4-D Physical Simulation of Tectonics, Sedimentation and Erosion and the influence on Hydrocarbon Dynamics in the Sicilian Thrust Belt

Juergen Adam¹, Rolando Di Primio², Magdalena Scheck², and Juliette Lamarche^3
1 Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
² GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany
³ Universite de Provence, 13 331 Marseille cedex 3, France

An integrated 4D physical modelling approach with coupled structural, physical and geochemical methods is used to investigate the relevance of tectonics, sedimentation and erosion processes on HC dynamics in the foreland thrust belt of Eastern Sicily.

During Afro-European plate collision, the 300 km broad African shelf, including source rocks at several stratigraphic levels, was progressively deformed and incorporated into the southward propagating thrust wedge consisting of inverted rift-basin sediments, detached syntectonic turbidite beds and foredeep sediments. Variable accretion, sedimentation and erosion processes resulted in multiphase thrusting and a complex thrust architecture.

For the simulation of the feedback mechanism between deformation, sedimentation and erosion, we used granular-flow experiments. The fault kinematics, burial history of source rocks, and formation of structural traps were deduced by high-resolution optical strain monitoring techniques. The experimental data were used as input for petroleum system analysis. Our experimental results show that erosion and sedimentation strongly control fault kinematics and tectonic mass flux in the thrust wedge. Erosion increases exhumation rates and tectonic mass transfer in the thrust wedge, whereas external sedimentary loading (foredeep) and internal unloading (denudation) control the underthrust distance, frequency and lifespan of individual duplexes.

The integration of 4D physical simulations with structural balancing techniques and basin modelling software allows, for the first time, the realistic modelling of HC systems in foreland thrust belt affected by surface processes.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005