Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Pablo Borbon Main II, Alangilan Batangas City
College of Engineering, Architecture & Fine Arts
www.batstate-u.edu.ph Tel. No. (043) 425-0139 loc. 118

Mechanical/Petroleum Engineering Department

FINAL EXAMINATION
RESERVOIR GEOSCIENCES

General Directions: Answer the following questions by writing your final answer on the answer sheet
provided.

I. COMPREHENSION

1. What is the difference between Uplift and Subsidence? (10 points)

 Uplift or the upward vertical movement forms topography, which generally results

in erosion, while subsidence refers to the downward vertical movement that creates

accommodation space, which generally results in burial. Uplift is the vertical elevation of the

Earth’s surface in response to natural causes. Broad, relatively slow and gentle uplift is termed

warping, or epeirogeny, in contrast to the more concentrated and severe orogeny, the uplift

associated with earthquakes and mountain building. Uplift of the Earth’s surface also has

occurred in response to the removal of Pleistocene ice sheets through melting and wastage.

While subsidence, sinking of the Earth’s surface in response to geologic or man-induced

causes. When subsidence occurs in great belts, providing troughs for the accumulation of

sediments, the resulting features are termed geosynclines; nonlinear subsidence produces

basins and irregular depressions. Subsurface solution during cave formation may lead to a

series of subsidence features at the ground surface, which, collectively, are termed karst

topography.

During uplift, land, as well as the sea floor, rises. The outer shell of the earth, the crust,

divides into moving sections called plates. Uplift, forming mountains and plateaus, usually

results as these plates crash into each other over millions of years. Although the plates move

at roughly the speed fingernails grow, their motion still has a tremendous impact on the earth,

since plates can be as big as a continent or the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes mountains rise from
 crust separating rather than colliding. While, subsidence can happen over very large areas

like whole states or provinces, or very small areas like the corner of your yard.

2. What are the causes of Uplifts? (20 points)

 Uplift is the process by which the earth's surface slowly rises either due to

increasing upward force applied from below or decreasing downward force (weight) from

above. Uplift can occur when large areas of land rise without deforming. Once causes of

uplifting is the movement of plates, though their movement is gradually slow, their motion still

has a huge impact on Earth as plates are as huge as a whole continent. Sometimes mountains

rise from crust separating rather than colliding. Due to the movement of plates, collision of

continents can cause uplift, and for example, When India, formerly a large island, slammed

into the south side of Asia around 55 million years ago, the Himalayas uplifted.

Another cause of uplift is the collision of sea floor crust with continental crust or with

other pieces of sea floor crust. Volcanic mountains (Andes, Cascades) or volcanic islands

(Indonesia, Japan, Aleutians) result from sea floor colliding with and diving beneath a

continent or another sea floor. In addition, sea floor also uplifts along mid-ocean ridges where

crust separated as magma from inside the earth tries to reach the surface. The magma that

rises from below these ridges lifts the ocean floor. If the magma rises similarly beneath a

continent, the land will bulge and eventually crack.

Although compression creates most uplift, it can also be form from a combination of

collision then extension. Finally, when a huge weight is removed from the crust, the crust will

slowly rise up in a process called isostatic rebound. During an ice age, when glaciers up to

1.9 mi (3 km) thick cover continents, the weight of that ice pushes down on the crust, causing

it to sink or subside. When the ice melts, the crust uplifts.

3. What are the causes of Subsidence (20 points)

 Subsidence is the sinking of the ground because of underground material movement

which is most often caused by the removal of water, oil, natural gas, or mineral resources out
 of the ground by pumping, fracking, or mining activities. Land subsidence may be caused by a

combination of sediment loading (when rivers deposit sediment in an area that then sinks under

the additional weight) and sediment compaction after groundwater is removed. Subsidence

can also be caused by natural events such as earthquakes, soil compaction, glacial isostatic

adjustment, erosion, sinkhole formation, and adding water to fine soils deposited by wind (a

natural process known as loess deposits). Similar effects can be produced by mining or by the

extraction of water or petroleum by means of wells. Subsidence also has been produced by the

irrigation of virgin areas of alluvial deposits; initial water penetration causes reorientation of

constituent particles and a consequent compaction of sediment in the wetted areas.

