Hydrocarbon maturation in Laramide-style basins: constraints from the northern Bighorn basin, Wyoming and Montana

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6571127

Hagen, E S

The Laramie-style basins of the Rocky Mountain region are deep asymmetric structural depressions containing thick sequences of upper Cretaceous and Tertiary strata. The combined effects of tectonics and sedimentation have contributed to the thermal evolution of the basins and to the maturation history of Cretaceous hydrocarbon source rocks. Thermal and geochemical models were used to quantify hydrocarbon maturation of the Mowry Formation in the Bighorn basin, Wyoming, and Montana. Illite-smectite clay diagenesis, vitrinite reflectance, elemental analysis of kerogen, and pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon source rock provided the primary constraints for each model. Results of the geochemical model relating kerogen kinetics to the time-temperature history of the northern Bighorn basin allowed delineation of the region of hydrocarbon maturation and zone of expulsion for the Mowry Formation. For the northern Bighorn basin the zone of hydrocarbon expulsion occurs at a present-day depth of 8000 ft (2439 m). Extrapolation of thermal and geochemical modeling results to the southern Bighorn basin, using observed geologic data, defines a region of hydrocarbon expulsion adjacent to or within known Cretaceous hydrocarbon reservoirs. Use of the kinetic geochemical model constrained by basin-specific time-temperature histories, allowed the construction of a time-dependent contour map which illustrates the effect of Laramide deformation and resultant sedimentation on hydrocarbon generation and expulsion for the Mowry Formation in the Bighorn basin, Wyoming and Montana.

• Research Organization: Wyoming Univ., Laramie (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6571127
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
HYDROCARBONS
MATURATION
MONTANA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
WYOMING
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
ILLITE
KEROGEN
KINETICS
MACERALS
ORIGIN
PYROLYSIS
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
SEDIMENTATION
SMECTITE
SOURCE ROCKS
TECTONICS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THERMAL STRESSES
TIME DEPENDENCE
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM SILICATES
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CLAYS
DECOMPOSITION
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MATERIALS
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
MINERALS
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MATTER
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RESOURCES
SILICATE MINERALS
SILICATES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
STRESSES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration