I am a third year PhD candidate in the Basin and Reservoir Studies group (BRS) at the University of Bergen. The aim of my project is to understand how fault growth and fault-interaction control different depositional systems in tectonic rift settings. To approach this, I am working on and around the Frøya High, mid-Norwegian continental shelf. I received a travel grant from DEEP to participate in the Exploration and Development Latin-American symposium, which was held in Bogotá, Colombia, 14th - 16th of November. I presented some observations and results from my PhD project, along with some comparisons to the western passive margin of the South Atlantic.
In the Frøya High area, the crustal large-displacement Klakk fault complex separates a major high from the Rås basin. The Klakk fault complex, which is part of the necking domain (area where the continental crust is thinned from around 30 km to 10 km (Perón-Pinvidic et al. 2013)) of the Norwegian passive margin area, can be well-defined using 2D and 3D seismic, gravimetric and magnetic data. I characterised fault geometries, variation along fault strike and basement internal reflections. I concluded that our study area presents a narrow necking domain, generated by the interaction of single large-displacement listric faults that dip to the basin (β type basins). In addition, I identified different hydrocarbon plays associated with narrow necking domains related to basement highs. Finally, I compared my results with some public cross-sections of the western passive margin of the South Atlantic, and found that the Frøya High can be used as good analogues for the Pernambuco-Paraiba, Alagoas, Sergipe, Jacuipe, Almada-Jequitinhonha and Campos basins.
The Geological Society of Colombia invited me to give a talk about the State of the art of the evolution of continental rift systems to passive margins. This talk was in the auditorium of the Geological Service of Colombia on 22nd of November 2018.
Thanks to the travel grant, I was able to come back to Colombia after two years and two months. I could give the talks, meet some classmates, visit my family and spend the last week close to paradise, Santa Martha city in the Caribbean Sea… I would like to thank DEEP for this travel grant.
- Jhon M. Muñoz
