Abstract
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation and its equivalents of Callovian to early Ryazanian age are by far the most important oil source rocks of the northern North Sea area. The source rocks comprise marine claystones which were deposited in waters of increased salinity with short episodes of high salinity, during which uranium-enriched shales accumulated. Much of the sedimentary sequence in the inner parts of the basin comprises mass-flow deposits and storm-activated reworked deposits. The mineralogy and quantity and quality of the organic content is extremely varied, both regionally and in vertical sequence. A comparison of the biomarker and other geo-chemical characteristics leads to a conclusion that at least eight definable kerogen types contribute to the organic content, and a knowledge of their distributions is necessary before oil to source rock correlation can be performed with confidence. However, such interpretations require a large database and computer-based multivariate analysis.
It is necessary for the petroleum geologist to understand how these variations can be explained by palaeogeographical factors so that the quantity and quality of oil-generating organic matter can be mapped with confidence. Thus, more precise estimates can be made of the quantities of oil and gas which have been generated in the un-drilled kitchen areas and, where migrated oil is discovered in the adjoining structures, its provenance can be correlated with the kitchen source rock or shown to be from an alternative source.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aigner T (1980) Biofabrics and stratinomy of the Lower Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic, Dorset, England). Neues Jahrb Geol Palaontol Abh 159: 324–338
Baird RA (1986) Maturation and source rock evaluation of Kimmeridge Clay, Norwegian North Sea. Am Assoc Petrol Geol Bull: 1–11
Barnard PC, Collins AG, Cooper BS (1981) Identification and distribution of kerogen facies in a source rock horizon-examples from the North Sea basin. In: Brooks J (ed) Organic maturation studies and fossil fuel exploration. Academic Press, London, pp 271–282
Barnard PC, Bastow MA (1992) Hydrocarbon generation, migration, alteration, entrapment and mixing in the Central and Northern North Sea. In: England WA, Fleet AJ (eds) Petroleum migration. Geol Soc, London, Spec Publ 59: 167–190
Cooper BS, Barnard PC (1984) Source rocks and oils of the central and northern North Sea. In: Demaison G, Murris R J (eds) Petroleum geochemistry and basin evaluation. Am Assoc Petrol Geol, Tulsa, Mem 35: 303–314
Cooper BS (1990) Practical petroleum geochemistry. Robertson Sci Publ, London, 174 pp
Cope JCW, Ingham JK, Rawson PF (eds) (1992) Atlas of palaeogeography and lithofacies. Geol Soc, London, Mem 13, 153 pp
Cornford C (1984) Source rocks and hydrocarbons of the North Sea. In: Glennie KW (ed) Introduction to the petroleum geology of the North Sea. Blackwell Sci Oxford, pp 171–204
Cornford C, Needham CEJ, de Walque L (1986) Geochemical habitat of North Sea oils and gases. In: Spencer, AM (ed) Habitat of hydrocarbons on the Norwegian continental shelf. Graham and Trotman, London, pp 39–54
Cox BM, Gallois RW (1981) The stratigraphy of the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset type area and its correlation with some other Kimmeridgian sequences. Rep Inst Geol Sci United Kingdom 80/4
de Leeuw JW, Sinninghe Damste JS (1990) Organic sulfur compounds and other biomarkers as indicators of palaeosalinity. In: Orr WL, White CM (eds) Geochemistry of sulfur in fossil fuels. Am Chem Soc, Washington DC, Symp Ser 429:417–443
Demaison G, Holk AJJ, Jones RW, Moore GT (1983) Predictive source bed stratigraphy: Guide to regional petroleum occurrence, North Sea basin and eastern North American continental margins. In: 11th World Petrol Congr, Sect PD1(2), Wiley, New York, pp 1–13
Douglas AG, Williams PFV (1981) Kimmeridge oil shale — a study of organic maturation. In: Brooks J (ed) Organic maturation studies and fossil fuel exploration. Academic Press, London, pp 256–269
Ebukanson EJ, Kinghorn RF (1990) Jurassic mudrock formations of southern England: lithology, sedimentation rates and organic carbon content. J Petrol Geol 1: 221–228
Espitalie J, Laporte JL, Madec M, Marquis F, Leplat P, Paulet T (1977) Méthode rapide de charactérisation des rochesmeres de leur potentiel pétrolier et leur degré d’évolution. Rev Inst Français du Pétrole 32: 23–43
Farrimond P, Cornet P, Eglinton G, Evershed MA, Hall MA, Park DW, Wardroper AMK (1984) Organic geochemical study of the upper Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset type area. Mar Petrol Geol 1: 340–354
Gallois RW (1979) Oil shale resources in Great Britain. Ins Geol Sci Nottingham, 2 vols
Grantham PJ, Posthuma J, De Groot K (1980) Variation and significance of the C27 and C28 triterpane content of a North Sea core and various North Sea crude oils. In: Douglas AG, Maxwell JR (eds) Advances in organic geochemistry 1979. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp 29–38
