TY - JOUR A1 - Whitaker, F. F. A1 - Felce, G. P. A1 - Benson, Gregory S. A1 - Amour, Frédéric A1 - Mutti, Maria A1 - Smart, P. L. T1 - Simulating flow through forward sediment model stratigraphies: insights into climatic control of reservoir quality in isolated carbonate platforms JF - Petroleum geoscience N2 - Whilst sophisticated multiphase fluid flow models are routinely employed to understand behaviour of oil and gas reservoirs, high-resolution data describing the three-dimensional (3D) distribution of rock characteristics is rarely available to populate models. We present a new approach to developing a quantitative understanding of the effect of individual controls on the distribution of petrophysical properties and their impact on fluid flow. This involves simulating flow through high-detail permeability architectures generated by forward modelling of the coupled depositional-diagenetic evolution of isolated platforms using CARB3D(+). This workflow is exemplified by an investigation of interactions between subsidence and climate, and their expression in spatial variations in reservoir quality in an isolated carbonate platform of similar size and subsidence history to the Triassic Latemar Platform. Dissolutional lowering during subaerial exposure controls platform-top graininess via platform top hydrodynamics during the subsequent transgression. Dissolved carbonate is reprecipitated as cements by percolating meteoric waters. However, associated subsurface meteoric dissolution generates significant secondary porosity under a more humid climate. Slower subsidence enhances diagenetic overprinting during repeated exposure events. Single-phase streamline simulations show how early diagenesis develops more permeable fairways within the finer-grained condensed units that can act as thief zones for flow from the grainier but less diagenetically altered cyclic units. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2013-026 SN - 1354-0793 VL - 20 IS - 1 SP - 27 EP - 40 PB - Geological Soc. Publ. House CY - Bath ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Agada, S. A1 - Chen, F. A1 - Geiger, S. A1 - Toigulova, G. A1 - Agar, Susan M. A1 - Shekhar, R. A1 - Benson, Gregory S. A1 - Hehmeyer, O. A1 - Amour, Frédéric A1 - Mutti, Maria A1 - Christ, Nicolas A1 - Immenhauser, A. T1 - Numerical simulation of fluid-flow processes in a 3D high-resolution carbonate reservoir analogue JF - Petroleum geoscience N2 - A high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) outcrop model of a Jurassic carbonate ramp was used in order to perform a series of detailed and systematic flow simulations. The aim of this study was to test the impact of small- and large-scale geological features on reservoir performance and oil recovery. The digital outcrop model contains a wide range of sedimentological, diagenetic and structural features, including discontinuity surfaces, shoal bodies, mud mounds, oyster bioherms and fractures. Flow simulations are performed for numerical well testing and secondary oil recovery. Numerical well testing enables synthetic but systematic pressure responses to be generated for different geological features observed in the outcrops. This allows us to assess and rank the relative impact of specific geological features on reservoir performance. The outcome documents that, owing to the realistic representation of matrix heterogeneity, most diagenetic and structural features cannot be linked to a unique pressure signature. Instead, reservoir performance is controlled by subseismic faults and oyster bioherms acting as thief zones. Numerical simulations of secondary recovery processes reveal strong channelling of fluid flow into high-permeability layers as the primary control for oil recovery. However, appropriate reservoir-engineering solutions, such as optimizing well placement and injection fluid, can reduce channelling and increase oil recovery. