INTRODUCTION TO PETROLEUM GEOLOGY

PET 122
Geology is the science that deals with the history and structure of the earth and

its life forms, especially as recorded in the rock record. A basic understanding

of its concepts and processes is essential in the petroleum industry, for it is used

to predict where oil accumulations might occur. It is the job of the petroleum

geologist to use his/her knowledge to reconstruct the geologic history of an area

to determine whether the formations are likely to contain petroleum reservoirs.

It is also the job of the geologist to determine whether the recovery and

production of these hydrocarbons will be commercially profitable.

The physical characteristics of a reservoir, how petroleum originated and in

what type of rock, what types of fluids exist in the reservoir, how hydrocarbons

become trapped, and basic well log analysis are some of the concepts vital to

the production and recovery efforts of any exploration or energy service

company.

Geology Basics

The earth is composed of three basic layers: the core, the mantle, and the crust.

The crust is the layer that is of most importance in petroleum geology.

Geologists distinguish between oceanic crust and continental crust. Oceanic

crust lies under the oceans and is thin - about 5-7 miles (8-11 km) - and is made

up primarily of heavy rock that is formed when molten rock (magma) cools.

1|Page
Continental crust is thick - about 10-30 miles (16-48 km) - and is composed of

rock that is relatively light as compared to oceanic crust.

Cross-sectional view of the earth showing internal structure

The crust is continuously changing and moving because of two major forces of

nature—

Orogeny and weathering/erosion. Orogeny, or mountain building, is a process

in which the layers of the crust are folded and pushed upward by such processes

2|Page
as plate tectonics and volcanism. Weathering and erosion are the opposing

forces in which the sediments are broken down and transported.

Three Basic Rock Types

The earth’s crust is composed of three basic rock types: igneous, sedimentary

and metamorphic.

Igneous rocks are formed from the crystallization of molten rock (magma or

lava) from within the earth’s mantle. Common igneous rocks include granite,

basalt, and gabbro.

Metamorphic rocks are formed from pre-existing rocks by mineralogical,

chemical and/or structural changes in response to marked changes in

temperature, pressure, shearing stress, and chemical environment. These

changes generally take place deep within the earth’s crust. Examples of

common metamorphic rocks include slate, marble and schist.

Sedimentary rocks are formed as sediments, either from eroded fragments of

older rocks or chemical precipitates. Sediments lithify by both compaction, as

the grains are squeezed together into a denser mass than the original, and by

cementation, as minerals precipitate around the grains after deposition and bind

the particles together. Sediments are compacted and cemented after burial under

additional layers of sediment. Thus sandstone forms by the lithification of sand

particles and limestone by the lithification of shells and other particles of

3|Page
calcium carbonate. These types of rocks are typically deposited in horizontal

layers, or strata, at the bottom of rivers, oceans, and deltas.

Limestone, sandstone, and clay are typical sedimentary rocks.

The Rock Cycle

Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are related by the rock cycle, the

circular process by which each is formed from the others. Rocks are weathered

to form sediment, which is then buried. During deeper and deeper burial, the

rocks undergo metamorphism and/or melting. Later, they are deformed and

uplifted into mountain chains, only to be weathered again and recycled.

The rock cycle

Petroleum-Bearing Rocks; Sedimentary rocks, are the most important and

interesting type of rock to the petroleum industry because most oil and gas

4|Page
accumulations occur in them; igneous and metamorphic rocks rarely

contain oil and gas.

All petroleum source rocks are sedimentary. Furthermore, most of the

world’s oil lies in sedimentary rock formed from marine sediments

deposited on the edges of continents. For example, there are many large

deposits that lie along the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf.

Sedimentary rocks
Sedimentary rock is a type of rock that is formed by sedimentation of material

at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective

name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles (detritus) to settle

and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution. Particles that form a

sedimentary rock by accumulating are called sediment. Before being deposited,

sediment was formed by weathering and erosion in a source area, and then

transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, mass movement or

glaciers.

The study of the sequence of sedimentary rock strata is the main source for

scientific knowledge about the Earth's history,

The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of sedimentary

rocks is called sedimentology. Sedimentology is both part of geology and

physical geography and overlaps partly with other disciplines in the Earth

sciences, such as geomorphology, geochemistry or structural geology.

5|Page
 The processes for the formation of Sedimentary Rock

Sedimentary rocks are those rocks formed from sediment- material consisting of
sand, gravel, mud, ions in solution derived from pre-existing rocks or organic
debris derived from living organisms.

There are five basic steps or processes involved in the formation of sedimentary
rocks:

1. Weathering (making the sediment by breaking down or dissolving pre-

existing rocks or living organisms)

2. Erosion (picking up the sediment by water, wind, or glaciers)

3. Transportation (moving the sediment by water, wind, or glaciers)
4. Deposition (depositing the sediment)
5. Lithification (turning the sediment to rock).

