Deep-water Niger Delta fold and thrust belt modeled as a critical-taper wedge: The influence of elevated basal fluid pressure on structural styles

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin

Volumn 89, Issue 11, 2005, Pages 1475-1491

  Bilotti, Frank ^a   Shaw, John H ^b  

^a CHEVRON ENERGY TECHNOLOGY COMPANY   (United States)

^b HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GEOMORPHOLOGY; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; PETROLEUM GEOLOGY; PRESSURE EFFECTS; ROCK MECHANICS; SUBMARINE GEOLOGY; TECTONICS;

CRITICAL-TAPER WEDGE MECHANICS THEORY; ELEVATED BASAL FLUID PRESSURE; PORE-FLUID PRESSURE; THRUST BELT;

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY;

CRUSTAL STRUCTURE; FOLD AND THRUST BELT; PORE PRESSURE;

AFRICA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; NIGER DELTA; NIGERIA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; WEST AFRICA; WORLD;

EID: 27644443744     PISSN: 01491423     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1306/06130505002     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Barr, T. D., and F. A. Dahlen, 1989, Brittle frictional mountain building: 2. Thermal structure and heat budget: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 94, p. 3923-3947.
2. Behrmann, J. H., K. Brown, J. C. Moore, A. Mascle, E. Taylor, F. Alvarez, P. Andreiff, R. Barnes, and C. Beck, 1988, Evolution of structures and fabrics in the Barbados accretionary prism. Insights from Leg 110 of the Ocean Drilling Program: Journal of Structural Geology, v. 10, no. 6, p. 577-591.
3. Bilotti, F., and J. H. Shaw, 2001, Modeling the compressive toe of the Niger Delta as a critical taper wedge (abs.): AAPG Annual Meeting Program, v. 10, p. A18-19.
4. Bilotti, F., J. H. Shaw, R. M. Cupich, and R. M. Lakings, 2005, Detachment fold, Niger Delta, in J. H. Shaw, C. Connors, and J. Suppe, eds., Seismic interpretation of contractional fault-related folds: AAPG Studies in Geology 53, p. 103-104.
5. Braathen, A., S. G. Bergh, and H. D, Maher, 1999, Application of a critical wedge taper model to the Tertiary transpressional fold-thrust belt on Spitsbergen, Svalbard: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 111, no. 10, p. 1468-1485.
6. Breen, N. A., 1987, Three investigations of accretionary wedge deformation: Ph.D. Thesis, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 132 p.
7. Byerlee, J., 1978, Friction of rocks: Pure and Applied Geophysics, v. 116, p. 615-626.
8. Carena, S., J. Suppe, and H. Kao, 2002, Active detachment of Taiwan illuminated by small earthquakes and its control of first-order topography: Geology, v. 30, no. 10, p. 935-938.
9. Chapple, W. M., 1978, Mechanics of thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belts: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 89, p. 1189-1198.
10. Connors, C. D., D. B. Denson, G. Kristiansen, and D. M. Angstadt, 1998, Compressive anticlines of the mid-outer slope, central Niger Delta (abs.): AAPG Bulletin, v. 82, no. 10, p. 1903.
11. Corredor, F., J. H. Shaw, and F. Bilotti, 2005, Structural styles in the deepwater fold-and-thrust belts of the Niger Delta: AAPG Bulletin, v. 89, no. 6, p. 753-780.
12. Dahlen, F. A., 1990, Critical taper model of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 18, p. 55-99.
13. Dahlen, F. A., and T. D. Barr, 1989, Brittle frictional mountain building: 1. Deformation and mechanical energy budget: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 94, no. B4, p. 3906-3922.
14. Dahlen, F. A., J. Suppe, and D. Davis, 1984, Mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges: Cohesive Coulomb theory: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 89, no. B12, p. 10,087-10,101.
15. Damuth, J. E., 1994, Neogene gravity tectonics and depositional processes on the deep Niger Delta continental margin: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 11, no. 3, p. 320-346.
16. Davis, D., J. Suppe, and F. A. Dahlen, 1983, Mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 88, no. B2, p. 1153-1172.