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2012-096 SN - 1354-0793 VL - 20 IS - 1 SP - 125 EP - 142 PB - Geological Soc. Publ. House CY - Bath ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Di Lucia, Matteo A1 - Trecalli, A. A1 - Mutti, Maria A1 - Parente, Maria T1 - Bio-chemostratigraphy of the Barremian-Aptian shallow-water carbonates of the southern Apennines (Italy): pinpointing the OAE1a in a Tethyan carbonate platform JF - Solid earth N2 - Low biostratigraphic resolution and lack of chronostratigraphic calibration hinder precise correlations between platform carbonates and coeval deep-water successions. These are the main obstacle when studying the record of Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events in carbonate platforms. In this paper carbon and strontium isotope stratigraphy are used to produce the first chronostratigraphic calibration of the Barremian-Aptian biostratigraphy of the Apenninic carbonate platform of southern Italy. According to this calibration, the segment of decreasing delta C-13 values, leading to the negative peak that is generally taken as the onset of the Selli event, starts a few metres above the last occurrence of Palorbitolina lenticularis and Voloshinoides murgensis. The following rise of delta C-13 values, corresponding to the interval of enhanced accumulation of organic matter in deep-water sections, ends just below the first acme of Salpingoporella dinarica, which roughly corresponds to the segment of peak delta C-13 values. The whole carbon isotope excursion associated with the oceanic anoxic event 1a is bracketed in the Apenninic carbonate platform between the last occurrence of Voloshinoides murgensis and the "Orbitolina level", characterized by the association of Mesorbitolina parva and Mesorbitolina texana. Since these bioevents have been widely recognized beyond the Apenninic platform, the calibration presented in this paper can be used to pinpoint the interval corresponding to the Early Aptian oceanic anoxic event in other carbonate platforms of central and southern Tethys. This calibration will be particularly useful to interpret the record of the Selli event in carbonate platform sections for which a reliable carbon isotope stratigraphy is not available. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/se-3-1-2012 SN - 1869-9510 VL - 3 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 28 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shekhar, R. A1 - Sahni, I. A1 - Benson, Gregory S. A1 - Agar, Susan M. A1 - Amour, Frédéric A1 - Tomas, Sara A1 - Christ, Nicolas A1 - Alway, Robert A1 - Mutti, Maria A1 - Immenhauser, A. A1 - Karcz, Z. A1 - Kabiri, L. T1 - Modelling and simulation of a Jurassic carbonate ramp outcrop, Amellago, High Atlas Mountains, Morocco JF - Petroleum geoscience N2 - Carbonate reservoirs pose significant challenges for reservoir modelling and flow prediction due to heterogeneities in rock properties, limits to seismic resolution and limited constraints on subsurface data. Hence, a systematic and streamlined approach is needed to construct geological models and to quickly evaluate key sensitivities in the flow models. This paper discusses results from a reservoir analogue study of a Middle Jurassic carbonate ramp in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco that has stratigraphic and structural similarities to selected Middle East reservoirs. For this purpose, high-resolution geological models were constructed from the integration of sedimentological, diagenetic and structural studies in the area. The models are approximately 1200 x 1250 m in size, and only faults (no fractures) with offsets greater than 1 m are included. Novel methods have been applied to test the response of flow simulations to the presence or absence of specific geological features, including proxies for hardgrounds, stylolites, patch reefs, and mollusc banks, as a way to guide the level of detail that is suitable for modelling objectives. Our general conclusion from the study is that the continuity of any geological feature with extreme permeability (high or low) has the most significant impact on flow. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2013-010 SN - 1354-0793 VL - 20 IS - 1 SP - 109 EP - 123 PB - Geological Soc. Publ. House CY - Bath ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tomás, Sara A1 - Aurell, Marcos A1 - Badenas, Beatriz A1 - Bjorge, Merle A1 - Duaso, Maria A1 - Mutti, Maria T1 - Architecture and Paleoenvironment of Mid-Jurassic Microbial–Siliceous Sponge Mounds, Northeastern Spain JF - Journal of sedimentary research N2 - The occurrence of mounds dominated by siliceous sponges and microbialites is often related to distal, deep settings of middle ramps and shelves. This paper presents evidence for Bajocian (Garanliana garantiana Zone) microbial-siliceous sponge mounds formed in open marine but relatively shallow settings of a ramp from the Iberian Basin of eastern Spain. Marked differences in mound spacing, morphology, and composition of the related