WEATHERING:
All rocks (igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary) exposed at the Earth's

surface are subjected to the relentless effects of weathering.

There are two types of weathering:

Physical weathering— occurs when solid rock is fragmented by physical

processes that do not change the rock’s chemical composition. These processes

include wind (Aeolian forces), water (freezing, flowing, wave action, etc.), heat,

and even glacial movement. Frost wedging is one example of physical

weathering.

6|Page
Chemical weathering— occurs when minerals in a rock are chemically altered

or dissolved. The weathering of potassium feldspar to form kaolinite, a clay, is

an example of chemical weathering.

Physical weathering acts to break up rocks into smaller pieces while chemical

weathering acts to change the composition of various minerals into other

minerals or forms which are stable at the temperature and pressure conditions

found at the Earth's surface.

EROSION AND TRANSPORTATION:

Weathering and erosion are closely interrelated geological processes. As a

rock weathers, it becomes susceptible to erosion. Erosion is the removal of

weathered debris. These and additional forces and processes have resulted in the

7|Page
creation of subsurface geological formations in which petroleum reservoirs are

found.

The major agents of erosion and transportation are water, wind, and ice (in the
form of glaciers). Erosion is the physical "pickup" of weathered material from
the source area. Transportation is the movement of that material away from the
source. These processes are most important in the characteristics and history of
clastic sediments. The chief effects that erosion and transportation produce on
clastic sediments are to change the grain size, grain sorting and grain rounding.

Grain size is dependent on a variety of factors, the most important of which are
transport distance & rate of transportation. The farther the material is
transported, the smaller the grains tend to be. The faster the velocity (higher
energy) of transport (wind or water), the larger the clasts may be because the
higher the energy, the larger are the particles that can be moved. Water has the
capacity to transport much larger clasts than wind, and glaciers have the
capacity to carry any size and mixture of materials.
Geologists have developed a system for the classification of grain sizes. These
are shown under the classification of Clastic rocks and illustrated in the Rock
Classification chart.
Grain Roundness is a measure of the angularity of fragments in clastic
sedimentary rocks and ranges from very angular (with sharp edges and corners)
to well rounded (considerably more spherical). The degree of grain rounding is
related to the distance the grain has been transported, with more roundness
indicating a greater distance of transport. Harder clasts also tend to stay angular
for longer transport distances.
Sorting refers to the variation of grain size in clastic rocks. Rocks made of
grains of uniform size are described as well sorted. If the constituent grains are
of various sizes, the clastic rock is referred to as poorly sorted. The degree of

8|Page
sediment sorting is controlled by the rate of deposition of the clasts (how
quickly they are deposited) and the viscosity of the medium that carried the
particles (i.e. grains deposited by wind – a low-viscosity medium – are
considerably more well sorted than those deposited from a glacier – a high-
viscosity medium).

DEPOSITION:
The area in which sediments are deposited (in the case of clasts/sediment) or
chemically precipitated (in the case of ions in solution) is called the
environment of deposition.
Environments of deposition can be as varied as the landscapes of the Earth
today, but are usually simplified as belonging to the continent (subaerial or
terrestrial), the ocean (marine), or a little of both (transitional).
Continental environments include alluvial fans, playa lakes, lakes, rivers,
swamps, deserts, and glacial. Marine environments include the shallow and
deep varieties, whereas the transitional environments include deltas, the beach,
and tidal flat areas. Like the agents of erosion and transportation, depositional
systems affect certain characteristics to the resulting sedimentary rocks-
including grain sorting, rounding and size as described above.
LITHIFICATION:
A final phase in the formation of sedimentary rocks involves the chemical and

physical changes which occur during the transformation of soft sediment into a

hard sedimentary rock.

DIAGENESIS

A lump term for these processes is diagenesis. Diagenesis may produce

significant changes in the petrography of the rock, such as dissolution of grains,

9|Page
re-packing of grains, crushing of grains and the precipitation of new minerals

within pore spaces which hold the grains together (known as cements).

Diagenesis is a term introduced by Von Guembel in 1868 and may be defined

as;

Diagenesis is the sum of the changes that a sediment undergoes from the

moment of accumulation until metamorphism, or final destruction by

weathering.

The boundary between diagenesis and metamorphism is nebulous. The range of

physical conditions prevailing during diagenesis is 0 - 250 °C with pressures of

1 – 2000 Kg cm 2 and water composition from fresh to hyper saline brine (Blatt

1979).

