2025 - Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS2025 Volume 10. Intl. Symp on Energy, Carbon, Battery, Biochar and Agroforestry
| Editors: | F. Kongoli, S.M. Atnaw, H. Dodds, T. Turna, J. Antrekowitsch, G. Hanke, K. Aifantis, Z. Bakenov, C. Capiglia, V. Kumar, A.U.H. Qurashi, A. Tressaud, R. Yazami, M. Giorcelli |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2025 |
| Pages: | 316 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-998384-56-3 (CD) |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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APPLICATION OF PALEONTOLOGY IN THE DISCOVERY OF OIL AND GAS RESERVOIRS
Laura Garzon1; Abdollah Esmaeili1;1FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF PARÁ, Belem, Brazil;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 204
Topic: 17
Abstract:
Paleontological data, particularly derived from microfossils such as foraminifera, are crucial in biostratigraphy, paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and hydrocarbon exploration. Fossils provide high-resolution chronostratigraphic markers and act as sensitive proxies for depositional environments, recording changes in paleoceanographic conditions and diagenetic processes in sedimentary basins, which are essential factors in identifying potential petroleum systems. The mineralogical composition of bioclasts -calcite, aragonite, or phosphate-makes them sensitive to taphonomic alteration and diagenetic changes such temperature, pressure, and pore fluid chemistry, serving as indirect indicators of subsurface thermal maturity and potential hydrocarbon generation zones.
The quality of reservoir rocks often correlates with the taphonomy and morphometry of the microfossils present in the deposits. By example, large benthic foraminifera, characterized by coarse, perforated, robust, well-calcified test, are commonly associated with high-energy, high-porosity, and high-permeability facies, shallow marine environments, and, consequently, good reservoir quality. On the other hand, fine-grained assemblages dominated by small, fragile or agglutinated tests, densely packed may indicate tight, low-energy, low-porosity, and low-permeability zones, often reflecting distal or deeper depositional settings.
Furthermore, advances in geochemical and isotopic proxies (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, Sr/Ca) from foraminiferal tests provide improved resolution in paleoenvironmental interpretations, including kay parameters as salinity, productivity, thermal gradients, and others, refining sequence stratigraphy and reservoir prediction models. In summary, integrating morphogroup analysis, taphonomic signatures, and geochemical data offers a powerful, multidimensional approach to refining the stratigraphic framework, guiding drilling strategies, and improving the characterization of heterogeneities in oil reservoirs, particularly in complex depositional settings such as mixed siliciclastic-carbonate systems.