. Biostratigraphy of Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary strata in the Terschelling Basin, the Netherlands. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 53 (4): 275–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbink, O.A., Mijnlieff, H.F., Munsterman, D.K. & Verreusel, R.M.C.H., 2006. New stratigraphic insights in the ‘Late Jurassic’ of the Southern Central North Sea Graben and Terschelling Basin (Dutch Offshore) and related exploration potential. Geologie en Mijnbouw 85 (3): 221–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthur, M.A., Jenkyns, H.C., Brumsack, H.J. & Schlanger, S.O., 1990. Stratigraphy, geochemistry and palaeoceanography of organic-rich Cretaceous sequences. In: Ginsburg, R.N. & Beaudoin, B. (eds): Cretaceous resources, events and rhythms. Kluwer Academic (Norwell, Massachusetts): 75–119.Google Scholar
Bartenstein, H. & Kaever, M., 1973. Die Unterkreide von Helgoland und ihre mikropalaontologische gliederung. Senck Lethaia, 54 (2/4): 207–264.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, J.P. & Willis, B.J., 2001. Top-Truncated, lowstand deltas in the Cretaceous Interior seaway of North America. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 85 (13), supplement.Google Scholar
Bruijn, A.N., 1996. De Wijk gas field (Netherlands): reservoir mapping with amplitude anomalies. In: Rondeel, H.E., Batjers, D.A.J. & Nieuwenhuijs, W.H. (eds): Geology of gas and oil under the Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers (Dordrecht/Boston/London): 243–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, R., 1973. The ammonite succession at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in eastern England. In: Casey, R. & Rawson, P.F. (eds): The Boreal Lower Cretaceous. Liverpool Seel House Press: 193–226.Google Scholar
Copestake, P., Sims, A.P., Crittenden, S., Hamar, G.P., Ineson, J.R., Rose, P.T. & Tringham, M.E., 2003. Lower Cretaceous. In: Evans, D., Graham, C., Armour, A. & Bathurst, P. (editors and co-ordinators): The Millenium Atlas: Petroleum Geology of the Central and Northern North Sea. The Geological Society of London: 191–211.Google Scholar
Cloetingh, S., 1988. Intraplate stresses: A tectonic cause for third-order cycles in apparent sea level? In: Sea Level changes-An integrated Approach, Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication 42: 19–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, S., 1982. Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphy NE of the Sole Pit Area in the UK southern North Sea. Journal of Petroleum Geology 5(2): 191–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crittenden, S., Cole, J. & Harlow, C., 1991. The Early to ‘Middle’ Cretaceous Lithostratigraphy of the Central North Sea (UK Sector). Journal of Petroleum Geology 14 (4): 387–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jager, J., 2003. Inverted basins in the Netherlands, similarities and differences. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 82 (4): 339–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jager, J., Doyle, M.A., Grantham, P.J. & Mabillard, J.E., 1996. Hydrocarbon habitat of the West Netherlands Basin. In: Rondeel, H.E., Batjers, D.A.J. & Nieuwenhuijs, W.H (eds): Geology of oil and gas under the Netherlands. Royal Geological and Mining Society, Kluwer (Dordrecht): 191–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jong, M.G.G. & Laker, N., 1992. Reservoir modelling of the Vlieland Sandstone of the Kotter Field (Block K18b), offshore, the Netherlands. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 71(2): 173–188.Google Scholar
De Vault, B. & Jeremiah, J.M., 2002. Tectonostratigraphy of the Nieuwerkerk Formation (Delfland Subgroup), West Netherlands Basin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 86 (10): 1679–1707.Google Scholar
Duxbury, S., Kadolsky, D. & Johansen, S.J., 1999. Sequence stratigraphic subdivision of the Humber Group in the Outer Moray Firth area (UKCS, North Sea). In: Jones, R.W. & Simmons, M.D. (eds): Biostratigraphy in production and development geology. Geological Society, London, Special publication 152: 23–54.Google Scholar
Duxbury, S., 2001. A palynological zonation scheme for the Lower Cretaceous United Kingdom Sector, Central North Sea. N. Jahrbuch Geologisches. Paläont. Abh, 219(1/2): 95–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duxbury, S., 2002. Two new Early Cretaceous dinocyst species from the Central North Sea Basin. Journal of Micropalaeontology 21: 75–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erratt, D., Thomas, G.M. & Wall, G.R.T., 1999. The evolution of the Central North Sea rift. In: Fleet, A.J., and Boldy, S.A.R. (eds): Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe: Proceedings of the 5th Conference. Geological Society London: 63–82.Google Scholar
