Salt in the Vulcan sub-basin, NW Australia: observations from high-quality 3D seismic data and implications for palaeogeography
Simon Molyneux A and Stephen Doyle B CA Molyneux Advisors, Nedlands, Australia.
B Multi-Client Resources (Australia) Pty Ltd, West Perth, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: stephen.doyle@mcresources.com.au
The APPEA Journal 61(2) 684-687 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20068
Accepted: 10 March 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
The Vulcan sub-basin is one of the few places in Australia where tectonic features (i.e. diapirs) associated with a mobile substrate can be found. In this presentation one of these features, the Paqualin diapir, and its environs will be described and discussed using the new regional NOVAR MC3D prestack depth migrated seismic dataset. The extent of the NOVAR MC3D seismic dataset makes it possible, for the first time, to integrate the observation of c. 600 m of interbedded halite and anhydrite in the Paqualin-1 well, local fault geometries indicative of the movement of a mobile layer and regional tectonic features consistent with the presence of a mobile substrate. In this presentation the observations will be integrated with global analogues, regional palaeogeographic interpretations to refine models for the origin and spatiotemporal distribution of mobile layers in the Vulcan sub-basin.
Keywords: Australia, oil, gas, exploration, salt, seismic, processing, Vulcan, interpretation.
Simon Molyneux is a Geoscientist with more than 20 years of leadership and technical experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. He founded Molyneux Advisors in 2018 to provide upstream advice to the oil and gas industry. Molyneux Advisors serves a range of energy clients across the globe. Simon is driven by a belief that each field, prospect or basin requires an integrated approach to maximise resource value. Before starting Molyneux Advisors, Simon was Santos’s Exploration Manager for offshore Australia and exploration and subsurface lead for Talisman Energy’s assets in Malaysia. Simon has a Masters degree in Earth Sciences from Cambridge University, a PhD in Structural Geology from Durham University and a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford University. |
Stephen Doyle is the Managing Director of Multi-Client Resources, an Australian company he founded in July 2018 that specialises in the development, management, promotion and delivery of high quality nonexclusive geophysical data products and services to the oil and gas industry. Stephen is a geophysicist with more than 30 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry. He has held senior executive positions globally with PGS and Polarcus as well as oil and gas operating companies – Arcadia Petroleum, Cathay Petroleum and Enovation Resources. He was a cofounder and nonexecutive director of MultiClient Geophysical ASA. His commitment to the industry saw him serves as President of SEAPEX from 2009 to 2012. |
References
Wu, L., Trudgill, B. D., and Kluth, C. (2016). Salt diapir reactivation and normal faulting in an oblique extensional system, Vulcan Sub-basin, NW Australia. Journal of the Geological Society 173, .| Salt diapir reactivation and normal faulting in an oblique extensional system, Vulcan Sub-basin, NW Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
