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Facies and Bedding Styles in Basin-Floor Fan Deposits of the West Crocker
Formation, West Sabah: Implications for Deepwater Reservoir Facies
Distribution

Conference Paper · January 2010

DOI: 10.3997/2214-4609-pdb.255.82

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 POSTER 36
FACIES AND BEDDING STYLES IN BASIN-FLOOR FAN DEPOSITS OF THE WEST
CROCKER FORMATION, WEST SABAH: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEEPWATER RESERVOIR
FACIES DISTRIBUTION
Mazlan Madon, Ku Rafidah Ku Shafie, Hasnol Hady Ismail, Zainol Affendi
Abu Bakar, Redzuan Abu Hassan and Amita Mohd Ali
PETRONAS Research Sdn Bhd, Lot 3288-3289, off Jalan Ayer Itam,
Kaasan Institusi Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Malaysia

The Oligo-Miocene West Crocker Formation in the Kota Kinabalu area, West Sabah, is often
described as a sand-rich turbidite system. A field programme was undertaken to study the sedimentary facies
of the West Crocker as a possible analogue for the deepwater reservoirs of the NW Sabah Basin and
elsewhere. The formation consists predominantly of thick-bedded sandstone facies (beds are commonly >1 m
thick) deposited by high-density turbidites. In places, there are the “classical” flysch-like, thin-bedded
turbidite sequences deposited on the basin floor. In the thick-bedded successions, sandstone beds are
commonly 1.5-3 m thick, while ‘megabeds’ may reach anomalous thicknesses of up to 35 m. The presence of
amalgamation surfaces within some of the megabeds suggests that they were produced by multiple flow
events. Despite the abundance of thick sandstone beds, there is a general lack of large-scale channelized
scours, even at the bases of the megabeds. Almost all the sandstone beds have tabular or sheet geometries.
Evidence of channel-fill deposits is found only in the innermost (eastern) part of the system. This suggests that
the West Crocker Formation, at least in the vicinity of Kota Kinabalu, represents the non-channelized deposits
of a basin-floor fan.
The internal architecture of basin-floor fan succession are governed by the vertical (and possibly
lateral) distribution of the three dominant facies types. Each facies type is the product of gravity flow events,
identified in outcrop as turbidite, debrite and slump. Turbidite beds are dominated by massive to poorly
laminated sandstone (Bouma Ta/Tb divisions), which are relatively mud-poor and normally graded with
common dewatering features. The beds fine upward into parallel and ripple laminated heterolithics (Tc/Td),
which are sometimes burrowed. More commonly, the massive beds have ‘floating’ shale clasts near or at the
top, indicating deposition by high-density turbidity currents. Debrite beds generally consist of internally
chaotic mud-rich units with scattered shale/mud clasts. They generally have sharp bases and directly overlie
the massive sandstone beds, often filling hollows or subtle topographic lows at the top of the massive sands.
Debrite beds, of varying thicknesses, tend to overlie turbidite beds with sharp, and often irregular, contacts. A
third facies type is slump, which comprise generally muddy or shaly intervals displaying pervasive soft-
sediment deformation (folding and faulting) and remobilization of pre-existing deposits. All three facies types
are intercalated with thin ‘distal’ turbidite (Bouma Tc/Td) and hemipelagic shale intervals. Reservoir
architecture and, consequently, heterogeneity of basin-floor fan succession, are ultimately governed by the
distribution of these different facies types. Predictive depositional models for these facies types are important
for effective reservoir characterization.
We observe that the sand-rich West Crocker outcrops around Kota Kinabalu span a distance of 40 km
along strike of the Kinabalu coastal plain, and we interpret them as representing the medial part of a basin-
floor fan system, which is dominated by the thick-bedded sheet sandstones. Although there may be
stratigraphic repetition in this steeply dipping succession, due to the thrust-related deformation, it is estimated
that the outcrops represent a minimum total thickness of 5000 m of stacked mid-fan section. Since there is
evidence for major channelization only in the most “updip” (eastern) outcrop, we speculate that the
upper/proximal to base-of-slope part of the West Crocker system must occur east of our studied outcrops. By
the same token, the lower/distal parts of the system must lie to the west beneath the coastal areas and beyond,
and may possibly crop out on the islands off Kota Kinabalu and Klias peninsula.
Hence, the West Crocker Formation is indeed sand-rich (estimated net-to-gross ratio > 70-80%) only
insofar as the outcrops around Kota Kinabalu represent the exposed medial fan lobes, and are not necessarily
representative of the entire West Crocker depositional system. Further characterization of both updip and

March 2010 255

 Petroleum Geology Conference and Exhibition 2010
29-30th March, 2010 V Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

POSTER 36
downdip sections relative to the more exposed and accessible medial fan belt is required for a more complete
understanding of the West Crocker depositional system.

256 Geological Society of Malaysia

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