Structural Controls on Rift Basin Depositional Systems

Abstract

Summary There are three archetypal rift basin geometries: asymmetric half grabens, symmetric sags and grabens, and compound basins. The basin geometry in turn imparts a fundamental control on the distribution of the various depositional systems within the rift . Outcrop observations in several Triassic rift basins in north eastern Thailand combined with well, core, and depositional environment maps from twenty six Tertiary rift basins in Southeast Asia indicate that the distribution of synrift lacustrine source rocks and reservoir sequences are remarkably similar in continental rift basins. In that the relationship of the depositional systems to the basin geometry is highly predictable interpreters have the means to define the elements of the rift basin’s petroleum system.