Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Structure and Tectonics
Salt Tectonics of the Gulf of Mexico
Format and Duration:
3 days
This class discusses the origin and distribution of salt and provides intense instruction on the essential elements of salt mechanics, diapirism, structural styles of salt deformation and salt-sediment interaction. It comprises lectures and exercises from basins around the world but emphasizes those aspects of salt tectonics most relevant to the Gulf of Mexico Basin.
Business Impact: Subsurface professionals attending this class will help thier companies to identify, evaluate and risk salt-related prospects; build more accurate velocity models in areas of tough seismic imaging; and assess the results of appraisal wells and plan development scenarios.
Schedule
Duration and Training Method
This is a classroom course emphasizing the geometry and evolution of salt structures and their impact on petroleum systems. It consists of lectures, discussions, and exercises.
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn to:
- Summarize the nature of layered-evaporite basins and their tectonic settings.
- Describe how salt differs from other lithologies and the variable deformation of halite and non-halite layers.
- Characterize the ways in which differential loading, extension and contraction trigger salt flow and diapir growth.
- Evaluate the geometries that result from extension or shortening of pre-existing diapirs and minibasins.
- Interpret typical salt and stratal geometries associated with salt evacuation and diapirism.
- Predict how drape folding around passive diapirs impacts stratal geometries, faulting, and reservoir distribution in diapir-flank traps.
- Explain how salt sheets/canopies are formed and evolve, and what the implications are for drilling through shallow salt.
- Interpret salt structures on seismic data, while avoiding the pitfalls associated with complex salt bodies.
- Assess the effect of salt on various aspects of the petroleum system, including reservoir presence and quality, hydrocarbon maturation and migration, and weld seal.
Course Content
1. Salt Basins
- Layered Evaporite Sequences
- Tectonic Settings of Evaporite Basins
2. Fundamentals of Salt Tectonics
- Mechanics
- Gravitational Failure
- Definitions
- Drives
3. Extensional SaltTectonics
- Thin-skinned Extension
- Diapir initiation and reactivation
4. Contractional Salt Tectonics
- Thin-skinned Contraction
- Diapir initiation and reactivation
5. Strike-slip Salt Tectonics
6. Vertical Salt Tectonics
- Vertical Subsidence and Diapirism
- Near-diapir Deformation
- Salt Dissolution
7. Allochthonous Salt Tectonics
- Emplacement
- Salt-sheet Styles
8. Salt and Petroleum Systems
- Trap
- Reservoir Distribution and facies
- Hydrocarbon
Maturation and Migration - Seal
9. Interpretation Guidelines
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
Exploration and development geologists and geophysicists working the Gulf of Mexico Basin and other similar salt basins throughout the world.
Instructors
Mark Rowan
Background
Mark has worked in or with industry for over 40 years as an exploration geologist with Sohio (1982-1985); as a consultant with GeoLogic Systems (1985-1989) and Alastair Beach Assoc. in Scotland (1989-1992); as a research professor at the University of Colorado (1992-1998); and finally as President of Rowan Consulting in Boulder since 1998.
Mark focuses on salt tectonics through a combination of consulting projects in salt basins worldwide, teaching for RPS Training (formerly Nautilus) and the industry, and conducting field work in salt basins with colleagues from the several universities. He has over 125 published papers and about 260 published abstracts. He is the recipient of the GCSSEPM Doris M. Curtis Medal and the AAPG Robert J. Berg Outstanding Research Award.
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD University of Colorado at Boulder - Structural Geology
MS Berkeley College - Geology
BA Caltech - Biology
AAPG Distinguished Lecturer (2005-2006)
AAPG International Distinguished Instructor (2009-2010)
Courses Taught
N043: Gulf of Mexico Petroleum Systems
N071: Workshop in Geological Seismic Interpretation: Salt Tectonics
N149: Practical Salt Tectonics
N232: Salt Tectonics: Global Styles, Spanish Outcrops (Basque-Cantabrian Pyrenees, Spain)
Accreditation and Certification
CEU: 2.1 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 21 Professional Development Hours
Certificate: Certificate Issued Upon Completion
RPS is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. We comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognised internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices.
We issue a Certificate of Attendance which verifies the number of training hours attended. Our courses are generally accepted by most professional licensing boards/associations towards continuing education credits. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the courses and certificate of attendance meet their specific criteria.