DIAGENETIC PROCESSES

There are 5 main processes of diagenesis in clastic sediments:

1. Compaction

2. Solution

3. Cementation

4. Replacement and Recrystallization

5. Bioturbation

10 | P a g e
 1. Compaction
Usually results from the weight of overlying sediments pressing down on
the sediment beneath them. Most sediments need not only compaction,
but also require cementation to become sedimentary rock.
Compaction is the process by which the volume of sediment is reduced. This

can be accomplished by:

 Grain rearrangement,

 Grain bending,

 Grain breakage,

 Grain solution

 Fluid expulsion.

Compaction is driven by pressure and increases with depth of burial.

Compaction leads to a decrease in porosity which is important in the oil and gas

industry because porosity is the space between grains in which oil and gas can

be stored in reservoir rocks. A reduction in porosity during compaction affects

the potential reservoir characteristics of sandstones. Porosity present at the time

of deposition is called primary porosity, porosity formed later due to the

dissolution of minerals is known as secondary porosity.

11 | P a g e
 2. Cementation
Describes the process where dissolved mineral components seep between
the sediment clasts and crystallize between the clasts to form a sort of
mineral “glue” that holds the rock together.
The most common cementing materials are calcite, quartz, hematite, and
limonite, all of which are usually provided by solution activity (chemical
weathering).
These cements may impart certain characteristics to the resulting sedimentary
rock. For example, rocks cemented with calcite will react to hydrochloric acid.
Rocks cemented by hematite have a characteristic red colour (the sandstones
around Sedona, for example). Rocks cemented by limonite have a characteristic
yellow, yellow-brown colour. The degree of cementation can range from minor
(poorly cemented) to substantial (well cemented).
3. Solution

In which unstable minerals are dissolved as under saturated fluids pass

through sediments. This can result in the removal of grains such as

carbonate bio-clasts or feldspar grains creating a new pore space,

secondary porosity. At point contacts between grains pressure can

promote solution of minerals causing pressure solution and creating

microstylolites between grains. The minerals released into solution may

be exported from the sandstone or precipitated as cement.

4. Recrystallization and Replacement:

Changes in the structure or chemical composition of a mineral under

changing conditions of temperature and pressure, the albitisation of

feldspar for example. Replacement occurs when a new mineral replaces a

12 | P a g e
 pre-existing mineral and can be described as: Neomorphic when the new

mineral has the same chemical composition but a different structure, e.g.

calcite and aragonite.

5. Bioturbation

Can cause changes in the physical and chemical composition of a

sediment, a simple example is compaction through trampling, worm

burrows is another.

In general, diagenetic processes during burial reduce the porosity. However,

some detrital grains and cements may be dissolved during burial creating

secondary porosity. At the time of deposition the pore spaces within sediment

will usually be filled with water, or air for Aeolian sandstone.

During compaction the water is squeezed out. The water that is expelled from

the sediments will flow through rocks in the subsurface. This is important

because the pore fluids can take with them dissolved ions that can precipitate to

form cements in other sediments. Permeability is defined as the ability of

sediment to allow fluids to flow through it. Measurement is in metres per

second or day and will depend on the fluid medium as well as the type of

sediment.

The study of sedimentary rocks including their petrography, thicknesses, lateral

continuity, internal geometries of sedimentary units and their relationships with

other units, allows us to infer their depositional environment. The goal of

13 | P a g e
sedimentology (the study of sedimentary rocks) is to reconstruct the

sedimentary environments which existed when the sediments were deposited.

So, to understand sedimentary rocks we must be able to:-

1) Describe the petrography of the rocks, that is, the mineralogical and textural

relationships within rocks revealed by observations of hand specimens and thin

sections.

- Primary petrographic features will tell us about their mode of sedimentation

and some information on their depositional environment.

- Secondary petrographic features will tell us about their diagenetic history.

SEDIMENTATION

Clastic Sedimentation

Sedimentary rocks formed from the accumulation and lithification of clasts are
called clastic sedimentary rocks. Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of
solid, weathered products called clasts, which are chunks of other transported
rocks. They may range in size from tiny grains to large boulders. The ions
dissolved in solution (water) remain dissolved throughout the erosion and
transportation phases of the sedimentary rock forming process. They do not
become solid again until they are deposited by chemical precipitation at the
deposition site.

The term lithification or diagenesis describes the process of clastic sediments

converting into hard rocks. Over time as sediments become trapped, they grow
compact from the weight of layered material. Grains are forced together,
squeezing out excess water, and ultimately they cement together.
14 | P a g e
Examples of clastic rocks include clay, silt, sand, conglomerate rocks and
sandstone. Conglomerate rocks consist of cemented round pebbles and are
formed by swift rivers or ocean waves. Another example, breccia, forms from
sharp pieces of rock that have not travelled as far through the elements to
become smooth. When deposited sand grains cement together with crystals over
time, sandstone results. Its most common primary ingredient is quartz. After
settling into deep, undisturbed water such as lakes or seas, clay particles form
mudstone.

