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PETROMAKS2-Stort program petroleum

Internal and external forcing factors on the Source-to-Sink infill dynamics of the Lower Mesozoic Greater Barents Sea Basin

Alternative title: Interne og eksterne påvirkingsfaktorer på kilde-til-basseng innfyllingsdynamikk i nedre Mesozoikum i det større Barentshav

Awarded: NOK 13.5 mill.

The Barents Sea is one of the last underexplored areas on the Norwegian continental shelf. Acquiring new knowledge about the subsurface geology in this area is complicated both because there area a few areas which lack data and interpretations, but most importantly because the Barents Sea is divided into three geographical areas with different restrictions on access to data: a southwestern part of the Norwegian sector which currently is open to exploration and has huge amounts of data; a northwestern part around the Svalbard archipelago with little subsurface data but with access to outcrops; and a Russian sector in the east where data is difficult to obtain outside of Russia. Of course, geology does not know about these geographical differences in access to data; the same depositional environments can be traced across the Barents Sea region. For example, a large river system can be traced all the way from Russia to the Norwegian sector and Svalbard - and this river system is a contender for the title "the largest river system in the history of Earth". In addition, both the Norwegian sector and Svalbard show signs of receiving sediment from the large magmatic province the Siberian Traps, located in Russia. This magmatic province caused the mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic transition 252 million years ago. The implications of this catastrophic event for basin development in the Barents Sea have so far not been investigated. To get a full understanding of the sedimentary systems in the basin and the processes that affect them, it is essential to examine the basin in a holistic manner. The ISBAR project represents a new approach to create a comprehensive understanding of how the Barents Sea basin developed. We use stratigraphic, biological, geochronological and petrographic data to determine the role and relative significance of the different sediment sources. Our hypothesis is that variation in these parameters can be linked to external influencing forces such as volcanism, tectonics and climate. Through our unique collaboration with Russian and Norwegian colleagues, we will be able to quantify and delineate the various factors and improve our common understanding of this basin. The project is now (December 2022) formally completed, and it has so far resulted in a number of exciting discoveries. 16 articles in international peer-reviewed journals have been published, and more will be published later in the project period due to the large amount of data that has been acquired. Two international professional awards have been awarded for work in the project. One PhD, two postdocs and five master's students have been trained through the ISBAR project. Work in the project has led to a unified stratigraphic framework based on analysis of seismic and biostratigraphy for the Norwegian and Russian Barents Sea, Svalbard and the Kara Sea. In ISBAR, we have documented that the delta in the Triassic in the Barents Sea is the largest delta that has existed on Earth, and the data on variation in sediment supply throughout the Triassic show that enormous amounts of sediment were supplied from source areas in Russia to the Barents Sea due to tectonic uplift due to of the enormous volcanic province of the Siberian Traps. The project has also documented a hitherto undiscovered uplift episode in the Barents Sea in the late Triassic which was probably caused by compression during uplift of the Novaya Zemlya orogen. Furthermore, work in ISBAR has documented that enormous amounts of sediments from the source area in the east were transported through the Barents Sea and into the surrounding arctic basins which now lie in arctic Canada, Alaska and Russia. This discovery has made it possible to improve plate tectonic reconstructions for when the Arctic continental plates were closed before the opening of the Arctic Ocean. Furthermore, much work has been done on reservoir properties in the Barents Sea and controls on reservoir properties in general, and on the transport of magma through the Earth's crust.