17. DeCelles, P. G., and G. Mitra, 1995, History of the Sevier orogenic wedge in terms of critical taper models, northeast Utah and southwest Wyoming: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 107, no. 4, p. 454-462.
18. Frost, B. R., 1996, Structure and facies development in the Niger Delta resulting from hydrocarbon maturation (abs.): AAPG Bulletin, v. 80, no. 8, p. 1291.
19. Hoshino, K., K. Inami, S. Iwamura, H. Koide, and S. Mitsui, 1972, Mechanical properties of Japanese Tertiary sedimentary rocks under high confining pressures: Japanese Geological Survey Report, no. 244, 200 p.
20. Hubbert, M. K., and W. M. Rubey, 1959, Role of fluid pressure in mechanics of overthrust faulting: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 70, p. 115-166.
21. Jaeger, J. C., and N. G. W. Cook, 1979, Fundamentals of rock mechanics, 3d ed.: London, Chapman and Hall, 593 p.
22. Mann, D. M., and A. S. MacKenzie, 1990, Prediction of pore-fluid pressures in sedimentary basins: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 7, p. 55-65.
23. Meissner, F. F., 1978, Petroleum geology of the Bakken Formation, Williston basin, North Dakota and Montana, in 24th Annual Conference, Williston Basin Symposium: Montana Geological Society, p. 207-227.
24. Morley, C. K., and G. Guerin, 1996, Comparison of gravity-driven deformation styles and behavior associated with mobile shales and salt: Tectonics, v. 15, no. 6, p. 1154-1170.
25. Osborne, M. J., and R. E. Swarbrick, 1997, Mechanisms for generating overpressure in sedimentary basins: A reevaluation: AAPG Bulletin, v. 81, no. 6, p. 1023-1041.
26. Peel, F. J., C. J. Travis, and J. R. Hossack, 1995, Genetic structural provinces and salt tectonics of the Cenozoic offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico: A preliminary analysis, in M. P. A. Jackson, D. G. Roberts, and S. Snelson, eds., Salt tectonics: A global perspective: AAPG Memoir 65, p. 153-175.
27. Plesch, A., and O. Oncken, 1999, Orogenic wedge growth during collision - Constraints on mechanics of a fossil wedge from its kinematic record (Rhenohercynian FTB, central Europe): Tectonophysics, v. 309, p. 117-139.
28. Rowan, M. G., F. J. Peel, and B. J. Vendeville, 2004, Gravity-driven fold belts on passive margins, in K. R. McClay, ed., Thrust tectonics and hydrocarbon systems: AAPG Memoir 82, p. 157-182.
29. Shaw, J. H., F. Bilotti, and P. A. Brennan, 1999, Patterns of imbricate thrusting: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 111, no. 8, p. 1140-1154.
30. Shaw, J. H., E. Novoa, and C. Connors, 2004, Structural controls on growth stratigraphy in contractional fault-related folds, in K. R. McClay, ed., Thrust tectonics and hydrocarbon systems: AAPG Memoir 82, p. 400-412.
31. Stockmal, G. S., 1983, Modeling of large-scale accretionary wedge formation: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 88, p. 8271-8287.
32. Suppe, J., 1983, Geometry and kinematics of fault-bend folding: American Journal of Science, v. 283, p. 684-721.
33. Suppe, J., C. D. Connors, and Y. Zhang, 2004, Shear fault-bend folding, in K. R. McClay, ed., Thrust tectonics and hydrocarbon systems: AAPG Memoir 82, p. 303-323.
34. Swarbrick, R. E., M. J. Osborne, and G. S. Yardley, 2002, Comparison of overpressure magnitude resulting from the main generating mechanisms, in A. R. Huffman and G. L. Bowers, eds., Pressure regimes in sedimentary basins and their prediction: AAPG Memoir 76, p. 1-12.
35. Wu, S., and A. W. Bally, 2000, Slope tectonics - Comparisons and contrasts of structural styles of salt and shale tectonics of the northern Gulf of Mexico with shale tectonics of offshore Nigeria in Gulf of Guinea, in W. Mohriak and M. Talwani, eds., Atlantic rifts and continental margins: American Geophysical Union, p. 151-172.
36. Zhao, W. L., D. M. Davis, F. A. Dahlen, and J. Suppe, 1986, Origin of convex accretionary wedges: Evidence from Barbados: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 91, p. 10,246-10,258.