Department of Geology

University of Peshawar
&
Pakistan Association of Petroleum Geoscientists

Principles and techniques of cross section

balancing and its implication in hydrocarbon
exploration
Bara Gali
August 30- September 01, 2008
Presented by:
Dr. Sajjad Ahmad
 Introduction

Warm well come to this short course on cross section balancing

techniques and its implication in hydrocarbon exploration. The next
three days cover an intense review of the fold-thrust belt structures,
balancing principles and techniques with special emphasis on its use in
hydrocarbon exploration. The first two days will be spent on covering
theoretical and practical aspects, supported by numerous exercises in
fold-thrust belts interpretation and balancing. The last day will be spent
in field to observe fold-thrust assemblages in Mesozoic-Eocene rocks of
the Khan Pur valley.
DEFINITION

“A balanced cross section is a deformed state cross section that is both admissible and
viable”

Admissibility means that the section must show realistic-looking fold and fault geometries
and has to obey local rules

Viability means that the amount of rock area before deformation has to be equal to the
amount of rock area after the deformation and the predeformational fault geometries must
be admissible or simply the section should be retrodeformable

A balanced cross section does not mean that the interpretation is unique and correct. A
balanced cross section is possibly one of the correct interpretations whereas a section that
does not balance is probably wrong.

WHY WE BALANCE A SECTION

• For correct palinspatic restoration

• To determine geologic sequence of events
• To understand geometry of prospect
• To construct more accurate prospect and reservoir maps
• To discover significant additional reserves

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?

The interpreter’s knowledge of structural geology and the application of techniques that
lead to geologically reasonable and sound interpretations
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF FOLD-THRUST BELTS

Fold-thrust belts are typical of convergent plate tectonic habitat. These are belts of
deformed sedimentary rock in which the layers are folded and duplicated by thrust faults
and are common at the external edges of orogens. Folds and reverse faults are the
dominant structures in un-metamorphosed rocks exposed in a belt that may be tens or
hundreds of kilometres wide.

Internal zone
The internal zone is the portion of the belt where plastic deformation dominates,
penetrative strains develop and metamorphism occurs (hinterland) (Fig.1).

External zone
Boarders the undeformed continental interior and is characterized by less plastic
deformation, nonmetamorphic conditions and nonpenetrative strain (foreland) (Fig.1).

Fig.1.Generalized geologic map of the NW Himalayas

Detachment

A detachment or decollement is a subhorizontal or shallowly dipping fault along which a

sheet of rocks has moved relative to the underlying substrate. In stratified rocks
detachment commonly lies in the plane of bedding. Several detachments may lie in a
vertical sequence. The lowest is called as basal detachment (Fig.2).

Fig.2. Schematic cross section showing the concept of detachments in thin-skinned

deformed belt (external zone).

In external zones the basal detachment commonly forms at or near the contact between
sedimentary units and crystalline basement whereas in internal zones the basal
detachment lies within crystalline basement rocks.
Detachments commonly run within weak rocks but it can within hard as well.

Thrust sheet

The package of rocks above a fault is called thrust sheet. Thrust sheets are named after
their underlying faults (Fig.3).

Fig.3. Schematic cross section showing the concept of step like geometry of a thrust fault.
Ramps and flats

Many thrust faults are non-planar. Most commonly, steeper and more gently dipping
segments are present.

Ramps are regions on thrust faults where stratigraphy is truncated at relatively steep
angles (typically > 10°)

Flats are regions where thrust faults do not cut stratigraphy, or where the strata are cut at
a very low angle.

Typically, ramps and flats correlate with the stratigraphic units cut. Massive, competent
units usually show thrust faults that climb steeply through stratigraphy, whereas shaly,
incompetent units contain thrusts that stay in one unit over large areas. We need to clarify
the definitions for ramps and flats that make clear whether we are talking about the
hanging wall or the footwall. These are distinguished as under;

Footwall ramp

Footwall flat

Hanging wall ramp

Hanging wall flat

Frontal, lateral and oblique ramps

Ramps need not be oriented parallel to the overall strike of the orogen.

A frontal ramp is a ramp whose strike is orogen-parallel.

An oblique ramp is oriented at an angle to the overall strike of the orogen

A lateral ramp strikes perpendicular to the orogen.

Lateral ramps can be quite steep, as the direction of thrusting is typically parallel to the
strike, so the hanging wall block does not have to climb up the dip slope. Such steep
strike-slip faults at high angles to thrust belt strike are generally called tear faults.
Fig.4. Diagram showing different types of ramps.