Chemical Sedimentation

Sedimentary rocks formed entirely by chemical (or biochemical) precipitation

of the dissolved ions are called chemical sedimentary rocks.
Water moves around rocks, dissolving some of their minerals and resulting in
chemical precipitation. This process describes chemical sedimentation; such
rocks are named Evaporites.

Halite, or common table salt, forms as a result of evaporation of lakes or seas

with no outlet. Salt precipitates out of briny water into crystalline form. Gypsum
represents another such evaporite. In some lakes, caves and hot springs,
travertine forms from precipitated calcite. Dolostones formed from magnesium-
rich fluids that altered limestone. Some non-biochemical cherts such as flint,
jasper, petrified wood and agate formed from precipitated silicon dioxide.

Biochemical Sedimentation

Other sedimentary rocks form from the accumulation of organic material or

remnants. These rocks are called either biochemical or bio-clastic sedimentary
rocks. This difference in the mechanism of sedimentary deposition forms the
basis for the major division in the classification of sedimentary rocks.

15 | P a g e
In biochemical sedimentation, biological organisms extract ions such as
calcium, potassium and magnesium into water as the organisms make shells or
bones. Those hard structures remain after the organisms die, and they
accumulate over time. Eventually these remains become sedimentary rock.

Some examples of biochemical sedimentary rocks include Chert, coquina,

biochemical limestone, diatomite and coal. Chert forms from archaic, fossilized
organisms such as plankton or sponges. Coquina results from fragments of
molluscs and other marine invertebrates. The calcite from wave- or current-
worn animal shells accumulates into limestone, which sometimes bears fossils.
Common limestone fossils include trilobites, bryozoans and oysters. Diatoms
that built up and did not recrystallize formed diatomite, a lightweight white
rock. Coal represents an example of biochemical sedimentation in which
ancient, concentrated layers of plant matter in swamps compacted over time.

16 | P a g e
There are five types of sedimentary rocks that are important in the production

of hydrocarbons:

Sandstones

Sandstones are clastic sedimentary rocks composed of mainly sand size

particles or grains set in a matrix of silt or clay and more or less firmly united

by a cementing material (commonly silica, iron oxide, or calcium carbonate).

The sand particles usually consist of quartz, and the term “sandstone”, when

used without qualification, indicates a rock containing about 85-90% quartz.

Carbonates, broken into two categories, limestones and dolomites.

Carbonates are sediments formed by a mineral compound characterized by a

fundamental anionic structure of CO3-2. Calcite and aragonite CaCO3, are

examples of carbonates. Limestones are sedimentary rocks consisting chiefly of

the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), with or without magnesium

carbonate. Limestones are the most important and widely distributed of the

carbonate rocks.

Dolomite is a common rock forming mineral with the formula CaMg (CO3)2. A

sedimentary rock will be named dolomite if that rock is composed of more than

90% mineral dolomite and less than 10% mineral calcite.

Shales

Shale is a type of detrital sedimentary rock formed by the consolidation of fine-

grained material including clay, mud, and silt and have a layered or stratified

structure parallel to bedding. Shales are typically porous and contain

17 | P a g e
hydrocarbons but generally exhibit no permeability. Therefore, they typically do

not form reservoirs but do make excellent cap rocks. If a shale is fractured, it

would have the potential to be a reservoir.

Evaporites

Evaporites do not form reservoirs like limestone and sandstone, but are very

important to petroleum exploration because they make excellent cap rocks and

generate traps. The term “evaporite” is used for all deposits, such as salt

deposits, that are composed of minerals that precipitated from saline solutions

concentrated by evaporation. On evaporation the general sequence of

precipitation is: calcite, gypsum or anhydrite, halite, and finally bittern salts.

Evaporites make excellent cap rocks because they are impermeable and, unlike

lithified shales, they deform plastically, not by fracturing. The formation of salt

structures can produce several different types of traps. One type is created by

the folding and faulting associated with the lateral and upward movement of salt

through overlying sediments. Salt overhangs create another type of trapping

mechanism.

18 | P a g e
 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What do you understand by the terms Sediment, Sedimentation and Sedimentary rock
2. Give a detailed stage by stage development of sediments’ transformation into
sedimentary rock
3. Write an essay on the term ‘Diagenesis’ explaining clearly the different
transformation the sediment undergoes during this process
4. Draw and describe the Rock cycle and show clearly how a sediment is formed from
pre-existing rock
5. List and discuss the types of sedimentary rocks that are important in oil and gas
industry
6. Explain with suitable examples the following terms;
(i) Clastic sedimentation (ii) chemical sedimentation (iii) Bio-chemical
sedimentation
7. Discuss briefly on the different types of weathering and their effects to the immediate
environment

19 | P a g e