Basin Evolution and Geochemical Modeling
Source rock hunter project
Postdoctoral research by Dr Álvaro Jiménez Berrocoso
Introduction:
This study will assess the posibility of new and untried source rocks throughout North Africa, but will focus on the Eocene of Tunisia. Literature will be reviewed, and fieldwork will build upon findings.
Summary:
Other than the well-documented petroleum source rocks of the early Silurian, Late Devonian and Late Cretaceous in North Africa, little information is comparatively accessible on other potentially significant intervals such as the Infracambrian, Ordovician, Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic and Palaeogene. Thus, more data are needed to better understand the distribution in time and space, origin, and source-rock potential of the organic-rich strata in the latter intervals.
In this project, a regional source-rock evaluation integrating new fieldwork and literature review is being carried out for the organic-rich sediments of two main targets, i.e. the Early Jurassic and the early Eocene in Tunisia. These sediments are being logged and sampled thoroughly to address the controls on the development of the organic richness, as well as to assess their distribution stratigraphicly and aerially, in order to make source-rock quality predictions relevant to offshore. Additionally, the distribution and main characteristics of source rocks across North Africa are being collected to produce an integrated atlas.
The main deliverables of this project are:
- Literature review to produce summary reports.
- Carry out fieldwork, logging and sampling on the intervals selected.
- Revise subsurface data from sponsor companies to incorporate into the study.
- Integrate facies analysis, biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy (C-O stable isotopes, TOC, redox-sensitive trace metals) of stratigraphic sections into palaeoclimatic, palaeogeographic and tectonic contexts.