Eyers, J., 1995. Correlation of the Lower Greensand (Woburn Sands and Carstone) of the Bedfordshire Province, England. Cretaceous Research 16: 385–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallois, R.W., 1994. Geology of the country around King's Lynn and the Wash. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, sheet 145 and part of 129 (England and Wales): 1–210.Google Scholar
Goh, L.S., 1993. The Logger Field: Geology and Reservoir characterization. In: Aasen, J.O., Buller, A.T., Hjelmeland, O., Holt, R.M., Kleppe, J. & Torsæter, O. (eds): North Sea oil and gas reservoirs - III, Proc. of the 3rd North Sea Oil and Gas Reservoirs Conference, Trondheim, Norway, Kluwer (Dordrecht): 75–93.Google Scholar
Goh, L.S., 1996. The Logger oil Field: reservoir architecture and heterogeneity. In: Rondeel, H.E., Batjes, D.A.J. & Nieuwenhuijs, W.H. (eds): Geology of gas and oil under the Netherlands. Royal Geological and Mining Society of the Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers (Dordrecht): 255–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkes, P.W., Fraser, A.J. & Einchcomb, C.C.G., 1998. The tectono-stratigraphic development and exploration history of the Weald and Wessex basins, southern England U.K. In: Underhill, J.R. (ed.): Development, Evolution and Petroleum Geology of the Wessex Basin, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 133: 39–65.Google Scholar
Herngreen, G.F.W., Smit, R. & Wong, T.E., 1991. Stratigraphy and tectonics of the Vlieland Basin, the Netherlands. In: Spencer, A.M. (ed.): Generation, accumulation and production of Europe's hydrocarbons. Special Publication of the European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists 1, Oxford University Press (Oxford): 175–192.Google Scholar
Herngreen, P.W. & Wong, T.E., 2007. Cretaceous. In: Wong, T.E., Batjes, D.J.A. & De Jager, J., (eds): Geology of the Netherlands. Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences: 127–150.Google Scholar
Hoedemaeker, P.J. & Herngreen, W.G.F., 2003. Correlation of Tethyan and Boreal Berriasian – Barremian strata with emphasis on strata in the subsurface of the Netherlands. Cretaceous Research 24: 253–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, T.F., Holm, L., Franden, N. & Michelson, O., 1986. Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous lithostratigraphic nomenclature for the Danish Central Trough. Denmarke Geologiske Undersogelse Series A, 12: 7–65.Google Scholar
Jeremiah, J.M. & Nicholson, P.H., 1999. Middle Oxfordian to Volgian sequence stratigraphy of the Greater Shearwater area. In: Fleet, A.J. & Boldy, S.A.R. (eds): Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe: Proceedings of the 5th Conference. Geological Society London: 153–170.Google Scholar
Jeremiah, J.M., 2000. Lower Cretaceous turbidites of the Moray Firth: sequence stratigraphical framework and reservoir distribution. Petroleum Geoscience 6: 309–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeremiah, J., 2001. A Lower Cretaceous nannofossil zonation for the North Sea Basin. Journal of Micropalaeontology 20: 45–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemper, E., 1968. Einige Bemerkungen uber die Sedimentationsverhaltnisse und die fossilen lebensspuren des Bentheimer Sandsteins (Valanginium). Geologisches Jahrbuch 86: 49–106.Google Scholar
Kemper, E., 1976. Geologischer fuhrer durch die Grafschaft Bentheim und die angrenzenden Gebiete mit einem Abri der emslandischen unterkreide. Das Bentheimer Land 64. Nordhorn, Bentheim (Heimatver Grafscaft Bentheim): 1–206 Google Scholar
Kelly, S.R.A. & Rawson, P., 1983. Some late Jurassic-mid Cretaceous sections on the East Midlands Shelf, England, as demonstrated on a field meeting, 18-20 May 1979. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 94: 65–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinsen, O.J., Sharp, I., Leiknes, S. Ronning, J.S., 2000. Ultra high resolution seismic stratigraphic analysis of a late Pleistocene-Holocene forced regressive shoreline complex, Finnmark, Norway, sing ground-penetrating radar. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 84 (13), supplement.Google Scholar
McGann, G.J., Green, S.C.H., Harker, S.D. & Romani, R.S., 1991. The Scapa Field, Block 14/19, UK North Sea. In: Abbotts, I.L. (ed.): United Kingdom Oil and Gas Fields, 25 Years Commemorative Volume. Geological Society, London, Memoir 14: 369–376.Google Scholar
