Project title: The kinematics of fault systems in offshore Ireland – Implications for fault related trapping and leakage
Researcher: Dr Gael Lymer
The primary aim of this project is to analyse the spectrum of basin structure existing offshore West Ireland to better understand the controls on the geometry and kinematics of basinal fault systems. Key topics of research will be the controls exerted by basement structure on the geometrical evolution of rift-related fault systems and the reactivation and inversion of faults in different basinal and tectonic settings. Particular focus will be on those aspects of the evolution of fault systems relevant to hydrocarbon distribution in the Irish offshore namely, fault-controlled hydrocarbon migration and trapping, and top seal integrity and up-fault flow into post-rift stratigraphic traps. Output from the work will provide the data to underpin subsequent Petroleum Systems studies in the area.
Objectives include:
• Fault mapping at syn‐rift level in the Porcupine Basin and surrounding basins to understand the development and the evolution of these basins during the rifting of the North Atlantic Ocean offshore Ireland.
• Understand the geometry and interaction between different fault systems, distinguishing the fault networks formed during the different phases of rifting of the Porcupine Basin.
• Analysis of the geometry and origin of potential detachment faults in the Porcupine Basin and their role in basin development and acquisition of asymmetry between the conjugate margins of the basin.
• Constraining the geometry of the top of the crystalline basement in the Porcupine Basin in link with the rift fault networks.
• Constraining the relationship between fault angles and the variation of the Beta factor along strike the Porcupine Basin.
• Understand the geodynamical relationships between the Porcupine Basin and the surrounding basins, particularly the Slyne Basin and the Rockall Trough.
Key deliverables:
• Structural analysis of fault systems imaged from seismic reflection data from the Irish offshore.
• Stratigraphic analysis of key surfaces of the Porcupine Basin, Slyne Basin and Rockall Trough.
• Interpretation of 3D seismic reflection survey from the Irish offshore.
• Prepare articles on the development and evolution of the Porcupine Basin and surrounding areas during the rifting of the North Atlantic.