LECTURE 8.

CLASTIC RESERVOIRS
GL5534 FUNDAMENTALS OF PETROLEUM GEOSCIENCE

PAGE 1
Lecture 8 – Learning Outcomes part 1
1. Classify the different
types of clastic rocks by
their physical properties
- Types of clastic rocks
- Composition
- Grain sizes
- Porosity and Permeability
2. Recognise the different 3. Describe the various
sedimentary basins and their depositional environments
tectonic setting in which clastic sediments
- Rift Basin can form
- Passive-Margin Basin - 1. Continental
- Intracontinental (Sag) Basins - 2. Shoreline
- Foreland Basins - 3. Marine
PAGE 2
CLASTIC RESERVOIRS
LEARNING OUTCOME 1 – CLASSIFY THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF
CLASTIC ROCKS BY THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

PAGE 3
 WHAT ARE CLASTIC RESERVOIRS?

• Sedimentary rocks formed by the effects of

weathering, erosion and transport.

• “Broken” = clastic material: sandstone, siltstone and

conglomerate

• Clastic rocks are defined as being composed of

consolidated sediments formed by the accumulation
of fragments derived from preexisting rocks and
transported as separate particles to their places of
deposition by purely mechanical agents.
The rock cycle © JMU.

1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 4

 WHAT ARE CLASTIC RESERVOIRS?

Conglomerates and Breccias Sandstones Siltstones & Mudstones

1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 5

 WHAT ARE CLASTIC RESERVOIRS?

1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 6

 CLASTIC RESERVOIRS: GRAINSIZE

Sandstone, siltstone and

conglomerate – defined on
the Udden-Wentworth and
Krumbein Phi scales

1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 7

 CLASTIC ROCKS – SHALE, MUD & CLAY
• Mudrocks – A collective term for rocks composed of clay
minerals and silt sized quartz including mudstone and shale.
• Slate is a metamorphosed mudrock
• Mudstone – A very-fine grained sedimentary rock composed of
clay minerals and silt-sized quartz that lacks a well-developed
splitting structure or fissility.
• Shale – A very-fine grained sedimentary rock composed of clay
minerals and silt-sized quartz that has a well-developed splitting
structure or fissility.
• Fissility – A plane of splitting in shale, generally parallel with
bedding. Shale can be easily split along the fissility in to mm thick
flakes.
• Clay – Plastic or semi-plastic sedimentary rock composed of
more than 50% clay minerals with a grain size less than 4μm
(<0.004 mm)
Merriman et al. 2003 BGS Report – CR/03/281MN

1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 8

 CLASTIC ROCKS – SHALE, MUD & CLAY

Mudstone

Merriman et al. 2003

Shale
1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 9
 GRAINS – TEXTURE AND SHAPE
Grainsize

Angularity

Sorting

Maturity

1. Sediments 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 10

CLASTIC RESERVOIRS
LEARNING OUTCOME 2– RECOGNISE THE DIFFERENT
SEDIMENTARY BASINS AND THEIR TECTONIC SETTING

PAGE 11
 WHERE ARE THEY FOUND?
Geologists distinguish among different kinds of sedimentary basins in the context of plate tectonics theory.

1
1 (Sag basin)

http://geologylearn.blogspot.com/2016/03/sedimentary-basins.html

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 12

 1. SEDIMENTARY RIFT BASINS

• Rift basins: These form in continental rifts, regions where the lithosphere is stretching horizontally, and therefore
thins vertically. As the rift grows, slip on faults drops blocks of crust down, producing low areas bordered by narrow
mountain ridges. These troughs fill with sediments (initially continental sediments then later marine if rifting
continues).

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 13

 1. SEDIMENTARY RIFT BASINS

Fringing Alluvial Fans

Death Valley
© NASA
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 14
 2. SEDIMENTARY THERMAL SAG BASINS

Interior cratonic sag basins -

are thick accumulations of
sediment, generally more or
less oval in shape, located
entirely in the interiors of
continental masses.

http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~tony/watts/basinstm

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 15

 3. SEDIMENTARY FORELAND BASINS

Foreland basins: These form on

the continent side of a mountain
belt because the forces produced
during convergence or collision
push large slices of rock up faults
and onto the surface of the
continent. The weight of these
slices pushes down on the surface
of the lithosphere, producing a
wedge-shaped depression
adjacent to the mountain range
that fills with sediment eroded
from the range. Fluvial and deltaic
strata accumulate in foreland
basins.
http://geologylearn.blogspot.com/
2016/03/sedimentary-basins.html
(Levin 2006)
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 16
 3. SEDIMENTARY FORELAND BASINS

