SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE ARCTIC: GLOBAL COMPARISONS

Sharland et al., (2001; 2004) demonstrated the occurrence of 65 late Precambrian – Phanerozoic Maximum Flooding Surfaces (MFS) across the Arabian Plate. The Neftex sequence stratigraphic model is being successfully applied and developed to incorporate the stratigraphy of North Africa, the western former Soviet Union, South-East Asia, South and Central America and North America and the Arctic.

Additional 1st, 2nd and 3rd order MFS and sequence boundaries (SBs) have been identified, and may be correlated across different regions and sedimentary basins. Each MFS and its associated SB are defined in a reference section with good sedimentological and/or wireline log evidence, and good biostratigraphic control, allowing surfaces to be correlated worldwide. The surfaces are synchronous, occuring throughout basins of differing subsidence and sedimentation rates, and therefore must be eustatic in origin.

For example, the correlative conformity of the O20 SB, in the Ghudun Formation of Oman (Sharland et al., 2001) and at the base of the Upper Fezouata Shales in Morocco (Destombes et al., 1985) can be identified within the T. approximatus zone of the Factory Cove Member, Shallow Bay Formation, western Newfoundland (Zhang and Barnes, 2004). The O20 MFS recorded in the Barakat Member of Oman (Sharland et al., 2001) can also be correlated with the T. akzharensis zone in the Factory Cove Member.

The application of this sequence stratigraphic model has profound implications for hydrocarbon exploration and production, providing a precise and reliable framework for the correlation, mapping and identification of petroleum system elements such as lowstand reservoirs and transgressive source rocks.

References

Destombes, J., Hollard, H., and Willefert, S. 1985. Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Morocco. In: C.H. Holland, Lower Palaeozoic Rocks of the World Vol. 4: Lower Palaeozoic of North-western and West-central Africa, 91–336.

Sharland, P.R., Archer, R., Casey, D.M., Davies, R.B., Hall, S.H., Heward, A.P., Horbury, A.D., and Simmons, M.D., 2001, Arabian Plate Sequence Stratigraphy, GeoArabia Special Publication 2, 371pp.

Sharland, P.R., Casey, D.M., Davies, R.B., Simmons, M.D. & Sutcliffe, O.E., 2004, Arabian Plate Sequence Stratigraphy – revisions to SP2: GeoArabia, 9, 199-214.

Zhang S., and Barnes C.R., 2004, Arenigian (Early Ordovician) Sea-Level History and the Response of Conodont Communities, Western Newfoundland, Can. J. Earth Sci., 41, 842-865.