Slope and deep shelf gully sandstones, Upper Jurassic, east Greenland
The Upper Jurassic Hareelv Formation of Jameson Land, East Greenland, occurs in an area of 60 x 75 km. It consists of 200-500 m of black shale with thick, closely spaced sandstone bodies. The sandstones fill deep, steep-walled gullies and elongate scours, or form more regular, laterally extensive, parallel-sided, but erosive gully mouth or lobe deposits. Both types of sandstone bodies occur completely juxtaposed, and systematic vertical or lateral trends in bed thickness or grain size have not been observed. The sands were deposited in a deep-water shelf basin by high-density turbidity currents traveling from basin-margin source areas. A northeastern source area was represented by a short-lived, rapidly prograding delta, whereas the main, northwestern source area was a shallow, sandy barrier occurring along the length of a major north-northeast-striking fault-controlled slope. Voluminous turbidity currents probably were triggered by earthquakes in the fault zone. The resulting slope and basinal sand bodies are up to 50 m thick and hundreds of meters wide, and may be more than 5 km long in a downcurrent direction. They occur in a thick, rich oil-prone source rock. Thus, they may form potential stratigraphic reservoirs and help drain the source rock. The Hareelv Formation shows important similarities to the ramp facies model for delta-fed sand-rich turbidite systems; however, the formation is mainly tectonically controlled and independent of eustatic sea level changes. The Hareelv Formation may serve as a model for an unusual type of stratigraphic hydrocarbon reservoir, and at least one North Sea oil field seems to have formed in an analogous setting. 10 figures.
- Research Organization:
- Geological Survey of Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark
- OSTI ID:
- 6633455
- Journal Information:
- Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Vol. 71:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GREENLAND
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
SANDSTONES
EXPLORATION
BLACK SHALES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
JURASSIC PERIOD
SOURCE ROCKS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHATTANOOGA FORMATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MATERIALS
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
OIL SHALES
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration