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Shale gas prospectivity

Shale gas prospectivity is controlled by the amount and type of organic matter held in the shale, thermal maturity, burial history,
micro-porosity and fracture spacing and orientation.

Factors influencing these properties relate to the depositional and post-depositional history of shale deposits. A wide range of
skills and expertise are needed to address these topics:

basin analysis
seismic interpretation
sequence stratigraphy
organic and stable isotope geochemistry
mineralogy and petrology and palynology

Primary controls on shale gas prospectivity:

environment of deposition (EoD)
The depositional environment of shales — marine versus non-marine,
shallow marine versus deep marine, oxic versus anoxic — has a direct and
primary influence on the type and amount of organic matter that they contain.

What 'makes' the organic matter in a shale and how much of it is present are
related to the biological origins of the organic matter, and that varies with the
original depositional setting.

Early Silurian shales in Poland, for example, which are prospective for shale
gas, were deposited in a range of environments from shallow to deep marine.
The types and proportions of organic matter present vary along this gradient,
and so too does the prospectivity for shale gas. Determining the environment
of deposition is therefore a first step towards mapping the spatial and
temporal distribution of shale gas plays.

The BGS is able to offer expertise and advice in the following areas, all of
which contribute to interpreting the environment of deposition of prospective
gas shales.

Biological origins, along with the type and amount of

organic matter in a shale vary with its original
depositional setting. e.g. marine or non-marine, deep or
shallow.

Basin analysis, seismic processing and interpretation,

and sequence stratigraphy
Basin analysis, seismic processing and interpretation and sequence
stratigraphy provide regional-scale overviews of depositional settings of
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4/17/2019 Shale gas prospectivity | Shale gas | British Geological Survey (BGS)
prospective gas shales.

Sequence stratigraphic models for unconventional gas shales, aimed at

investigating linkages between source rock quality and properties and
sequence tracts or positions within parasequences, are being developed
(e.g. Slatt and Rodriguez 2010, Hart 2011, Slatt and Abousleiman 2011, Lush
2011).

These are research areas in which the BGS has capability and to which it
can contribute.

An example of a regional geoseismic cross section from

Wytch Farm to the west Lancashire Basin.

Biostratigraphy, palynology, palynofacies analysis

The BGS capability in biostratigraphy, the use of fossils to date and correlate rocks, helps to define the temporal and spatial
extent of shale gas plays.

Shales from the Neoproterozoic onwards may contain organic-walled microfossils (or palynomorphs, which can include,
depending on age, algae, acritarchs, chitinozoans, dinoflagellate cysts, spores, pollen) that are useful in biostratigraphy. These
can be extracted from samples, along with other acid-insoluble particulate organic matter, in the BGS Palynology Laboratory.

Palynofacies analysis uses the abundance, composition and diversity of palynological assemblages to determine EoD.

Stable isotope geochemistry

Recent stable isotopes work, including work by the BGS (Stephenson et al., 2008), has demonstrated that δ13C (bulk organic
matter) delineates marine and non-marine conditions because marine sedimentary organic matter (usually of algal origin) has a
different δ13C value from that of terrestrial organic matter (mainly wood fragments and terrestrial palynomorphs).

Contact
Contact Enquiries for further information.

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