Subsidence is the movement of ground, block or slope. It is caused by readjustment of

overburden due to collapse and failure of underground operating mine excavation, unfilled

and unsupported abandoned stopes and excessive water withdrawal. It can be natural or

manmade. Surface subsidence is common over shallow underground mines. The hazards due

to sudden subsidence of ground include damage to human, material, topography,

infrastructure and even mine inundation and development of mine fire.

4. What is the difference between Tectonic uplift and Orogenic uplift (10 points)
 Tectonic uplift is the portion of the total geologic uplift of the mean earth surface

that is not attributable to an isostatic response to unloading. It is the raising of a geographical

area as a consequence of plate tectonics. While isostatic response is important, an increase in

the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal

thickening (such as mountain building events), changes in the density distribution of the crust

and underlying mantle, and flexural support due to the bending of rigid lithosphere.

On the other hand, orogenic uplift is the result of tectonic-plate collisions and results

in mountain ranges or a more modest uplift over a large region. Perhaps the most extreme

form of orogenic uplift is a continental-continental crustal collision. In this process, two

continents are sutured together and large mountain ranges are produced. The collision of the

Indian and Eurasian plates is a good example of the extent to which orogenic uplift can reach.

Heavy thrust faulting (of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate) and folding are
 responsible for the suturing together of the two plates. The collision of the Indian and Eurasian

plates not only produced the Himalaya, but is also responsible for crustal thickening north

into Siberia. The Pamir Mountains, Tian Shan, Altai, Hindu Kush, and other mountain belts

are all examples of mountain ranges formed in response to the collision of the Indian with the

Eurasian plate. Deformation of continental lithosphere can take place in several possible

modes.

5. What is Isostatic subsidence & Isostatic Rebound? (10 points)

 Isostatic subsidence is the crust floats buoyantly in the asthenosphere, with a ratio

of mass below the "surface" in proportion to its own density and the density of the

asthenosphere. If mass is added to a local area of the crust (e.g., through deposition), the crust

subsides to compensate and maintain isostatic balance. The earth’s surface floats in the

asthenosphere balancing the mass below its surface and its own density with that of the

asthenosphere. In case mass is added on the surface of the crust, it subsides in the

asthenosphere to some level in order to keep the isostatic balance. The mass addition on

Earth’s crust is caused by deposition a process where rocks, sediments, and soils are added

on land.

The opposite of isostatic subsidence is known as isostatic rebound—the action of the

crust returning (sometimes over periods of thousands of years) to a state of isostacy, such as

after the melting of large ice sheets or the drying-up of large lakes after the last ice age.

Isostatic Rebound (also called post-glacial rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land

masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which

had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound and isostatic depression are phases of

glacial isostasy (glacial isostatic adjustment, glacioisostasy), the deformation of the Earth's

crust in response to changes in ice mass distribution. Isostatic rebound occurs when a load is

imposed on or removed from the lithosphere. The surface tends to rise or sink as the lithosphere

rises or sinks in the asthenosphere. Loads may consist of large lakes, oceans (on continental

shelves during eustatic sea level rise), ice, sediment, thrust sheets, and volcanoes. The rising

or sinking of the lithosphere will continue until isostatic equilibrium is reached.

6. Differentiate faults with folds (10 points)
 Fault is fracture in bedrock along which rocks on one side have moved relative to

the other side. Fault may be straight or zigzag and form narrow slits or wide valleys. It is

usually caused by sliding plates and drifting continents, for example, when rocks are stretched

or bent they crack or split along weak points. Hence, these cracks are faults. Additionally, it

is a surface or narrow zone in the Earth’s crust along which one side has moved relative to

the other in a direction parallel to the surface or zone.

On the other hand, folds are structural feature that is formed when planar surfaces are

bent or curved. If a large slab or plate of the Earth’s surface is gradually squeezed, the solid

rock slowly wrinkles and crumples. Its layers become wavy folds. It is also the permanent

wavelike deformation in layered rock or sediment. Folding is a ductile deformation because it

can develop without fracturing, and deformation is distributed over the entire structure.

Folds are bend in crust, they are caused by compressional forces, while faults are

caused by compressional, extensional or lateral motion of the crust. Additionally, folds are

caused at a collision margin where two plates collide and force each other upwards. On the

other hand, a fault is a large crack that appears at transform plate boundary, at which two

plates slide past each other.