intermound facies are observed from distal to more proximal settings. The distal (below storm wave base) settings are characterized by alternating tabular-bedded marls and limestones rich in pelagic fossils (ammonites, belemnites), open-marine thin-shelled bivalves (Bositra-like), as well as peloids, which include widely or randomly spaced isolated, small (up to 0.4 m high) and larger (up to 2.5 m high) mounds with upward accretion. The intermediate (near to above storm wave base) settings show tabular, thickened beds of peloidal and/or intraclastic limestones with closely spaced mounds (similar to 1 m high), which often coalesce laterally, forming extensive lenticular structures (up to 10 m wide). The proximal (above storm wave base) depositional settings consist of tabular to irregular beds of intraclastic limestones with widely spaced small (up to 0.4 m high) mounds with mainly tabular geometries. The mound framework contains variable proportions of microbialites (dense to clotted peloidal thrombolitic fabrics) and siliceous sponges (hexactinellids and lithistids in similar proportion) ranging from planar to conic shapes. These morphological and compositional changes allow characterizing three shallowing-upward sequences (sequences 1-3) developed in the overall regressive trend of a basin-wide, upper Bajocian T-R cycle. Episodic wave reworking of the early-cemented mounds resulted in the formation of peloids, small rounded intraclasts, and large, rounded or subangular intraclasts. These nonskeletal micritic grains show internal fabrics related to those of the mound and/or microbialites. A progressive textural gradation towards greater size and lesser roundness of the nonskeletal grains in the areas in the vicinity of the main mound factory is documented (i.e., from large, subangular intraclasts in the areas close to the main mound factory to peloids in the areas that are far from it). We discuss the alternative model of internal waves (instead of storm-induced waves) as the hydrodynamic agent providing the high-energy events needed to explain the origin of the peloidal-intraclastic intermound facies and, likely, also the nutrients needed by the microbialites and siliceous sponges to grow. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2019.5 SN - 1527-1404 SN - 1938-3681 VL - 89 IS - 2 SP - 110 EP - 134 PB - Society for Sedimentary Geology CY - Tulsa ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Christ, Nicolas A1 - Maerz, Sven A1 - Kutschera, Edgar A1 - Kwiecien, Ola A1 - Mutti, Maria T1 - Palaeoenvironmental and diagenetic reconstruction of a closed-lacustrine carbonate system BT - the challenging marginal setting of the Miocene Ries Crater Lake (Germany) JF - Sedimentology : the journal of the International Association of Sedimentologists N2 - Chemostratigraphic studies on lacustrine sedimentary sequences provide essential insights on past cyclic climatic events, on their repetition and prediction through time. Diagenetic overprint of primary features often hinders the use of such studies for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Here the potential of integrated geochemical and petrographic methods is evaluated to record freshwater to saline oscillations within the ancient marginal lacustrine carbonates of the Miocene Ries Crater Lake (Germany). This area is critical because it represents the transition from shoreline to proximal domains of a hydrologically closed system, affected by recurrent emergent events, representing the boundaries of successive sedimentary cycles. Chemostratigraphy targets shifts related to subaerial exposure and/or climatic fluctuations. Methods combine facies changes with C-13-O-18 chemostratigraphy from matrix carbonates across five closely spaced, temporally equivalent stratigraphic sections. Isotope composition of ostracod shells, gastropods and cements is provided for comparison. Cathodoluminescence and back-scatter electron microscopy were performed to discriminate primary (syn-)depositional, from secondary diagenetic features. Meteoric diagenesis is expressed by substantial early dissolution and dark blue luminescent sparry cements carrying negative C-13 and O-18. Sedimentary cycles are not correlated by isotope chemostratigraphy. Both matrix C-13 and O-18 range from ca -75 to +40 parts per thousand and show clear positive covariance (R=097) whose nature differs from that of previous basin-oriented studies on the lake: negative values are here unconnected