Choi, Byeonggoo¹, Joel S. Watkins¹
(1) Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

ABSTRACT: Thrust Tectonic Movement Provided Hydrocarbon Traps Through The VLE 400 Fault in The Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela

Structural analysis based on three dimensional seismic data interpretation suggests that thrust faults developed during Eocene-Oligocene through the north trending VLE 400 fault in the Maracaibo basin, Venezuela.
Fault-related fold structures were superimposed by left-lateral strike-slip movement, generated complicated normal and reverse faults in the same cross section. Reactivation of a pre-existing thrust fault created ambiguous structural features. Normal faults occurred along with back thrusts in the strike-slip zone. We propose that the thrust fault was initiated as a fault-propagation fold and a detachment fold during the compression stage, then developed as a fault-bounded fold by subsequent shear stress.
Thrusting generated the main structural traps along the VLE 400 fault, and subsequent strike-slip movement provided accommodation space which was filled by clastic sediments acted as a lateral seal of the Eocene reservoir.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90026©2004 AAPG Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 18-21, 2004.