Learnings on basement fracturing and weathering

in rift-shoulder fault blocks;

a reservoir analogue from the Sinai Suez Rift (Egypt)
Alvar Braathen, UNIS/UiO
Mohamed M. Abdel Fattah, Gouda Abdel-Gawad, Beni-Suef University, Egypt
Snorre Olaussen, Kei Ogata, UNIS, Norway

1) Regional setting
2) Basement fields in the Suez Rift
3) Basement lithologies
Main lithologies
Diagenesis and weathering products
4) Datasets
a) fracture systems in the basement
b) tropical to arid weathering profile on top basement
c) sedimentary deposits overlying basement
5) Summary and Conclusions
Force workshop, Stavanger, 4th April 2013
Before leaving BARENTS SHELF Basement in exhumed fault blocks,
Carboniferous Billefjorden Trough,
ANALOUGE
the Norwegian Svalbard

shelf .

Ebbadalen Fm
Billefjorden Gr. sandstone
Basement offers a
new HC play concept basement

with significant
?
learning potential D U

East side of the Billefjorden Trough basement

c. 100 m

old men, new knowledge

Sverdrup Grieg

Aasen
1) REGIONAL SETTING

Suez Rift Mediterranean

Dead Sea
Abandoned arm of Red Transform

Sea Rift Study area

Oligocene-Miocene S
rifting T
C Arabian Plate

a
Sinai Peninsula
4-6 km structural relief

b
qa
S

fA
70 HC fields S

lf o
T T

Gulf

Gu
8 fields producing S

of
Suez
basement African Plate C
Facts on HC C
Central rift (C) production from
Rift terraces (T) basement
Rift shoulder (S) T C
S
Red Sea
Outstanding exposures
Satellite photo courtesy of NASA
Suez rift development
Cambrian exhumation
and weathering
Miocene onset of
maturation and migration

Oligocene-Miocene
Nubian sandstone burial forming top-seal

Miocene
weathering
K-Te pre-rift

Oligocene start Oligocene

of Suez rifting exhumation

Salah & Alsharhan 1998

Rift development Miocene
geography and climate North 30
Exhumation
during rifting
Today
Cretaceous
Ordovician
Tropical to Desert
North 15 weathering system
Quartz Arenites;
> 90% qtz, < 3% kaolinite
South 90
10-29% porosity
Batlas 2002 70-850 mD permeability

Cambrian

Rodinia

Deposits

South 25-30 Exhumation

Ziegler et al. 1979

Alsharhan & Salah 1997

 Alsharhan & Salah 1997
2) BASEMENT FIELDS
70 fields
8 fields producing from basement

HC column height
Basement horst = 340m
reservoir, with top res. - GOC ~ 70m
major sealing faults GOC - OWC ~ 270m Sinai
study area
Well
production
varies:
diagenetic
effects
variable
intensity of
fracture
network
internal
segmentation
of plumbing
system
Salah & Alsharhan 1998
Basement fields well log though basement section, Geisum Field

Certain Top-basement
Certain Transition weathering
50m
pay zone

Deeper wells Good production

into basement Varied
encounter more quality
good zones in pay zone
the HC column

166m

Mod.-Low production

Fracture aperture= 0,01-1 mm

Salah & Alsharhan
Fracture Poro= 0,5-1,5%
1998
 Study area onland Sinai:
Oblique view of top-basement contact of western Sinai rift, from
center to shoulder
Petrel model
based in
Thal fault Mostafa 2004

Rift Shoulder

Study area
Coastal fault Baba fault
Feiran fault

Coastal fault

Rift Center

Model and graphics by

Aleksandra Anna Smyrak-Sikora & Sebasitan Sikora
Location of
study areas
of Sinai
Excellent
exposures are Hamman-Farrun
found in the rift terrace
shoulder, where
uplifted basement
is partly exhumed
Study areas
Rift shoulder
with smaller
faults

Barka plain with

late-rift alluvium

Rift-bounding fault

Baba
terrace
Section studied
Oblique view into study area .

