Varying permeability due to ground-water activity:

 Circulating underground waters have ability to increase rock porosity by

solution and to diminish porosity by precipitation of mineral matter in the
pre-existing voids.fortunately for mankind ,more reservoirs have been
created by solution than have been destroyed by precipitation

 Although solution may occur in any type of rock ,even sandstone ,the
reservoir most commonly aided by solution activity are carbonate rocks

 In many carbonate rock reservoirs the oil is stored in cavities created or at

least enlarged by the dissolving action of circulating ground waters

 Because of the usual widespread character of solution porosity it is difficult

to find examples of pools in which the trapping has been solely due to local
solution porosity in carbonate rock.

 Accumulation in solution porosity reservoirs is either anticlinal or is due to

faulting, truncation and overlap or some other conventional type of trap

 Locally erratic porosity may result in the drilling of many dry holes inside
the periphery of oil pools of this sort, however variations in permeability
therefore may control the distribution of oil within a trap.

 Limestone has been dolomitized and has sufficient porosity to function as a

reservoir rock.

 The oil has accumulated in the dolomitized zone because that is the only
place in a considerable stratigraphic section where there is enough porosity
and permeability for the rock to be a reservoir.
 Thorough cementation of the reservoir rock can create an up-dip barrier to
further migration by trapping the oil below , but examples of this situation
are scarce.

 Many have noted the confinement of oil to zones of coarse ,loosely

cemented sandstone surrounded by fine and tightly cemented sandstone
.the general tendency is to a scribe this situation to cementation after oil
accumulation has taken place .the oil enters the coarser sands initially
because of the greater room in the interstices between the water-coated
grains of sand .then comes the cementation , which is confined largely to
the non-oil-bearing-rocks ,because where oil is present in the voids it
prevents cementation .evidence of precementation oil in a limestone
reservoir has been described by wegemann “Fragments of limestone
thrown out of wild wells in the south fields of mexico and kept for years will
,when struck with a hammer ,break with explosive force due to confined
gases cemented off in the pores of the limestone ,proving cementation
after accumulation .

 If the cementation is postaccumulation , then the tarp must be

precementation in order for the accumulation to have taken place, and
unless there has been subsequent tilting , the tightly cemented rock would
not be a factor in the capturing of the oil .
 Varying Permeability due to truncation and sealing:

 This type of trap has been responsible for the accumulation of enormous
deposits of oil.
 The first step in the natural history of such accumulations is the emergence
folding and tilting and beveling by erosion of a sedimentary section
including reservoir rocks.
 The second step is the sealing of the edges of the reservoir layers, where
they are folded into a plunging anticline , by impervious material .In rare
instances this impervious material has been asphalt formed from the
seeping oil itself ,but most accumulations of this type have been beneath
beds of shale or dense limestone which were deposits on top of the
truncated ,beveled strata during a subsequent submergence .this type of
trap is referred to as an overlap sea.

Solid hydrocarbon seal: this tar was formed by the interaction between
mineralized ground waters and petroleum hydrocarbons.

Overlap and off lap seals: overlap seals can be divided into two types:

 The strata overlap a truncated plunging anticline on the flank of a

monocline
 The overlapping sediments overlie a truncated closed anticline which has
been aptly referred to as a “baldheaded structure”

Angular unconformities are a well-known type of trap and the most prolific of
those that fall within the varying permeability classification.

Overlap across bald-headed structure may also be complicated by pre-overlap

topography .if the strata in the anticlinal fold are similar in their degree of
resistance to erosion ,the plane of the unconformity will be flat and the picture
the same as for an overlapped beveled monocline except that the reservoirs may
be repeated ,in reverse order ,on the opposite side of the buried anticline

Many time ,howeverthe rock in the anticlinal fold prove to be of unequal

resistance ,and if the core is harder than the younger flanking rocks ,the buried
eroded anticline will also be a hill

Sometimes later folding along the same line of weakness sharpens the relief of
the hill by further upward arching of the plane of unconformity

It is also possible for a hill containing flat-lying permeable strata to be submerged

and covered by impervious overlapping rock ,so that it becomes a trap for oil
accumulation.

Sealing at unconformities by the abutting of the reservoir rock against impervious

older rock is also possible .this occurrence is an off lap rather than an overlap
relationship and it results from regression of the ancient sea in which reservoir-
rock deposition took place

Stratigraphic traps finding : as a rule stratigraphic traps unlike structural traps

give no surface indication to their presence but there are two exceptions to this
generalization. Differential compaction of shale above a shoestring sand may
result in a slight arching of strata. Obviously it is nessarary to determine the
presence of buried sandstone of this type to employ extreme accuracy and details
in mapping the structure in the subsurface bed rock formation. The other possible
exception is that resulting from draping and differential compaction of the
sediments overlying limestone reefs. If the reef is of sufficient its presence may be
reflected to the surface by the configuration of the younger strata.
The techniques of geophysical exploration are of greatest value in Mapping folds.
Where the sediments are arched over a reef. geophysical instruments may
determine that arching As IN THE case of other anticlines.

Gravity surveys tend to be complicated by unevenness on the crystalline rock

basement floor and seismic surveys tend to draw a blank above reef containing
areas .

The latter may prove to be useful in reef finding.

With these exceptions and possible exceptions the hole technique for
finding stratigraphic traps is the use of subsurface geology (drilling
wells).when the subsurface information are integrated with the surface geology
a 3d picture can be developed for the geology of the area.

Areas with possibility to find structure traps

Overlap and offlap

Wedge outs beanth unconfformities

River beds, shorelines and deltas

Facies changes

It is obvious that the search for new stratigraphic traps is more expensive than
structural ones.