ISBAR-prosjektet har vert en stor suksess. En PhD, to postdocs og fem masterstudenter har blitt utdannet igjennom prosjektet. ISBAR har resultert direkte i 16 publikasjoner, og det er flere på vei. Noen av publikasjonene er utgitt i absolutte topptidsskrifter i fagfeltet (Geology, GSA Bulletin) akkurat som forespeilet i prosjektsøknaden, og både en masterstudent og en PhD-student har vunnet internasjonale faglige priser for sin oppgave og sin artikkel. Erfaring, eksponering og resultater fra ISBAR-prosjektet har ledet direkte til deltagelse i et EU-prosjekt (S2S-Future ITN), et nytt KPN-prosjekt (DeepReservoir), og til et pågående prosjekt på å revidere den stratigrafien for den triassiske lagrekken i Barentshavet. Økt samarbeid mellom UiB og UiO igjennom ISBAR har ført direkte til DeepReservoir-prosjektet, som er et NFR-finansiert KPN-prosjekt administrert av UiB, med UiO, TU Delft, University of Aberdeen og University of Liverpool som akademiske partnere, og Equinor og AkerBP som industrielle partnere. Den utviklingen av Barentshavet i tidsperioden Trias er nå mye bedre forstått. Dette gjelder spesielt forståelsen av barentshav-bassenget som helhet, koblingene mellom Barentshavet og kildeområder i Russland og Fennoskandia, og forholdet mellom Barentshavet og de andre bassengene i Arktis. Dette er kunnskap som er viktig for alle som driver med geologisk forskning i arktis, spesielt grupper i Canada, Danmark, USA og Russland. For Barentshavet i Trias kommer både størstedelen av sedimentene og de tektoniske hendelsene ifra Russland. Ved å undersøke data fra det Russiske Barentshavet, Karahavet og fra det russiske fastlandet, har vi laget et integrert stratigrafisk rammeverk og forståelse av det sedimentære miljøet i Barentshavet i Trias. Dette er viktig for alle som vil gjøre geologisk arbeid, og der i leiting etter hydrokarboner og reservoarer for CO2, i Barentshavområdet. Videre har prosjektet ført til fremskritt når det gjelder source-to-sink modeller, forståelse av reservoarer, og dannelse av klorittbelegg på kvartskorn. Disse temaene er viktige for reservoarprediksjon, hydrokarbonleting og muligens også CO2-lagring, og vi har sett stor interesse fra industrien for dette arbeidet. Når det gjelder leting i Barentshavet, er det basert på kunnskap fra ISBAR-prosjektet at det vil vere mindre sannsynlig å finne mange utvinnbare reservoarer i Trias-lagpakken i det nordvestre Barentshavet. Dette er fordi vi har demonstrert at reservoaret blir dårligere mot vest. Dette er fordi sandsteinsreservoarene i Trias-pakken hovedsakelig er elvekanaler som blir smalere og tynnere vestover, vekk fra sedimentkilden, og at mengden sand i formasjonen blir mindre mot vest. Videre viser prosjektet relativt gode reservoaregenskaper i Trias mot sørmarginen av bassenget, i området fra vestmarginen til Russergrensa og videre langs Kolahalvøya.

The proposed project uses a multi-disciplinary and international approach to connect stratigraphic intervals across the formerly disputed marine delineation boundary between Norway and Russia. This is important because most of external factors affecting the sedimentary has its origin in the Russian part of the Barents Sea. In order to understand one, we have to study the other. Since the study interval represents a prolific reservoir interval within the Arctic frontier basin of the Barents Sea, results of the proposed project will be important both for exploration model and our understanding of reservoir characteristics on a more local scale. This is only possible after a thorough correlation of the different stratigraphic intervals, and a consolidation of knowledge. This unique project proposes to use its role as an industry-independent research project to collaborate with both Russian colleagues at Moscow State University and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate in order to achieve this important goal. The project will also benefit from collaborating with leading national institutions such as the University in Oslo, the University Center on Svalbard, Statoil and the University of Tromsø. Constraints offered by a robust stratigraphic framework will allow us, for the first time, to investigate a number of different aspects which are important for current exploration models and our understanding of reservoir intervals within the basin. Differentiating between internal and external forcing factors on the sedimentary system allow us to estimate the relative magnitude and timing of extrabasinal events. Specifically, we anticipate that our results will let us quantify the magnitude of sediment supply from the Siberian Traps in the Early Triassic and the Novaya Zemlya fold and thrust belt in the Late Triassic. Also, the middle Triassic change in location of depocenters from the Russian sector to the Norwegian sector will be considered in relation to climatic effects.

Publications from Cristin

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Funding scheme:

PETROMAKS2-Stort program petroleum