Rift Shoulder

Thal fault

Baba fault

Q alluvium
3) BASEMENT LITHOLOGIES 1. Granodiorite complex
2. Shear zone (schist)
3. Granite

Najd shear zone

Pre-syn rift
sedimentary Biotite schist
Amph.facies= 7-8 kbar / 6-700C
cover

Granodiorite
~ 610 Ma

Nubian
Sandstone
Granite cover
~ 550 Ma

Quaternary
coastal plain Nubian
Sandstone
cover

Pre-syn rift
sedimentary
cover
Granitoides (Granodiorite and Granite) => weathered granitoides
Intrusive complex of
medium-coarse grained
Outcrop
granodiorite, locally thin-section
mingling with diorite
XRD

Kao pseudomorph of fsp

Intrusive complexes of medium- Breakdown of mafic minerals and

coarse grained granitoids
Qtz+Kfsp+albite+hbl+bio+white mica
Q
Weathering fsp => Qtz+ kaolinite+ illite
albite microcline bio white mica
montmorillonite hematite dolomite
gypsum halite

M Sausuritization
of fsp

Medium grained red

granite, locally fine
grained or pegmatitic
Biotite schist => weathered schist
Ductile shear zone cutting intrusive complex

Fine-medium grained schist, Breakdown of mafic minerals

showing transitions into lower and fsp
strained granodiorite Weathering Qtz+bio+kaolinite+illite
Qtz+bio+albiteKfsphbl schist albite montmorillonite hematite
gypsum halite
Faults and fractures => weathering
Thal fault,
Throw ~ 2000 m

FeO+kao+illite montm
fracture fill

Fault rocks =
early cataclasites,
superimposed breccias and gouge

Qtz+ kaolinite+ illite+ fsp

carbonate montmorillonite
hematite halite

Mafic-intermed. basement rocks

=> fractures mostly filled
Granitoids
=> fractures mostly open
4) DATASETS . a) fracture systems in the basement;
a1) Fault damage zones a2) background fracturing of shoulder

Thal fault
Border to rift shoulder
T > 2000m

Scanline across
Fault core damage zone
15 m wide
Fracture
Intensity
(f/m)
per meter
from fault
Scanlines recording of Fracture
orientations
fracture system, N= 39 Salah & Alsharhan 1998

Rift shoulder with small faults Large faults with FW damage zone
Line# 18
Shoulder Line# 23
fault Baba ft
fault

Fracture intensity per meter (f/m)

Background level, 1-5 f/m

Line# 35
Shoulder Line# 4
fault
Thal ft

Background level, 1-4 f/m

Backgroud level = 1-4 f/m Inner damage zone = 20-35 m wide

Small fracture corridors = 3-10 m wide Outer damage zone = 100-150 m wide
4b) tropical to arid weathering profile (saprolite)
along top of basement, and along faults
T ~ 200m

Sheet fractures
Locally 50-100 m layer
of sheet fractures

Steep
fractures
Fracture corridor
Weathering profile along top of basement
Nubia Sandstones:
Um Bogma Formation of dolomites and cemented marine sandstones
Araba and Naqus formations of fluvial to marine sandstones

Basement-cover UB
contact
N
A

Weathering
c. 20 m

profile

Bio-hbl schist in basement

Measuring Geologist in paradise
thickness of
Araba Fm sandstones
weathering
profiles

White weathering
profile in red granite
Top-basement weathering profile
9 sites (3 in schist, 6 in granite)
58 thickness recordings Schist more variable, and
proner to deeper weathering
40

30 Schist, master fault

Thickness of top-basement weathering profile (m)

Granite, master fault

20

10

0
0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000

40

30
Granite fairly Schist, shortest any fault
homogenous throughout
Granite, shortest any fault
20

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Distance from fault / fracture corridor (m)

4c) Cambrian sandstones (Araba Formation) overlying basement.
Coarser grained alluvial red beds passing upward to red to yellowish finer grained marine or
lacustrine shoreline deposits

basement
Sedimentary basement-cover transition

Wadi Baba Basal lag

village

Mildly weathered
biotite schist

Basal sandstone lag

Wadi Baba
side valley

Red granite
Cover sandstone facies Low angle cross stratification

Wave ripples

Hetereoliths

Low angle planar cross stratification

Weathered granite
Cambrian mixed fluvial and tidal/shoreline facies as cover deposits

Cont. => shallow marine Continental

succession succession

Poro= 10-29%
Perm= 70-850 mD
Sedimentary cover overlying basement upward
increased maturity of the sandstones Hetereolithic bed

4 m above basement granite

50 cm above basement granite

10 cm above basement granite

5) SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS (Suez case)
Note selective weathering and diagenesis of lithologies;
Schist and mafic rocks with significant secondary mineralization
RESERVOIRS
Kaolinite (cement+clastic) and illite in weathering profile and partly in Porous sandstone
overlying sandstones
succession
infilling basement
relief
Porous (10-20%)
and permeable
5-15 m thick
weathering
Column hight?

profile on-top
felsic intrusives
Fractured
HC basement
reservoir with
~ 1-3% porosity

PLUMBING Fault damage zones with open Selective deep weathering, and
SYSTEM fractures in granitoids corroded fracture system along faults
Thank
you

AdventdalenSnakeWeasel Oil & Gas

Field Inspection
Abu Zenima, February 2012

Winner takes all - who will reach the basement first?