to original freshwater lacustrine conditions but reflect extensive meteoric diagenesis, while positive values probably represent primary saline lake water chemistry. Noisy geochemical curves relate to heterogeneities in (primary) porosity, resulting in selective carbonate diagenesis. This study exemplifies that ancient lacustrine carbonates, despite extensive meteoric weathering, are able to retain key information for both palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and the understanding of diagenetic processes in relation to those primary conditions. Also, it emphasizes the limitation of chemostratigraphy in fossil carbonates, and specifically in settings that are sensitive for the preservation of primary environmental signals, such as lake margins prone to meteoric diagenesis. KW - Lacustrine carbonates KW - meteoric diagenesis KW - Miocene KW - ostracod shells KW - palaeoenvironmental reconstruction KW - sedimentary cycles KW - subaerial exposure KW - C-13 and O-18 chemostratigraphy Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12401 SN - 0037-0746 SN - 1365-3091 VL - 65 IS - 1 SP - 235 EP - 262 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tomas, Sara A1 - Frijia, Gianluca A1 - Boemelburg, Esther A1 - Zamagni, Jessica A1 - Perrin, Christine A1 - Mutti, Maria T1 - Evidence for seagrass meadows and their response to paleoenvironmental changes in the early Eocene (Jafnayn Formation, Wadi Bani Khalid, N Oman) JF - Sedimentary geology : international journal of applied and regional sedimentology N2 - The recognition and understanding of vegetated habitats in the fossil record are of crucial importance in order to investigate paleoecological responses and indirectly infer climate and sea-level changes. However, the low preservation potential of plants and macroalgae hampers a direct identification of these environments in the geological past. Here we present sedimentological and paleontological evidences as tool to identify the presence of different seagrass-vegetated environments in the shallow marine settings of the lower Eocene jafnayn platform of Oman and their responses to paleoenvironmental changes. The studied lower Eocene deposits consist of well bedded, nodular pacicstones dominated by encrusting acervulinid and alveolinid foraminifera passing upward to an alternance of packstones with echinoids and quartz grains and grainstones rich in Orbitolites, smaller miliolid foraminifera and quartz grains. The presence of seagrass is inferred by the occurrence of encrusting acervulinids and soritid Orbitolites, as well as by their test morphologies together with further sedimentological criteria. The clear shift observed in the faunal assemblages and sedimentary features may be related to a major reorganization of the carbonate system passing from a carbonate platform to a ramp-like platform with increased terrigenous sedimentation. Heterotroph tubular acervulinids and oligotroph alveolinids of the carbonate platform were replaced upward by more heterotroph organisms such as large, discoidal Orbitolites and smaller miliolids, most likely due to enhanced nutrient levels which would have led to a change of phytal substrate, from cylindrical-leaf dominated grasses into flat-leafed ones. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Epiphytic foraminifera KW - Seagrasses KW - Paleoenvironment KW - Early Eocene KW - Oman Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2016.05.016 SN - 0037-0738 SN - 1879-0968 VL - 341 SP - 189 EP - 202 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Iryu, Yasufumi A1 - Matsuda, Hiroki A1 - Machiyama, Hideaki A1 - Piller, Werner E. A1 - Quinn, Terrence M. A1 - Mutti, Maria T1 - Introductory perspective on the COREF project JF - The island arc : official journal of the Geological Society of Japan N2 - Coral reefs are tropic to subtropic, coastal ecosystems comprising very diverse organisms. Late Quaternary reef deposits are fossil archives of environmental, tectonic and eustatic variations that can be used to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoceano-graphic history of the tropic surface oceans. Reefs located at the latitudinal limits of coral-reef ecosystems (i.e. those at coral-reef fronts) are particularly sensitive to environmental changes-especially those associated with glacial-interglacial changes in climate and sealevel. We propose a land and ocean scientific drilling campaign in the Ryukyu Islands (the Ryukyus) in the northwestern