Cutoff points, lines and angle

Where thrust faults cut stratigraphic boundaries there are cutoff points in cross-section
(point E in figure 3). Typically, for a given stratigraphic horizon, we can identify a
footwall cutoff point and a hanging wall cutoff point. The separation between them is
evidence for the amount of displacement - though we need to know the slip direction to
be precise about this.

In 3-D each cutoff point corresponds to a cutoff line: the line of intersection between a
bedding plane and a fault.

Fault tips and tip lines

Sometimes thrusts lose displacement in the direction of transport. Typically this occurs
when the hanging wall is folded or otherwise internally deformed but the footwall is not.
Eventually, the offset may fall to zero.

A fault tip point in the subsurface is a point beyond which displacement is zero the fault
cannot be traced.

In 3-dimensions this corresponds to a tip line. Such a thrust fault is described as a blind
thrust.
 Branch Lines Tip Line

Fig.4. Diagrams showing tip lines and branch lines in 2 & 3D(from Twiss and Moores,
1992).

Arrays of thrust faults

Thrusts do not occur alone. There are a many of characteristic geometries of multiple
thrust faults. Because they are much studied in oil exploration, there is a great variety of
terms surrounding thrust fault arrays.

Imbricate thrusts

In general, any thrust faults that have an en echelon arrangement when viewed in cross-
section are described as imbricate.

A series of imbricate thrust faults that branch out of a single, deeper 'floor' thrust is
known as an imbricate fan.

The points on a cross-section where the traces of two thrusts meet is called a branch
point (fig.5).
Fig.5. Imbricate thrust array and branch point.

Fig.6 Imbricate fan formed from an array of fault propagation folds (After Mitra, 1990).

In 3-D each branch point corresponds to a branch line (fig.4).

The branch points at the floor of an imbricate fan, where two thrusts branch when traced
toward the foreland, are called trailing branch points.
Sometimes we can find other branch points where two thrusts join into one as they are
traced toward the foreland. These are called leading branch points.

In 3-D we recognize leading and trailing branch lines.

Duplexes

Where a series of thrusts connects both with a floor thrust below and a roof thrust above,
the configuration is known as a duplex. The individual thrust-bounded slices in a duplex
are called horses.

There are multiple trailing branch points at the floor of a duplex, at the hinterland end
of each horse.

Roof thrust
Trailing edge
Branch Leading edge
Branch

** Propagation
*

Sole thrust Horses

Fig.7. Duplex strucrure and associated elements.

At the roof, thrusts join as they are traced toward the foreland; the foreland limit of each
horse is marked by a leading branch point.

Some duplexes exhibit very regular geometry, but in others the amount of offset between
horses vary greatly. In some cases the horses are piled on top of each other to form an
antiformal stack. If the displacement is higher for higher horses, they may have moved
right over the antiformal stack to produce a foreland dipping duplex.
 Horse

Duplex

Fig.8. Types and structural elements of duplex structure (after Davis & Reynolds, 1996).
Triangle zones and tectonic wedges

There are areas in thrust belts where thrusts of opposite sense - conjugate thrusts - are
developed. We can recongnize both foreland-vergent thrusts (ie those in which the
hanging wall has been displaced towards the foreland) and hinterland vergent thrusts (the
opposite). A body of rock that has moved between a pair of oppositely vergent thrusts is
called a tectonic wedge.

Fig. simple triangle zone with passive roof back thrust.

A combination of two thrusts with same basal detachment and with opposing vergence
forms a triangle zone.
Fig.9. Diagram showing the geometry of triangle zone and pop up.

Thrust nappe

A nappe is a recumbent, often isoclinal fold with definite asymmetry (vergence). Nappes
are commonly observed with sheared out lower limbs, or thrust faults. Both the direction
of shear or thrust faulting on the lower limb of the fold and the asymmetry of the fold
have consistent vergence or direction of tectonic transport. Such a structure is a thrust
nappe.

Folds in thrust belts

Folds are almost always associated with thrusts and we can recognize a number of
different fold styles that are characteristic of thrust belts. First, we will deal with some
methods that can be used to construct cross-sections through folds in profile view.

1: Layer types and cross-section construction

a: Layer geometry

Just as thrusts faults are clearly influenced by the mechanical properties of different rock-
types, so are folds. It's common in fold and thrust belts to find that sandstone and
limestone layers maintain their thickness when traced through folds, whereas shales and
evaporites are strongly thickened in fold hinges.