Horsfield B (1984) Pyrolysis studies and petroleum exploration. In: Brooks J, Weite D (eds) Advances in petroleum geochemistry, Vol 1, Academic Press, London, pp 247–298
Hudson JD, Martill DM (1991) The Lower Oxford Clay: production and preservation of organic matter in the Callovian (Jurassic) of central England. In: Tyson RV, Pearson TH (eds) Modern and ancient continental shelf anoxia. Geol Soc, London, Spec Publ 58: 363–379
Katz B (1983) Limitations of “Rock-Eval” pyrolysis for typing organic matter. Org Geochem 4: 195–199
Khorasani GK, Michelsen JK (1992) Primary alteration-oxidation of marine algal organic matter from oil source rocks of the North Sea and Norwegian Arctic: new findings. In: Eckardt CB, Maxwell JR, Larter SR and Manning DA (eds) Advances in organic geochemistry 1991. Pergamon Press, London, pp 327–344
Largeau C, Derenne S, Clarray C, Casadevall E, Raynaud JF, Lugardou B, Berkaloff C, Corolleur M, Posseau B (1990) Characterisation of various kerogens by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)-morphological relationships with resistant outer walls in extant microorganisms. Meded Rijks Geol Dienst 45: 91–101
Mann AL, Myers KJ (1989) The effect of climate on the geochemistry of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. In: Biomarkers in petroleum-Memorial Symposium for Wolfgang K Seifert. Am Chem Soc, pp 139–142
Miller RG (1990) A palaeoceanographic approach to Kimmeridge Clay formation. In: Huc AY (ed) Deposition of organic facies. Am Assoc Petrol Geol, Tulsa, Stud Geol, 30: 13–26
Nohr-Hansen H (1989) Visual and chemical analyses of the Lower Kimmeridge Clay, Westbury, England. In: Batten DJ, and Keen MC (eds) North West European micropalaeontology and palynology Ellis Horwood Ltd, Chichester, pp 118–134
O’Brien NR, Slatt RM (1990) Argillaceous rock atlas. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, 141 pp
Oschmann W (1991) Distribution, dynamics and palaeoecology of Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) shelf anoxia in western Europe. In: Tyson RV, Pearson TH (eds) Modern and ancient continental shelf anoxia. Geol Soc, London, Spec Pubi 58: 381–396
Pearson MJ, Small JS (1983) Illite-smectite diagenesis and palaeotemperature in northern North Sea Quaternary to Mesozoic shale sequences. Clay Miner 23: 109–132
Reeder ML, Scotchman IC (1985) Hydrocarbon generation — central and northern North Sea. Oil Gas J: 137–144
Shaw HF, Primmer TJ (1991) Diagenesis of mudrocks from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of the Brae area, UK North Sea. Mar Petrol Geol 8: 270–277
Simon Petroleum Technology (1992) Phanerozoic palaeogeographic reconstructions, palaeoenvironments and the major source rocks of the World. Non-proprietary report
Stow DAV, Atkin BP (1987) Sediment facies and geochemistry of Upper Jurassic mudrocks in the central North Sea area. In: Brooks J, Glennie K (eds) Petroleum geology of North West Europe. Graham and Trotman, London, pp 797–808
Sun SQ (1992) A storm-dominated offshore sandstone interval from the Corallian Group (Upper Jurassic), Weald basin, southern England. Mar Petrol Geol 9: 274–286
Telnaes N, Cooper BS (1991). Oil-source rock correlation using biological markers, Norwegian continental shelf. Mar Petrol Geol 8: 302–310
Thomas BM, Moller-Pedersen P, Whitaker M, Shaw ND (1985) Organic facies and hydrocarbon distribution in the Norwegian North Sea. In: Thomas BM et al. (eds) Petroleum geochemistry in exploration of the Norwegian Shelf. Graham and Trotman, London, pp 3–26
Thompson S, Cooper BS, Barnard PC (1994) Some examples and possible explanations for oil generation from coals and coaly sequences. In: Scott AC, Fleet AJ (eds). Coal and coal-bearing strata as oil-prone source rocks? Geol Soc, London, Spec Publ 77: 119–138.
Thorne JA, Watts AB (1989) Quantitative analysis of North Sea subsidence. Bull Am Assoc Petrol Geol 73: 88–116
Tyson RV (1989) Late Jurassic palynofacies trends, Piper and Kimmeridge Clay Formations, UK onshore and northern
North Sea. In: Butler DJ, Keen MC (eds) North West European Micropalaeontology and palynology. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, pp 135–172
Waples DW, Machihara T (1991) Biomarkers for geologists. Am Assoc Petrol Geol, Tulsa, Methods 9, 91 pp
Wignall PB (1989) Sedimentary dynamics of the Kimmeridge Clay tempests and earthquakes. J Geol Soc Lond 146: 273–282
Wignall PB, Myers KJ (1988) Interpreting benthic oxygen levels in mudrocks: a new approach. Geology 16: 452–455
Williams PFV (1986) Petroleum geochemistry of the Kimmeridge Clay of southern and eastern England. Mar Petrol Geol 3: 258–281
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cooper, B.S., Barnard, P.C., Telnaes, N. (1995). The Kimmeridge Clay Formation of The North Sea. In: Katz, B.J. (eds) Petroleum Source Rocks. Casebooks in Earth Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78911-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78911-3_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78913-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78911-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive