3D Structural and Thermal Modeling in the Po Valley Basin, Northern Italy

Abstract

The Po Valley (northern Italy) is a composite foreland-foredeep basin caught in between the Southern Alps and Northern Apennine mountain belts and a major hydrocarbon province of continental Europe. In the region gas and oil, have been locally produced from a number of fields. The crustal scale Po Valley 3D geo-volume (i.e. from the deep Moho to the topographic surface; Turrini et al. 2014) has been used to spatially constrain generation and migration of hydrocarbons within the greater Po Valley area, with particular emphasis on the intervals containing known Mesozoic carbonate source and reservoir rocks. By the available well data and public literature, the Genesis 1D basin modelling software has been used to constrain and calibrate a preferred thermal and burial history model across the whole basin. The preferred 3D thermal and burial history model, together with the generation, migration and accumulation analysis presented provides a good correlation with the current hydrocarbon distribution in the Po Valley while suggesting scope for further hydrocarbon exploration and underexplored areas.