Many thrust belts show significant sedimentary packages that show Class 1 geometry,
sometimes quite close to the ideal class 1B "parallel fold". Hence some constructions for
cross-sections have been developed to assist with the drawing of parallel folds.

Fig.10. Class 1B fold ( after Ramsay, )

b: Busk or arc construction

In the Busk construction we assume that folds are perfectly parallel (concentric) folds
made from arcs of circles. The locations of the centre points for circular arcs are defined
by drawing normals to the dip and finding their intersection points.

The Busk construction produces very smoothly curved cross-sections. The construction
breaks down at depth beneath anticlines and (less obviously) at high, eroded locations
above synclines. This breakdown may be used to determine the depth to a detachment in
areas of detachment folding.

Note that although the cross-sections produced by this construction may "look" very
realistic, in detail the assumption of circular arcs and perfectly parallel folds is unlikely to
be true.
Fig.10. Busk method approximation. The strata are projected to depth along segments of
circular arcs ( after Marshak and Mitra, 1988).

c: Kink construction

More recently, another construction has become popular. Instead of being composed of
perfectly circular arcs (as in the Busk construction), folds are assumed to be composed of
perfectly flat limb panels separated by sharply angular hinges.

In addition, layers are assumed to have equal thickness on either side of the hinge region.
Geometrically, this means that fold axial surfaces must perfectly bisect the limbs.

It's very easy to measure layer lengths in kink constructions, which makes section
balancing (see later) easy. However, kink construction cross-sections have a tendency to
look 'boxy' and angular when compared with photographs of outcrops of real structures.
Using increasing numbers of axial surfaces it's possible to make 'smoother' kink
constructions and approximate many real fold shapes.

Remember, though, that both the kink and Busk constructions are only convenient
approximations to reality!
Fig.11. Kink method approximation. The beds are projected to depth along planar limb
surfaces. This method applies to majority of folds withplanar limbs ( after Tearpock &
Bischke,2006)

Kink method application in hydrocarbon exploration

An immediate application of the kink method construction arises when drilling the crest
of the asymmetric monoclinal or asymmetric folds that are common in fold thrust belt.

The improper positioning of wells on crest can result in drilling wells off-
structure or wells into synclines. In order to avoid costly mistakes the
compressional regime requires a good understanding of structural styles
and geometry.

Figure shows two different interpretations of an asymmetric fold based on same bed dip
and seismic data. The steeply dipping forelimb of the fold was not imaged. The proposed
wells are spudded at different locations based on the anticipated high at the reservoir
level. Which well is more likely to be successful?

The frontal limb in figure a is interpreted to be thinner which is the style of high
temperature mobile belts and donot contain hydrocarbons. Figure b shows a constant
thickness fold where beds donot change thickness from back to fore limb. This type of
folding is common in low tempraturepetroleum regime ( fold-thrust belts)

On time profiles the stratigraphic intervals of constant thickness maintain about the same
vertical time thickness. The depth profile showen in figure a is similar to a time profile on
which the interpreter attempted to maintain the same vertical time thickness of the
intervals. The result is a thin fold limb. On the other the geoscientist who constructed
figure b made his interpretation an a time profile and then probably depth corrected it to
generate the depth profile seen in figure b. The stratigraphic thickness was maintained
and the result is a parallel fold.

Geoscientists working in fold-thrust belt regimes should know that

majority of folds within hydrocarbon bearing regions approximate parallel
fold rather than thin-limb folds.
If the fold is a constant thickness fold then the likely results after drilling the two wells is
shown in figure . The well on the right is positione on the steeply dipping forelimb and
will never test the reservoir.

Perhaps the geoscientist who generated the right one profile believed that a seismic
section is a geologic profile.

Profile on the left demonstrates kink law that if the beds do not change thickness, then the
axial surface bisects the limbs of the fold( the angles between the two fold limbs and
axial surface are about the same.

Fig. Two different interpretation for same dip and seismic data.
2: Symmetry relationships of folds and thrusts

In many thrust belts the folds are asymmetric (S-folds or Z folds), and also show
vergence toward the foreland. In this case we recognize

long backlimbs: fold limbs that dip toward the hinterland

short forelimbs: fold limbs that dip toward the foreland, sometimes quite steeply.

Early descriptions of fold and thrust belts adopted a terminology in which thrust were
described in relation to folds.
backlimb thusts

forelimb thrusts

out-of-the-syncline thrusts

This is a purely geometric classification. It suffers from the disadvantage that the
classification of a given thrust depends on the erosion level. A backlimb thust might pass
into an out-of-the-syncline or forelimb position as it is traced up or down-dip.

