Basin-centered gas systems: global distribution

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Basin-centered gas systems
Series AAPG Bulletin, November 2002
Author Ben E. Law
Link Web page

The global distribution of basin-centered gas accumulations (BCGAs) is poorly known, and knowledge of the stratigraphic distribution of BCGAs is incomplete. Even in North America, where most of the exploration activity for BCGAs has occurred, the geographic distribution is not well known. Figure 1 shows the locations of known and suspected BCGAs in the United States. A tabulation of these areas, as well as areas outside North America, is shown in Table 1. The geographic distribution of BCGAs is probably best known in the Rocky Mountain region, where a considerable amount of research has occurred.

Worldwide, there are only a few references available alluding to the presence of BCGAs (Table 1). Many more areas undoubtedly contain BCGAs, but because of the poor understanding of the concepts of BCGSs in countries outside North America, the global distribution of BCGAs is poorly known. For example, in North America, many Rocky Mountain basins contain direct BCGAs. By analogy with Rocky Mountain basins, it is likely that many of the Andean foreland basins of South America also contain BCGAs. Several of the basins in the Middle East and North Africa probably contain indirect BCGAs similar to those in Jordan and Algeria.

Table 1 Selected areas or basins containing known or suspected basin-centered gas systems
Area Level of certainty Age Type of system Reference
NORTH AMERICA
Colville basin, Alaska High Cretaceous Direct ? Popov et al.[1]
Central Alaska basins Low/Moderate ? ? Popov et al.[1]
Cook Inlet, Alaska Low pre-Tertiary ? Popov et al.[1]
Norton Basin, Alaska High Eocene/Paleocene Direct Smith[2]
Alberta basin, Canada High Cretaceous Direct Masters[3] [4]
Charlotte-Georgia Basin, Canada Low/Moderate Tertiary/Cretaceous Direct ?
Willamette-Puget Sound Trough, Washington and Oregon Moderate/High Tertiary Direct ? Law,[5] Popov et al.[1]
Columbia basin, Washington High Tertiary Direct Law et al.,[6] Law[5]
Modoc Plateau, California Low/Moderate Cretaceous Direct ? Popov et al.[1]
Sacramento/San Joaquin basins, California Low/Moderate Cretaceous ? Popov et al.[1]
Great Basin, Nevada Low Tertiary ? ? Popov et al.[1]
Snake River Plain, Idaho Low/Moderate Tertiary ? ? Popov et al.[1]
Big Horn basin, Wyoming High Lower Tertiary/Cretaceous Direct Johnson et al.[7]
Wind River basn, Wyoming High Cretaceous Direct Johnson et al.[8]
Greater Green River basin, Wyoming High Lower Tertiary/Cretaceous Direct Law et al.,[9][10][11] McPeek,[12] Law,[13]
Hanna basin, Wyoming High Cretaceous Direct Popov et al.,[1] Wilson et al.[14]
Powder River basin, Wyoming High Cretaceous ? Surdam et al.,[15] Maucione et al.[16]
Wasatch Plateau, Utah Moderate/High Cretaceous Direct Popov et al.[1]
Uinta basin, Utah High Lower Tertiary/Cretaceous Direct Fouch et al.,[17] Fouch and Schmoker,[18] Popov et al.[1]
Piceance basin, Colorado High Cretaceous Direct Johnson et al.,[19] Spencer,[20] Spencer[21]
South Park basin, Colorado Moderate/High Cretaceous Direct/Indirect Popov et al.[1]
Raton basin, New Mexico and Colorado High Tertiary/Cretaceous Direct/Indirect Johnson and Finn,[22] Popov et al.[1]
Denver basin, Colorado High Cretaceous Direct/Indirect Higley et al.,[23] Popov et al.[1]
San Juan basin, New Mexico and Colorado High Cretaceous Direct Silver,[24] Masters,[3] Huffman[25]
Permian basin, New Mexico High Permian Indirect/Direct Broadhead,[26] Popov et al.[1]
Albuquerque basin, New Mexico Moderate/High Cretaceous Direct Johnson et al.[27] Popov et al.[1]
Anadarko basin, Oklahoma High Pennsylvanian Indirect Al-Shaieb et al.,[28] Popov et al.[1]
Midcontinent Rift, Minnesota and Iowa Low/Moderate Precambrian Indirect/Direct Popov et al.[1]
Arkoma basin, Arkansas and Oklahoma High Pennsylvanian Direct Meckel et al.,[29] Popov et al.[1]
Gulf Coast, United States High Cretaceous Indirect Popov et al.[1]
East Texas basin, Texas High Jurassic Indirect ? Montgomery and Karlewiz,[30] Emme and Stancil[31]
Black Warrior basin, Alabama and Mississippi Moderate/High Pennsylvanian Direct Popov et al.[1]
Michigan basin, Michigan Low/Moderate Ordovician ? Popov et al.[1]
Appalachian basin, eastern United States High Silurian/Devonian Indirect Davis,[32] Law and Spencer,[33][34] Popov et al.,[1] Ryder and Zagorski[35]
SOUTH AMERICA
Chaco basin, Bolivia Moderate Devonian ? Williams et al.[36]
Neuquen basin, Argentina High ? ? Fernandez-Sevesco and Surdam[37]
EUROPE
Timan-Pechora basin, Russa High Permian Direct Law et al.[38]
Dnieper-Donets basin, Ukraine High Carboniferous Direct Law et al.[39]
West Netherlands basin, Netherlands Indeterminate ? ?
Vlieland basin, Netherlands Indeterminate ? ?
Polish basin, Poland Indeterminate ? ?
Upper Silesian basin, Poland Indeterminate ? ?
Bekes basin, Hungary Moderate/High Miocene ? Spencer et al.[40]
German basin, Germany Indeterminate ? ?
Ruhr basin, Germany Indeterminate ? ?
Thuringian basin, Germany Indeterminate ? ?
Subhercynian basin, Germany Indeterminate ? ?
Lower Saxony basin, Germany Indeterminate ? ?
Saar-Nahe basin, Germany and France Indeterminate ? ?
Rhine graben, Germany and France Indeterminate ? ?
Nord-pas-de-Calais basin, France Indeterminate ? ?
Lorraine basin, France Indeterminate ? ?
Bresse basin, France Indeterminate ? ?
Southeast basin, France Indeterminate ? ?
Vienna basin, Austria and Slovakia Indeterminate ? ?
Alpine Foreland basin, Switzerland High Permian/Carboniferous Direct Schegg et al.[41]
ASIA-PACIFIC
Sichuan basin, China High Permian/Triassic Direct ? Da-jun and Yun-ho,[42] Ryder et al.[43]
Ordos Basin, China High Permian ?
Jungar basin, China High Permian ? Zha et al.[44]
Taranaki Basin, New Zealand High Eocene Direct
Gippsland Basin, Australia Moderate Lower Tertiary/Cretaceous Direct Stainforth[45]
Barrow Subbasin, Australia High Jurassic ? He and Middleton[46]
Perth basin (onshore), Australia Moderate Jurassic ? Crostella[47]
Carnarvon Basin, Australia Low/Moderate Permian ? Crostella[48]
Khorat Plateau basin, Thailand-Laos Low Triassic/Jurassic ? Smith and Stokes[49]
SOUTH ASIA
Vendian basin, India Low/Moderate Precambrian ?
Suliaman range foreland, Pakistan Low Cretaceous Direct ?
MIDDLE EAST
Risha area, Jordan High Ordovician Indirect Ahlbrandt et al.[50]
AFRICA
Ahnet basin, Algeria High Cambrian/Ordovician Indirect
Benue trough, Nigeria Moderate/High Cretaceous Direct Obaje and Abaa[51]
Figure 1 Map of the United States showing the geographic distribution of known and potential BCGAs.

