Controls on carbonate development and reservoir potential

Moyra Wilson

Aims
• To provide greater understanding of carbonate reservoir heterogeneity and hydrocarbon reservoir development, as an aid to exploration and production in SE Asia.
• To evaluate the evolution of tropical marine systems and the response of equatorial regions to global change during the Cenozoic.
• To increase our knowledge of carbonate systems in SE Asia by analysing local and regional controls on carbonate development and diagenesis.
• To evaluate characteristics of modern carbonate sediments in SE Asia, and factors influencing their distribution, in order to better reconstruct past marine environments and carbonate reservoir potential.
Background
The The response of equatorial carbonates to major global and regional change is under investigation (Wilson, 2008; 2011; 2012; Renema et al., 2008) as a follow up to a major review of Cenozoic carbonate development in SE Asia (Wilson, 2002). Global changes include the transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse world or the development of the Asian monsoon, whereas regional influences include tectonics, siliciclastic runoff, nutrient input and oceanography. Four complementary papers have now been published evaluating: 1) controls on carbonate sedimentation (Wilson, 2008), 2) annual to millennial changes in environments and carbonate systems (Wilson, 2011), 3) investigating the tectonic influence on development and reservoir quality (Wilson and Hall, 2010), and (4) characterising equatorial systems and their diagenesis from a ‘processes to products’ standpoint (Wilson, 2012). The last of these papers ‘Equatorial carbonates: an earth systems approach’ (Wilson, 2012) was awarded the Wiley Prize for the best paper in the premier sedimentological journal ‘Sedimentology’ for a 2012 paper (out of ~120 published papers).This research has wide ranging implications for the evolution of tropical marine systems and the equatorial response to global change.

Recent Papers –

Max Webb et al., 2020. Isotopic mapping reveals the location of crustal fragments along a long-lived convergent plate boundary. Lithos.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105687

Max Webb et al., 2020. The history of Cenozoic magmatism and collision in NW New Guinea – New insights into the tectonic evolution of the northernmost margin of the Australian Plate. Gondwana Research.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.12.010

Amy Gough et al., 2020. Mid-Cenozoic fluvio-deltaic to marine environments of the Salin Sub-basin, Central Myanmar. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.104143

Recent News –

Amy Gough and Max Webb attended the Restech 2.0 Virtual Reservoir Conference. Amy Gough presented new SEARG research on the pitfalls of light mineral studies for sedimentary provenance in tropical climates.

Amy Gough was awarded an honorary research fellowship of the British Geological Survey and continues to foster collaborative relationships between SEARG and the BGS.