Quantification of heat and fluid flow through time by 3D modelling: The example of the Jeanne d'Arc basin, offshore eastern Canada

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ralf Littke
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 47898809

The Jeanne d'Arc Basin (JdA) formed as a failed rift as part of the two-stage Atlantic rifting that started in the Early Jurassic. It formed a V-shaped basin, deepening and opening to the north, that was filled in with sediments to a depth of over 22 km. Evaporites deposited during the first rifting episode, limestones and fine elastics during a quiet intermediate period, and coarse elastics during the second episode. The Terra Nova Field is one area of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin where faulting and folding formed hydrocarbon traps. This field is complicated by the formation of compartments in the reservoir through faulting, some of which have overpressure, and most do not. This shows that at least some of the compartments are not in communication. The entire basin is charged by only one source rock (Egret Member) and is well explored and described trough seismic, well and logging data as well as trough a huge set of available geochemistry data. This makes the area very unique to test and quantify fundamental geoprocesses such as generation, migration and accumulation of hydrocarbons within a confined basin. The analytical work is based on numerical basin simulation taking different tools into account (e.g. log interpretation, geochemical as well as petrological analysis and data interpretation, crustal stretching models, overpressure models).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Hans Wielens