Applying plate tectonics as scoping techniques on a regional scale

Plate tectonics studies are useful for defining an entry position in a basin with  a competitive business environment. Although plate tectonics analysis is most useful in frontier basins, it is helpful even in mature basins.

Knowing how a structural play fits into the regional plate tectonics picture yields valuable new ideas and approaches for your exploration.

Plate tectonics studies provide the following kinds of information:

  • Regional geologic framework
  • Types of major structures expected in the play
  • Whether the area may have been affected by more than one deformation event and/or more than one deformational style
  • Age and relative timing of deformation
  • Relation between structural trap development and other hydrocarbon systems events,such as source, seal, and reservoir deposition

This inexpensive technique is applied directly from the following:

  • Regional literature in professional journals
  • Interactive computer programs showing plate positions and configurations during geologic history
  • Independent or “spec” regional studies integrating all aspects of the petroleum geology of a large region

A variety of plate tectonics techniques and tools are available to explorationists for analyzing various aspects of a structural play. These plate tectonics techniques cover a broad range, both in scale and type, from plate tectonic studies to microscopic examination of grain-scale structures and from outcrop studies to computer-intensive numerical modeling.

For a structural play to be accepted, Eslan’s expert consultants construct a coherent explanation of the mechanics or tectonics responsible for creating the play. Such explanations can be any of the following:

These explanations provide you with greater confidence in our interpretations and a higher level of predictability in poorly constrained areas.