The stratigraphic distribution of BCGAs extends from the Cambrian through the Eocene (Table 1). However, there appear to be some differences in the stratigraphic distribution of direct and indirect BCGAs. For example, the preponderance of direct BCGAs occur in Cretaceous through Eocene rocks (Table 1), whereas indirect BCGAs more commonly occur in pre-Cretaceous rocks. Although some of the apparent difference in stratigraphic distribution may be attributable to the disproportionate number of studies in Cretaceous and younger rocks compared to numbers of studies in pre-Cretaceous rocks, the question of seal integrity in direct systems arises. As previously discussed, the effective life of capillary pressure seals in direct systems is not known; therefore, because of the perceptions of a leaky seal in direct systems, the occurrence of direct systems in pre-Cretaceous rocks may be less common than in Cretaceous and younger rocks. Some examples, however, of pre-Cretaceous direct BCGAs include Permian rocks in the Timan-Pechora basin, Russia[38] and the Sichuan basin, China;[42] Pennsylvanian rocks in the Arkoma basin;[29] and Carboniferous rocks in the Dnieper-Donets basin, Ukraine[39] (Table 1).

Indirect BCGAs occur in rocks ranging from Cambrian through Cretaceous. Examples include Cambrian and Ordovician reservoirs in the Ahnet basin of Algeria, Ordovician reservoirs in Jordan,[50] Lower Silurian reservoirs in the Appalachian basin,[32][52][53][54][33][55][35] and Jurassic sandstone reservoirs in the Bossier Shale[30][31] in the United States Gulf Coast (Table 1).

References

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