Relationship of folds to thrust ramps, flats, and tips

More recently another type of classification of folds in thrust belts has been developed, in
which folds are related to thrusts (rather than the other way round). This classification is
not purely geometrical; it has a relationship to thrust kinematics which we will explore
more fully in the next section.

a: Fault-bend folds

When movement occurs on a curved fault, rotation and/or distortion of the wall rocks
must occur to preserve strain compatibility. Typically, for a large-scale fault with ramps
and flats, the hangingwall is folded to accommodate to the shape of the footwall ramps.

Because ramps typically dip at < 40°, fault-bend folds are typically open in style. An
exception might be a fault-bend fold over an antiformal stack duplex.
b:
Detachment folds

Other folds in thrust belts are associated with flat thrusts, and mark locations where the
displacement changes. Such folds are known as detachment folds. Some examples are
particularly conspicuous in cross-sections of the Jura Mountains, in the thrust belt of the
Swiss Alps, where the underlying décollement is located in a layer of Triassic evaporites.

Fig. Cross section of detachment folds in the foreland of Jura Mountains (Switzerland).

c: Fault propagation folds

Related geometries occur at fault tips. The best understood geometry occurs where a fault
tip lies in a ramp. Strata cut by the base of the ramp are shortened by thrusting. Strata
above the tip of the fault are shortened entirely by folding. Intermediate strata are
shortened by a combination of folding and faulting.

Kinematically, fault tips must propagate through rocks as faults develop. Hence the
associated fold is called a fault propagation fold.

It is possible for the fault tip to propagate beyond the area of folding, leaving the fold
truncated in the hangingwall.

Such folds resemble detachment folds. There may be a continuum of geometries between
'classic' detachment and 'classic' fault-propagation folds.
Fold thrust belts in map view
Faults are not surfaces

e
Folding definition in time section
Folds and bedding thickness
Folds are classified on whether or not the thickness of stratigraphic layers changes in dip
domains across axial surfaces.
Parallel folds preserve constant thickness, and are common in strata that deformed
predominantly by flexural slip. Axial surfaces bisect interlimb angles in parallel folds.
 Deformed state section
RECOGNIZING THRUST AND REVERSE FAULTS

Restored section
Deformed and restored state cross section the Rocky Mountain foothills of southern
Alberta

Triangle zones. After McClay, K. R., 1992, Glossary of thrust tectonics terms, in
McClay, K. R., ed., Thrust Tectonics: London, Chapman and Hall, p. 419-433.
Back thrust
 In many thin-skinned fold and thrust belts, most of the fold and thrust structures have a
definite, consistent vergence to them. That is, the sense of overturn on the folds and the
dip and transport direction on the faults suggest consistent transport of material towards
the foreland. A backthrust is a thrust fault that dips in a direction opposite to that of most
of the structures in the belts.
Foreland
Thin skinned fold and thrust belts are often found on the flanks of mountain belts. The
area outboard of the mountain belt consisting of undeformed sediments is known as the
foreland. Since thinskinned fold and thrust belts typically detach on previously .at lying
sediments andpropagate deformation towards the foreland, they are often referred to as
foreland fold and thrust belts.
Hinterland
The core of a mountain belt, often characterized by rocks of high metamorphic grade and
ductile deformation histories is the hinterland of the range. Thin-skinned fold and thrust
belts are generally found between the undeformed foreland and the strongly deformed
core, or hinterland of the range. Tectonic transport in foreland thrust belts is generally
directed from the hinterland to the foreland.
Duplex
Low angle faults are often characterized by alternating ramps and .ats. Ramps are often
associated with a series of imbricate (parallel or “shingled” faults joined by faults above
and below them. In a thrust environment, the structural association is: two .at segments
(called the .oor and roof thrusts), connected by several parallel ramp segments. The rock
masses bounded by these faults are called horses, and the entire structural association is a
duplex.

Duplex structure
Roof thrust
Floor thrust
Horse
Horse
Out of sequence thrust
In a fold and thrust belt, deformation commonly propagates towards the foreland.That is,
thrusts become progressively younger as you go towards the foreland (in the direction of
transport). This is in sequence thrusting. A fault that is younger, but is located more
hinterland ward than some other fault is, in contrast, out of sequence. Note that this has
nothing to do with the transport direction or dip of the out of sequence thrust: it need not
be a backthrust.

Blind thrust
A blind thrust is a thrust fault that does not break the surface. Instead, the tip of the fault
is buried in a fold.