Indo-Gangetic Plain

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 17

 4. PASSIVE MARGINS
Passive-margin basins: These form along the edges of continents
that are not plate boundaries. They are underlain by stretched
lithosphere, the remnants of a rift whose evolution successfully led
to the formation of a mid-ocean ridge and subsequent growth of a
new ocean basin

https://docplayer.net/55919277-Chapter-4-marine-sedimentation.html

Passive-margin basins form because subsidence of stretched lithosphere

continues long after rifting ceases. They initially fill with terrestrial
sediment then progressively deeper marine sediments. The marine
sediments can be clastic or carbonate rocks depending on environmental
conditions at the time of deposition. http://geologylearn.blogspot.com/
2016/03/sedimentary-basins.html Adapted from Watkins et al. 1979

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 18

CLASTIC RESERVOIRS
LEARNING OUTCOME 3 – DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS DEPOSITIONAL
ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH CLASTIC SEDIMENTS CAN FORM

PAGE 19
 CLASTIC ROCKS

The formation of a clastic

sediment and sedimentary
rocks involves five
processes:

• Weathering
• Erosion
• Transportation
• Deposition
• Burial and Diagenesis
(Lithification)

https://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens1110/sedrx.htm

3. Environments
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 20
 CLASTICS: ENVIRONMENTS OF DEPOSITION

Depositional Environments
Continental Environments

Shoreline Environments

Marine Environments

Continental Environments

Shoreline Environments

Marine Environments

UNDERSTANDING EARTH 7E| GROTZINGER | JORDAN ©2014

3. Environments
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline 3.3 Conclusion 21
 CLASTICS: ENVIRONMENTS OF DEPOSITION
Fluvial and Alluvial

UNDERSTANDING EARTH 7E| GROTZINGER | JORDAN

©2014
3. Environments
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 22
 1. CONTINENTAL DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 23
 1. CONTINENTAL DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
Fluvial and Alluvial

UNDERSTANDING EARTH 7E|

GROTZINGER | JORDAN ©2014

(@turner_imagery)

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 24
 1. CONTINENTAL DEPOSITIONAL
ENVIRONMENTS

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 25
 1. CONTINENTAL: FLUVIAL & ALLUVIAL

(© Brian Romans)

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 26
 1. CONTINENTAL:
FLUVIAL & ALLUVIAL

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 27
 1. CONTINENTAL: FLUVIAL & ALLUVIAL

Complex
stacked
reservoirs

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 28
 1. CONTINENTAL: DESERT

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 Shoreline 3.3 Conclusion 29
 Well Rounded, Well Sorted

1. CONTINENTAL: DESERT (AEOLIAN SANDSTONES)

Aeolian = Wind

https://csweb.bournemouth.ac.uk/africanlegacy/dune_sand.htm

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 30
 1. CONTINENTAL: DESERT

Desert sandstone reservoir

rocks – Hopeman, Scotland –
equivalent to the Rotliegendes
gas reservoirs of the southern
North Sea © Anne Burgess

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 31
 1. CONTINENTAL: LACUSTRINE

Graf et al. 2015 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-017-9906-5_3#citeas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tanganyika#/media/File:STS51G-034-0012_Lake_Tanganyika_June1985.jpg

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3.1 Continental

3. Environments 3.2 3.3 Conclusion 32
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

(© Fire Island National Park)

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 33
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 34
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

• Where rivers meet the sea.

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 35
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

How do coastlines
grow?
3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 36
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
Lena River Delta, Russian Arctic

Mississippi delta
(number 7)

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 37
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
How do coastlines grow?

South Brazilian Coast http://maps.unomaha.edu/Maher/geo117/deltafacies.htmlhttp://maps.unomaha.edu/Maher/geo117/deltafacies.html

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 38
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
Facies - The overall characteristics of a rock unit that reflect its origin and differentiate
the unit from others around it. Mineralogy and sedimentary source, fossil content,
sedimentary structures and texture distinguish one facies from another.

Levin, H.L. The Earth Through Time – 8th Ed.

http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/levin/0471697435/chap_tut/chaps/chapter05-11.html
3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 39
 2. SHORELINE

https://file.scirp.org/xml/53507.xml.

Sand Grainsize getting finer Muds

https://strata.uga.edu/sequence/parasequence.html
3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 40
 2. SHORELINE – SEA LEVEL

Transgressing
Relative Sea Level Rise

Regressing
 Relative Sea Level Fall

Accommodation -the space available for potential sediment accumulation. Controlled by:
1. Global sea level
2. The sea floor (tectonics)
3. Rate of sediment accumulation in the basin
3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 41
 2. SHORELINE – SEA LEVEL

Levin, H.L. The Earth Through Time – 8th Ed.

