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Title: Hydrocarbon associations in evaporite basins

Conference · · AAPG Bull.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6011482

Evaporite deposition today is not representative of the diversity or scale of evaporites of the past. Ancient evaporites were deposited in two main settings: platform wide or basin wide. Platform evaporites were composed of relatively thin stratiform units (usually <5-10 m thick) deposited on either ramps or behind rimmed shelves. Basinal evaporites were deposited as thick bedded units 10s to 100s of m thick, and laid down in 4 main tectonic settings - rift, collision, transform, and intracratonic. Basins could be further subdivided into three main depositional settings: deep basin-shallow water, deep basin-deep water, and shallow basin-shallow water. Thick basinal salts were remobilized into salt structures in all tectonic settings except intracratonic. Salt flow was due to inherent instability and differential loading in tectonically active settings. Hydrocarbon accumulations associated with these various platforms and basins followed a predictable, but not mutually exclusive, pattern related to the classification of evaporite settings presented in this paper. Reservoirs in platform and ramp settings tended to be of two types - depositional and diagenetic - with most of the diagenesis following patterns predicted by the porosity and plumbing established at or soon after evaporite emplacement.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Texas, Austin (USA)
OSTI ID:
6011482
Report Number(s):
CONF-880301-
Journal Information:
AAPG Bull.; (United States), Vol. 72:2; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, TX, USA, 20-23 Mar 1988
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English