Abstract
When variations in vitrinite reflectance with depth for a well are combined with burial-history data, it is possible to estimate how the heat flux at that location varied with time and thus understand how vitrinite reflectance behaves as a function of depth through time. If an unconformity representing a large amount of erosional removal occurs in the well, the trend of measured vitrinite reflectance values with depth shows a discontinuity at that depth. Both the thickness of sediment removed at an unconformity and the heat flux with time can be determined simultaneously by varying the sediment thickness until a minimum is reached in the mean-square-residual fit of the match between the measured vitrinite reflectance values and predicted vitrinite reflectance values. This scheme has been tested successfully on unconformities in wells drilled in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA) and in one well from the Rharb basin of Morocco. The predicted magnitudes of the erosional events determined from vitrinite reflectance match the regional geology, suggesting that the system may be useful in areas where well and vitrinite reflectance data exist but regional geologic control is poor.
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Armagnac, C., Bucci, J., Kendall, G.S.C., Lerche, I. (1989). Estimating the Thickness of Sediment Removed at an Unconformity Using Vitrinite Reflectance Data. In: Naeser, N.D., McCulloh, T.H. (eds) Thermal History of Sedimentary Basins. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3492-0_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3492-0_13
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