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 42
 2. SHORELINE – SEA LEVEL - Walther's Law (or Principle)
Sedimentary environments that started out side-by-side will end up overlapping one
another over time due to sea level rise and fall
• The result is a vertical sequence of beds. The vertical sequence of facies mirrors the original
lateral distribution of sedimentary environments.

Levin, H.L. The Earth Through Time – 8th Ed.

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 43
 2. SHORELINE – SEA LEVEL - Walther's Law (or Principle)

adapted from Van Wagoner et

al. (1990) Coarsening-upward sequence of rocks developed along a wave-
https://strata.uga.edu/sequence/parasequence.html dominated coast (Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation, Helper, Utah)
3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 44
 Side Note: What is a Sedimentary Log
Sedimentary logs – Are the standard
method for collecting field data of
sediments/sedimentary rocks is to
construct a graphic log of the succession.

https://arcex.no/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/profil-sten-andreas.jpg

Logs give a visual impression of the section, and are a

convenient way of making correlations and comparisons
between equivalent sections from different areas

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 45
 2. SHORELINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

Ancient shallow marine

and shoreface deposits
(© Ian West)

3.2 Shoreline
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.3 Conclusion 46
 3. MARINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

3.3 Marine
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline Conclusion 47
 3. MARINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

3.3 Marine
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline Conclusion 48
 3. MARINE
A turbidite is a sedimentary formation resulting
when sudden underwater landslides send a
slurry of gravel, sand and silt down a slope.

3.3 Marine
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline Conclusion 49
 3. MARINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS: TURBIDITES

• As the mixture reaches a nearly level seafloor, the

flow slows down and rocks begin to settle to the
bottom.

• The first to settle are the largest followed successively

by smaller and smaller grains until finally only the
smallest, silty particles settle on top.

• This leads to graded bedding, a formation in which

the particles becomes systematically smaller with
increasing height.
https://epod.usra.edu/.a/6a010537
1bb32c970b01b8d1acb61e970c-pi

3.3 Marine
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline Conclusion 50
 3. MARINE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS: TURBIDITES

3.3 Marine
1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline Conclusion 51
 WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT FOR HYDROCARBONS?

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline 3.3 Marine Conclusion 52
 Lecture 8 Summary
Here is what we learned
• Learning Outcome 1 - Classify the different types of clastic rocks by their physical properties
Clastic rocks are sediment consisting of broken fragments derived from preexisting rocks and
transported elsewhere and redeposited before forming another rock. Examples of common clastic
sedimentary rocks include siliciclastic rocks such as conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and shale.
• Learning Outcome 2 - Recognise the different sedimentary basins and their tectonic setting
Thick accumulations of sediment form only in special regions where the surface of the Earth’s
lithosphere sinks, providing space in which sediment collects. Geologists use the term subsidence to
refer to the process by which the surface of the lithosphere sinks, and the term sedimentary basin for
the sediment-filled depression. Geologists distinguish among different kinds of sedimentary basins in
the context of plate tectonics theory.
• Learning Outcome 3 - Describe the various depositional environments in which clastic sediments can
form
A depositional environment is the area in which and physical conditions under which sediments are
deposited, including sediment source; depositional processes such as deposition by wind, water or ice;
and location and climate, such as desert, swamp or river.

1. Sediments 2. Basins 3. Environments 3.1 Continental 3.2 Shoreline 3.3 Marine Conclusion 53
 Reading for this lecture
Recommended for Learning Outcome 1
For more detail on the Shale, Mud, Clay definitions see British Geological Survey (BGS):
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&ved=2ahUKEwje677CwqPnAhXUOcAKHTQwD2MQFjANegQIBhAB&url=https
%3A%2F%2Fwww.bgs.ac.uk%2Fdownloads%2Fstart.cfm%3Fid%3D1415&usg=AOvVaw2qus35N2_LJhao1nH1iG1m
A good introduction to clastic sedimentary rocks
https://openpress.usask.ca/physicalgeology/chapter/9-1-clastic-sedimentary-rocks-2/
An online resource with animations for the formation of clastic sediments
http://webgeology.alfaweb.no/webgeology_files/english/clastic_sed_rocks_new.html
General Reading for this lecture:
Understanding Earth
Grotzinger, John P
Chapter 5 – Sedimentation: Rocks formed by Surface Processes
Various versions available in the library 5th floor

Earth : portrait of a planet

Marshak, Stephen
Chapter 7: Sedimentary Rocks (p185-211 in the international student 4th edition)
Various versions available in the library 5th floor

1. Time 2. Events 3. Tectonics 4. Wilson 5. Margins 6. Mountains Conclusion 54