Barremian platform carbonates from the eastern Vercors Massif, France: Organization of depositional geometries

Abstract

The Vercors Massif of southern France constitutes a world-class and unique opportunity to visualize depositional geometries and diagenetic transformations of a Barremian–early Aptian (early Cretaceous) carbonate system, the Urgonian platform, at a seismic scale and thus to constrain the three-dimensional continuity and connectivity of reservoir-prone facies deposited during periods of high and low sea level. The integration of detailed outcrop analysis, including diagenetic transformations, with the sequence stratigraphic interpretation of cliff provides opportunities to study the precise relationship between sea level changes and facies distribution, including reservoir-prone examples such as slope and fan deposits, to understand how local tectonics affect accommodation space and effects on sedimentation rates. This integrated stratigraphic framework developed at surface conditions provides an analog for major petroleum systems of the Middle East where platform carbonates are involved, such as the Aptian Shu’aiba or the Cenomanian–Turonian Mishrif Formation.