7. Discuss the geologic time scale – create a table of its major intervals (20 points)
 Humans subdivide time into useable units such as our calendar year, months, weeks

and days; geologist also subdivide time. They have created a tool for measuring geologic time,

breaking it into useable, understandable segments. For the purpose of geology, the “calendar”

is the geologic time scale. One way to distinguish and define each segment of time is by the

occurrence of major geologic events and the appearance (and disappearance) of significant

life forms, starting with the formation of Earth's crust followed by the appearance of ever

changing forms of life on Earth.

Furthermore, Geologic Time, is the extensive interval of time occupied by the geologic

history of Earth. Formal geologic time begins at start of the Archean Eon (4.0 billion to 2.5

billion years ago) and continues to the present day. Modern geologic time scales additionally

often include the Hadean Eon, which is an informal interval that extends from about 4.6 billion
 years ago (corresponding to Earth's initial formation) to 4.0 billion years ago. Geologic time

is, in effect, that segment of Earth history that is represented by and rewarded in the planet’s

rock strata.

The geologic time scale is the "calendar” for events in Earth history. It subdivides all

time into named units of abstract time called - in descending order of duration - eons, eras,

periods, epochs, and ages. The enumeration of those geologic time Units is based on

stratigraphy, which is the correlation and classification of rock strata.

Eon Era Period Epoch

Cenozoic Quaternary Holocene
Pleistocene
Neogene Pliocene
Miocene
Paleogene Oligocene
Eocene
Paloecene
Phanerozoic Mesozoic Cretaceous Late
Early
Jurassic Late
Middle
Early
Triassic Late
Early
Paleozoic Permian Late
Early
Carboniferous Pennsylvanian Late
Middle
Early
Mississippian Late
Early
Devonian Late
Middle
Early
Silurian Late
Middle
Early
Ordovician Late
Middle
Early
Cambrian Late
Middle
Early
Protozoic ~ ~ ~
Archean ~ ~ ~
Hadean ~ ~ ~

8. Discuss the two types of petroleum traps (20 points)

  There are two types of oil and gas traps, namely, structural traps and stratigraphic

traps. The Earth has been bent and deformed in some way over a long period of time. Oil and

gas is usually found underneath the Earth surface. These oil and gas are hold by petroleum

traps. Structural trap are types that form as a result of some structural deformation - a bend

or dip - of rock. These traps take on several forms and shapes as a result of different types of

deformation. This deformation tends to take place over tens or hundreds of millions of years

after sediment that creates the seals and rocks themselves have been deposited. It may be a

simple dome (or big bump), or just a crease in the rocks, or it may be a more complex fault

trap. All pore spaces in the rocks are filled with fluid, either water, gas, or oil. Gas, being the

lightest, moves to the top. Oil locates right beneath the gas, and water stays lower. Once the

oil and gas reach an impenetrable layer, a layer that is very dense or non-permeable, the

movement stops. The impenetrable layer is called a cap rock that prevents the petroleum from

leaking.

Under structural traps are anticline traps, fault traps and salt domes. Anticline traps are

types of traps are formed by a folding of rock. Specifically, a sandstone bed covered with low

permeability shale is folded into a trap that contains petroleum products. Hydrocarbons are

trapped in the peak of this fold. While fault traps are types of traps are formed when reservoir

rock is split along a fault line. Between the walls of the split reservoir, clay traps oil and

prevents it from leaving the trap and salt domes are traps are formed as a result of below

ground salt - which is less dense than the rock above it - moving upwards slowly. This upward

migration of the salt can deform and break up rock along the way. Oil and gas that flows

through the reservoir rock will come to rest when it reaches the salt dome and is then trapped.

Stratigraphic traps are traps that are formed as a result of the deposition in

sedimentary rocks. When the sediment that creates the reservoir rock is deposited in a

discontinuous layer, the seals are created beside and on top of the reservoir. These traps are

depositional in nature, which means they are formed in place, often by a body of porous

sandstone or limestone becoming enclosed in shale. In some cases, these seals are made of

impermeable or low permeability shale deposited around the reservoir, blocking the oil and
gas inside. The shale keeps the oil and gas from escaping the trap, as it is generally very

difficult for fluids (either oil or gas) to migrate through shales.