Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/L009633/1
A revised record of ice volume change through the Neogene and its impact on carbonate platform reservoirs offshore Kenya
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor C Lear, Cardiff University, Sch of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Grant held at:
- Cardiff University, Sch of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- The remains of ancient carbonate reef rocks may hold valuable reserves of oil and gas. Their effectiveness and integrity as fossil fuel reservoirs depends on the amount of pore space they contain, and how well connected the pores are. These features are often determined by processes acting on the reef rocks as they accumulate. For example, carbonate cements may precipitate from seawater and fill up pore space. Alternatively, if the reef rocks become exposed above sea level, then rain water may dissolve some of the rocks, in a similar process to the formation of our familiar "limestone pavements". These processes have an enormous impact on the volume of hydrocarbons a reservoir may hold, the extent to which the hydrocarbons remain in the reservoir, and the ease with which the hydrocarbons may be extracted by oil and gas companies. One of the key factors that determine the types of processes acting on carbonate reef rocks is local sea level, and hence whether the reefs remain submarine or become subaerially exposed for part of their depositional history. Local sea level is controlled by regional tectonics (e.g. the subsidence of a basin will result in increased local sea level) superimposed on a global signal of sea level change (eustatic sea level). This in turn is largely controlled by the waxing and waning of Earth's major continental ice sheets (e.g. as ice sheets grow, eustatic sea level falls and vice versa). There are two parts to this project. The first is the compilation of a revised glacio-eustatic sea level curve for the last ~25 million years (i.e. changes in sea level caused by changing global ice volume). The student will analyse the geochemistry of the calcareous skeletons of marine microfossils found in deep sea sediments to work out past variations in seawater salinity, which is controlled by global ice volume. The second part of the project is to examine samples from a prospective carbonate reef rock reservoir that has recently been discovered by BG Group offshore Kenya. The student will examine the amount of pore space in the rock, and analyse its geochemistry to determine whether the rock has been affected by subaerial exposure. The student will then assess the extent to which the changes in global ice volume impacted the quality of the reservoir rock during its depositional history. This will enable BG Group to make better predictions about the reservoir quality, and also improve its ability to identify potentially economically viable reservoirs within other carbonate deposits offshore East Africa.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/L009633/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Completion
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £83,515
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - RTSG | Total - Student Stipend |
|---|---|---|
| £16,226 | £11,000 | £56,292 |
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