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APRIL 2024 LUNCHEON MEETING

  • East Texas Geological Society 102 North College Avenue, Suite 1200 Tyler United States (map)

APRIL 2024 LUNCHEON MEETING

Paul Mann of the University of Houston
presents:

The Final Frontier of Deepwater Exploration: The Continent-Ocean Transition Zone of Rifted-Passive Margins

 11:30 AM Wednesday, April 17, 2024
at Willow Brook Country Club
3205 W Erwin St.
Tyler, TX 75702

Cost: $25 if you RSVP
$30 at the door if you do NOT reserve

Abstract

The objectives of this presentation are to summarize the crustal structure, tectonostratigraphy, and hydrocarbon potential of the deepwater, continent-ocean transition zone of both non-volcanic and volcanic, rifted-passive margins.  Non-volcanic and volcanic rifted-passive margins have an aggregate length of 105,000 km, which is greater than either spreading ridges (65,000 km) or convergent plate boundaries (53,000 km).  Rifted-passive margins are largely known from subsurface geophysical mapping because they are largely covered by an average sedimentary thickness of 3–4 km.

Because of their deep burial, rifted-passive margins are most directly known from deeply penetrating wells and seismic refraction and reflection subsurface mapping. The number of subsurface studies of rifted-passive margins worldwide has risen dramatically as improved geophysical imaging and academic and industry drilling of margins have increased. Rifted-passive margins host the greatest accumulations of deepwater sedimentary deposits on Earth, that lead to their hosting about two-thirds of all giant oil and gas discoveries worldwide. For that reason, rifted-passive margins remain major focus area for hydrocarbon exploration.

Key exploration-related questions related to rifted-passive margins and covered in this talk include: (1) Does a productive rifted-passive margin mean that its “look-alike” conjugate margin will also be productive? (2) Where should the deepwater limit of data acquisition and exploration be drawn at the deepwater, continent-ocean boundary - or along the even deeper-water area underlain by oceanic crust? (3) Should volcanic, rifted-passive margins be considered lower-priority exploration targets because magmatic activity has displaced or altered the normal deepwater sedimentary environments for organic-rich source rocks and highly porous and permeable reservoir rocks? and (4) Can petroleum systems develop seaward of the continent-ocean boundary on normal oceanic crust?

Biography

Paul Mann received a B.A. in geologyrom Oberlin College and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Albany. He is currently the Robert E. Sheriff endowed professor of geology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston, where he also directs the CBTH Project. His main interest is the tectonics of sedimentary basins.

Earlier Event: March 19
2024 ETGS EXPO
Later Event: May 15
MAY 2024 LUNCHEON MEETING