Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

SEAL
A lithologic unit which significantly impedes the flow of hydrocarbons.
Therefore, a permeability barrier must exist for the updip migration of
hydrocarbons to be prevented.
Pore throat size is the major control on the ability of hydrocarbons to enter
the pore network of a given rock. It is a rock that has pore throats too small
and poorly connected to allow the passage of hydrocarbons.
Brittle lithologies tend to develop fractures while ductile lithologies tend to
flow plastically under deformation.
PROPERTIES OF EFFECTIVE SEALS
They have small throat space (i.e. fine
grained)
Laterally continuous
Maintain uniformity of lithology over large
areas
Relatively ductile
MAJOR TYPES OF SEALS
Shales
65 %
Evaporites
33 %
Carbonate
2%
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
In addition to the requirement that source rock exists for the generation of
hydrocarbons, and that reservoir rock exists for the storage and production
of the generated hydrocarbons, traps must also exist to trap, or seal, the
hydrocarbon in place forming a hydrocarbon reservoir.
What are the types of traps?
A. Structural
B. Stratigraphic
C. Combination
A.Structural Traps
Structural traps are created by the deformation of rock strata within the
earths crust. This deformation can be caused by horizontal compression or
tension, vertical movement and differential compaction, which results in the
folding, tilting and faulting within sedimentary rock formations.
Anticlinal and Dome Trap
1 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

The rock layers in an anticlinal trap were originally laid down horizontally
then folded upward into an arch or dome. Later, hydrocarbons migrate into
the porous and permeable reservoir rock. A cap or seal (impermeable layer
of rock) is required to permit the accumulation of the hydrocarbons.

Salt Dome or Salt Plug Trap

A trap created by piercement or intrusion of stratified rock layers from below
by ductile nonporous salt. The intrusion causes the lower formations nearest
the intrusion to be uplifted and truncated along the sides of the intrusion,
while layers above are uplifted creating a dome or anticlinal folding.
Hydrocarbons migrate into the porous and permeable beds on the sides of
the column of salt. Hydrocarbons accumulate in the traps around the outside
of the salt plug if a seal or cap rock is present.

Fault Trap
The faulting of stratified rock occurs as a result of vertical and horizontal
stress. At some point the rock layers break, resulting in the rock faces along
the fracture moving or slipping past each other into an offset position. A fault
trap is formed when the faulted formations are tilted toward the vertical.
2 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

When a non-porous rock face is moved into a position above and opposite a
porous rock face, it seals off the natural flow of the hydrocarbons allowing
them to accumulate.

B.Stratigraphic Traps
Stratigraphic traps are formed as a result of differences or variations
between or within stratified rock layers, creating a change or loss of
permeability from one area to another. These traps do not occur as a result
of movement of the strata.

Lenticular Trap
A porous area surrounded by non-porous strata. They may be formed from
ancient buried river sand bars, beaches, etc.

3 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

Pinch-out or lateral graded Trap

A trap created by lateral differential deposition when the environmental
deposition changes up-dip.

Reef Trap
Sedimentary rock, most commonly produced by organisms that secrete
shells such as corals.
Because the rocks that surround reefs can differ in composition and
permeability, porous reefs can form stratigraphic traps
for hydrocarbons.

4 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

Unconformity Trap
A sedimentary layer is deposited in a continuous, unbroken sheet with an
essentially horizontal upper surface but a lower surface that conforms to a
previous land surface or seafloor. Each layer is deposited on top of older
sediments in an undisturbed series of rock layers with the youngest layer on
top and the oldest on the bottom.

Once a sedimentary rock layer is formed, its continuity or horizontally may

be disrupted in a number of ways; it may be eroded; it may be fractured,
faulted, or folded by crustal movements (tectonics); it may be invaded by
magma that cools to form a subsurface body of igneous rock. Any event that
disrupts the continuity of a formation is younger than the deposition of that
5 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

layer. Also, any layer that cuts across another layer must have been
deposited after the layer it cuts, and is therefore younger.
Types of Unconformities
Sometimes a sedimentary basin is uplifted so that deposition ceases and
erosion takes over, an erosion surface is formed. The upper surface of the
most recent sediment layer is eroded by water, wind, ice or other means to a
certain level where erosion no longer takes place. With time, the region
subsides and more sediment accumulates.
The gap in the rock record is called an unconformity it is identified by the
erosional surface between rocks of different ages, and represents a major
depositional break between the rocks above and below that surface. A useful
analogy is to think of the rock record as a book, the gap in the rock record as
pages either torn out or never included, and the unconformity as the last
page before this gap.
There are several kinds of unconformity. If the uplift is gentle so the rock
layers are not tilted or deformed, the gap in the record will be called a
disconformity. Here, the layers above and below the disconformity are
parallel, but the erosional surface itself represents the erosional environment
(i.e. stream channels). If the erosional surface is, more or less, horizontal the
gap in the record will be called a parallel unconformity, and may not be
readily apparent.

