Thermal maturity of Miocene organic matter from the Carpathian Foredeep in the Czech Republic: 1D and 3D models

Abstract

A three-dimensional reconstruction of burial and palaeogeothermal conditions is presented for Miocene sediments of the Carpathian Foredeep beneath the Outer Western Carpathians fold and trust belt in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. The sedimentary units involved include autochthonous Paleozoic sequences, Miocene deposits of the Carpathian Foredeep and of the Western Carpathian nappe system. Reservoir rocks with economic oil and gas accumulations occur in the fractured crystalline basement and in the Neogene Carpathian Foredeep. The studied Vizovice area, is characterized by rocks representing both Variscan and Carpathian orogenic cycles. The 3D thermal maturity and subsidence model presented allows the significance of both tectonic events to be evaluated. The model, calibrated by vitrinite reflectance from eight boreholes proved that eroded units related to the Variscan orogeny approach, in amount, those eroded during the Carpathian orogeny. The thickness of the eroded rocks does not exceed 300 m in either case. Vitrinite reflectance data from representative core samples of the Miocene organic matter show that Rr values increase with depth from 0.36 to 0.58%. A re-evaluation of archival data on the quantity and quality of organic matter shows that total organic carbon ranges from 0.20 to 2.92 wt%, and residual hydrocarbons (S2) from 0.04 to 8.48 mg HC/g rock. These results lead to the conclusion that Neogene Unit II that was interpreted as coastline-through to shallow-marine deposition environment within the Carpathian Foredeep in the Czech Republic is potential source rock for hydrocarbon accumulations.