Project title: Fault system evolution during crustal hyperextension in the Porcupine Basin
Researcher: Dr Gaël Lymer
The Irish offshore basins, West of Ireland, provide a wide variety of structural styles, settings and extensional strain magnitudes. The primary aim of this research project is to analyse this spectrum of basin structure, starting with the Porcupine Basin and integrating iCRAG’s observations from surrounding basins, to better understand the controls on the geometry, kinematics, and evolution of fault systems in these basins. Key topics of research are the syn-rift (Jurassic) fault systems architecture and their link with the variations of B factor, with the development of detachment faults, with stratigraphic geometries, as well as with the mechanisms of faults reactivation and inversion. Particular focus will be on those aspects of the evolution of fault systems relevant to hydrocarbon distribution in the Irish offshore: fault-controlled hydrocarbon migration and trapping.
The strategy to reach these objectives includes seismic mapping and structural and sedimentary analysis, integrated with other data obtained from wells and geophysics. The long-term aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive overview of the structural development of the Irish offshore, that will then be compared with the development of other basins of the North-Atlantic Ocean and at rifted margins worldwide.