Pacific Ocean to investigate the dynamic response of the corals and coral-reef ecosystems in this region to Late Quaternary climate and sealevel change. Such a drilling campaign, which we call the COREF (coral-reef front) Project, will allow the following three major questions to be evaluated: (i) What are the nature, magnitude and driving mechanisms of coral-reef front migration in the Ryukyus? (ii) What is the ecosystem response of coral reefs in the Ryukyus to Quaternary climate changes? (iii) What is the role of coral reefs in the global carbon cycle? Subsidiary objectives include (i) the timing of coral-reef initiation in the Ryukyus and its causes; (ii) the position of the Kuroshio current during glacial periods and its effects on coral-reef formation; and (iii) early carbonate diagenetic responses as a function of compounded variations in climate, eustacy and depositional mineralogies (subtropic aragonitic to warm-temperate calcitic). The geographic, climatic and oceanographic settings of the Ryukyu Islands provide an ideal natural laboratory to address each of these research questions. KW - coral KW - Integrated Ocean Drilling Program KW - International Continental Scientific Drilling Program KW - limestone KW - Quaternary KW - reef KW - Ryukyu Group KW - Ryukyu Islands KW - sealevel Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1738.2006.00537.x SN - 1038-4871 VL - 15 IS - 4 SP - 393 EP - 406 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tawfik, Ahmed Y. A1 - Ondrak, Robert A1 - Winterleitner, Gerd A1 - Mutti, Maria T1 - Source rock evaluation and petroleum system modeling of the East Beni Suef Basin, north Eastern Desert, Egypt JF - Journal of African earth sciences N2 - This study deals with the East Beni Suef Basin (Eastern Desert, Egypt) and aims to evaluate the source-generative potential, reconstruct the burial and thermal history, examine the most influential parameters on thermal maturity modeling, and improve on the models already published for the West Beni Suef to ultimately formulate a complete picture of the whole basin evolution. Source rock evaluation was carried out based on TOC, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, and visual kerogen petrography analyses. Three kerogen types (II, II/III, and III) are distinguished in the East Beni Suef Basin, where the Abu Roash "F" Member acts as the main source rock with good to excellent source potential, oil-prone mainly type II kerogen, and immature to marginal maturity levels. The burial history shows four depositional and erosional phases linked with the tectonic evolution of the basin. A hiatus (due to erosion or non-deposition) has occurred during the Late Eocene-Oligocene in the East Beni Suef Basin, while the West Beni Suef Basin has continued subsiding. Sedimentation began later (Middle to Late Albian) with lower rates in the East Beni Suef Basin compared with the West Beni Suef Basin (Early Albian). The Abu Roash "F" source rock exists in the early oil window with a present-day transformation ratio of about 19% and 21% in the East and West Beni Suef Basin, respectively, while the Lower Kharita source rock, which is only recorded in the West Beni Suef Basin, has reached the late oil window with a present-day transformation ratio of about 70%. The magnitude of erosion and heat flow have proportional and mutual effects on thermal maturity. We present three possible scenarios of basin modeling in the East Beni Suef Basin concerning the erosion from the Apollonia and Dabaa formations. Results of this work can serve as a basis for subsequent 2D and/or 3D basin modeling, which are highly recommended to further investigate the petroleum system evolution of the Beni Suef Basin. KW - source rock evaluation KW - Kerogen petrography KW - basin modeling KW - sensitivity KW - analysis KW - Beni Suef Basin KW - Egypt Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2022.104575 SN - 1464-343X SN - 1879-1956 VL - 193 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - INPR A1 - Scheck-Wenderoth, Magdalena A1 - Schmeißer, Dieter A1 - Mutti, Maria A1 - Kolditz, Olaf A1 - Hünges, Ernst A1 - Schultz, Hans-Martin A1 - Liebscher, Axel A1 - Bock, Michaela T1 - Geoenergy - new concepts for utilization of geo-reservoirs as potential energy sources T2 - Environmental earth sciences Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2877-y SN - 1866-6280 SN - 1866-6299 VL - 70 IS - 8 SP - 3427 EP - 3431 PB - Springer CY - New York ER -