6 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

Deposition of sediments on layers that have been deformed and eroded

produces an angular unconformity. Sedimentary layers below such an
unconformity are not parallel with those above, and the gap in the record is
obvious.
The most profound gap in the depositional record is that beneath the oldest
sedimentary layers. A nonconformity is an erosion surface on igneous or
metamorphic rock that has been buried beneath sediments (Figure 3.19b). In
petroleum geology, the rock beneath a nonconformity is usually referred to
as basement rock.
Any unconformity is younger than the rocks beneath it and older than those
above it. Thus, it is a useful tool in determining the relative ages of rocks and
the events that have affected them over geological time.

Facies Change
Consider the deposition near a shoreline of a continent, as distance from the
shoreline increases. From the shoreline out into the body of water, the
particle size decreases from gravel to pebbles, to sand, to silt, to mud. When
lithification occurs, the sand-to-larger-silt size particles form sandstone, and
the smaller silt-to-mud size particles, form shale. Therefore, in the same
7 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

sedimentary bed, as distance from the original shoreline increases, the rock
grades from sandstone, through a transition zone, to shale. Assume that,
after lithification, with further sediments having been deposited on this
original sediment, a geologic event results in uplift and tilting of this
sediment, so that the shale is up dip from the sandstone, as illustrated in
Figure 24. The dip of a bed is the angle its plain makes with the horizontal.

Later in geologic time, hydrocarbon generated in its source rock at lower

elevations is forced into the connate water-saturated sandstone and begins
to migrate up elevation, displacing the heavier water down elevation. This
hydrocarbon will continue to migrate until it encounters the impermeable
shale at the transition zone within the rock. It is trapped as a result of the
change of permeability within the sedimentary bed, as the transition occurs
from sandstone to shale or from permeability to no permeability. This
transition of properties within the rock sediment is called a facies change.
C.Combination Traps
It is a combination trap is where two (or more) trapping mechanisms come
together to create the trap.

Types of traps and their % of world petroleum occurrence

Anticlines
75 %
Faults
1%
8 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology
Salt diapirs
Unconformities
Reefs
Other stratigraphies
Combination

Seals
and
Traps

2%
3%
3%
7%
9%

TIMING & RETENTION

Why is timing important?
The trap must have been formed before or during the migration of the
hydrocarbons. If no trap is present, the migrating hydrocarbons will just
move updip until its movement is constrained.
Why is retention important?
Once trapped, the hydrocarbons can further migrate (tertiary migration) or
be altered chemically (biodegraded). Tertiary migration will drain the oil field
while biodegradation will destroy the quality of the oil.
EFFECT OF FRACTURES ON A SEAL
The presence of only one fracture 0.035 mm. (0.0014 in.) wide above a 152
m. (500 ft.) oil column can leak off around 150 million barrels in 1,000 years.
A large field can be easily drained if there are several fractures.
EFFECT OF THIEF BEDS
Thief beds are rocks with reservoirqualities that abut the reservoir. When
tilted, they will drain the reservoir of the hydrocarbons. Similar to a straw
drawing liquid from a bottle.
ROLE OF FAULTS
Faults either aid in the entrapment of hydrocarbons or cause leakage from
the trap. They can be sealing or non-sealing.
Why is biodegradation bad?
Through time, meteoric liquids (usually water) is introduced into the
reservoir. It carries bacteria and degrades the oil into a heavy one. Heavy
type oils are difficult to produce or sometimes cannot be produced.
REQUISITES OF A PETROLEUM SYSTEM
1. Source rocks rich in organic content that must be buried deep
enough in the basin so that the temperature will be sufficient to
transform the organic matter into petroleum in a process called
maturation.
2. The generated petroleum is expelled from the source rock and
migrates into a permeable and porous reservoir rock.
9 Prepared by: M. Talimbay

Petroleum Geology

Seals
and
Traps

3. A seal must envelope the reservoir rock to prevent it from leaking out
to the surface or dispersed elsewhere.
4. A trap should exist so that hydrocarbon can be contained and will
accumulate within the reservoir.
5. The timing of migration and trap formation is critical.
6. Once it is trapped, retention is important. Post depositional events
should prevent it to further migrate or become biodegraded.
NOTE
All of these must be present and favorably juxtaposed in time and space. If
not, there would be no accumulation.

10 Prepared by: M. Talimbay