McMahon, N.A. & Turner, J., 1998. The documentation of a latest Jurassic – earliest Cretaceous uplift throughout southern England and adjacent offshore areas. In: Underhill, J.R. (ed.): Development, Evolution and Petroleum Geology of the Wessex Basin, Geological Society, London, Special Publications 133: 215–240.Google Scholar
Mutterlose, J. & Bornemann, A., 2000. Distribution and facies patterns of Lower Cretaceous sediments in northern Germany: a review. Cretaceous Research 21: 733–759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NAM & RGD (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij and Rijks Geologische Dienst), 1980. Stratigraphic nomenclature of the Netherlands. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Nederlands Geologisch Mijnbouwkundig Genootschap 32: 1–71.Google Scholar
Pinnock, S. J., Clitheroe, A.R.J. & Rose, P.T.S., 2003. The Captain Field, block 13/22a, UK North Sea. In: United Kingdom oil and gas fields commemorative Millennium volume. Geological Society of London Memoir 20: 431–441.Google Scholar
Posamentier, H.W., Jervey, M.T., & Vail, P.R., 1988. Eustatic controls on clastic deposition I-conceptual framework. In: Sea Level changes-An integrated Approach. Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication 42: 109–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Racero-Baena, A. & Drake, S.J., 1996. Structural style and reservoir development in the West Netherlands oil province. In: Rondeel, H.E., Batjers, D.A.J. & Nieuwenhuijs, W.H. (eds): Geology of gas and oil under the Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers (Dordrecht/Boston/London): 211–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawson, P.F. & Riley, L.A., 1982. Latest Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Events and the “Late Cimmerian Unconformity’ in North Sea Area. American Association of Petroleum Geologist Bulletin 66: 2628–2648.Google Scholar
Rawson, P.F., 2006. Cretaceous: sea levels peak as the North Atlantic opens. In: Brenchley, P.J. & Rawson, P.F. (ed.): The Geology of England and Wales, 2nd Edition, Geological Society: 365–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruffell, A., 1998. Tectonic accentuation of sequence boundaries: evidence from the Lower Cretaceous of southern England. In: Underhill, J.R. (ed.): Development, Evolution and Petroleum Geology of the Wessex Basin. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 133: 331–348.Google Scholar
Roelofsen, J.W. & De Boer, W.D., 1991. Geology of the Lower Cretaceous Q/1 oil-fields, Broad Fourteens Basin, the Netherlands. In: Spencer, A.M. (ed.): Generation, accumulation and production of Europe's hydrocarbons. Oxford University press (Oxford). Special Publication of the European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists 1: 203–216.Google Scholar
Roll, A., 1972. Bramberge Field, Federal Republic of Germany: Case Histories. In: King, R.E. (ed.): Stratigraphic Oil and Gas Fields-Classification, Exploration Methods, and Case Histories: 286–296.Google Scholar
Vail, P.R., Mitchum, R.M., Todd, R.G., Widmier, J.M., Thompson, S., Sangree, J.B., Bubb, J.N., & Hatlelid, W.G., 1977. Seismic stratigraphy and global changes in sea level, In: Clayton, C.E. (ed.): Seismic stratigraphy-Applications to hydrocarbon exploration. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26: 49–212 Google Scholar
Van Adrichem Boogaert, H.A., & Kouwe, W.F.P., 1993. Stratigraphic nomenclature of the Netherlands, revision and update by Rijks Geologische Dienst (RGD) and Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association (NOGEPA): Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst 50: 1–180.Google Scholar
Wonham, J.P., Johnson, H.D., Mutterlose, J., Stadtler, A. & Ruffell, A., 1997. Characterisation of a shallow marine sandstone reservoir in a syn-rift setting: the Bentheim Sandstone Formation (Valanginian) of the Ruhlermoor field, Lower Saxony Basin, NW Germany. In: Shanley, K.W. & Perkins, B.F. (eds.): Shallow marine and non-marine reservoirs: sequence stratigraphy, reservoir architecture and production characteristics. Gulf Coast Section Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists Foundation, 18th Annual Research Conference: 427–448.Google Scholar
Ziegler, P.A., 1982. Geological Atlas of Western and Central Europe. Amsterdam, Holland, Elsevier Scientific Publications: 1–130.Google Scholar
Ziegler, P.A., 1990. Geological Atlas of Western and Central Europe. Shell International Petroleum Maatschappij, Geological Society: 1–239.Google Scholar
Zimmerle, W., 1979. Lower Cretaceous tuffs in Northwest Germany and their geotectonic significance. In: Aspekte der Kreide Europas, Wiedmann, International Union of Geological Sciences. Series A (6): 385–402.Google Scholar