PLATE TECTONICS
AND THE LOCATION
E.R. KANASEWICH*
AND J. HAVSKOV**
OF OIL FIELDS
From the present-day properties of plates of
lithosphere
we have developed a computer
algorithm
that reconstructs the continents in
the past. The basic input data includes
oceanic
magnetic
line&ions
and
paleomagnetic
observations.
The addition of
geological
information
allows
one
to
reconstruct the major plate tectonic features
in the past if this is desired. For this study we
have plotted the position of major oil and gas
fields, oil shales, and oil sands on these maps.
Direct visual correlation
with the latitude in
the past shows that many petroleum deposits
were formed within 35” of the oaleoeauator.
The reconstruction
is most promising
in
delineating
broad exploration
targets in the
Paleozoic Era. In particular,
Cambrian
and
Ordovician basins in North America and Asia
should be explored because of their position
on the equator during the lower Paleozoic.
The tectonic
activity
and the pattern
of
continental
grouping
is important
in the
development of favorable basins.
INTRODUcrlON
dispute. For many fields the geological age of
the source rocks and the reservoir is similar.
This is because barriers
to vertical
and
horizontal migration
are often very effective.
Known exceptions will be discussed as each
period is taken up.
The relationship
between the location of
oil-fields and their geographical
latitude
at
the time when the reservoir
rocks were
deposited has been studied by Irving
and
Gaskell (1962); Deutsch (1965); Irving, North
and Couillard
(1974). Advances
in the
reconstruction
of plate
tectonic
models
(Kanasewich,
Havskov and Evans, 1978) for
the whole of the Phanerozoic Era have made
it worthwhile
to examine the question again.
North (1971) has emphasized the importance
of the tectonic history in the formation of oil
bearing basins. Therefore sedimentary
basins
should be studied in the context of their plate
tectonic
setting.
This preliminary
report
includes major oil and gas fields as plotted on
world maps on the basis of the age of the
reservoirs.
Strictly
speaking the correlation
should be based on the age of the source rock
and the position of the basin with respect to
the paleolatitude.
Except for a few mature
fields this information
is not available or is in
A reconstruction
of the major tectonic
features of the earth during the past 600
million
years is of interest
to exploration
geophysicists for three major reasons:
(1) Areas with
favorable
environmental
conditions
for the maw
proliferation
of
biological
life are identified.
This is a
precondition
for the formation of coal, oil and
gas. In particular,
the generation
of oil
depends upon the primary
production
of
plankton
and this is controlled
by water
temperature,
the action currents
and the
availability
of nutrients.
(2) The metamorphic
and tectonic history
within a sedimentary
basin should be known.
There must be sufficient thermal activity so
‘Institute
of Earth and Planetary
Physics University
of Alberta,
T6G 251
**Presently
at Instituti
de Ingenieria,
Universidad
de Mexico.
29
Edmonton,
Alberta,
Canada
30
E. R. KANASEWI CH and J. HAVSKOV
that oil and gas are formed and collected in
reservoirs. The tectonic activity must not be
so intense
that the preservation
of the
hydrocarbons is endangered.
(3) Mineral
deposits are associated with
both spreading caters and subduction zones
so exploration
may be centered in the most
probable areas.
The hypothesis of plate tectonics has been
notable in accounting
for present tectonic
activity and for allowing reconstruction
to be
made on the basis of magnetic lineations
up
to the Cretaceous-Jurassic
boundary. Making
use of 10 principles
which appear to define
present-day
plate
tectonic
activity,
Kanasewich
et al
11978)
have
used
paleanagnetic
observations
to reconstruct
continental
fragments for six periods between
the Cretaceous
and the Cambrian.
An
interactive
computer program was developed
to rotate continental
segments about any pole
of rotation. The paleomagnetic
results were
used initially
to position
each continental
segment on the appropriate
latitude and in
the correct orientation
so that all averages of
measured poles were exactly on the south
pole. The interactive
routine
was used to
eliminate
overlap
of continental
margins
while
monitoring
a display
screen.
An
innovation,
never
used before,
was the
application
of a least squares
inversion
procedure to determine
a limiting
absolute
longitude. This is based on the principle that
an absolute reference frame for plate tectonics
is defined,
to a good approximation,
by
minimizing
the translational
motion of plate
boundaries.
The velocity
of plates, at the
present time, is proportional
to the amount of
continental
lithosphere
they contain. Purely
oceanic plates move about five times as fast
as purely
continental
plates.
When the
relative longitude could not be obtained from
magnetic
lineations,
the largest contiguous
continental
group was given priority
since
present evidence indicates that purely continental plates have the lowest velocity. The
velocity was determined
along a small circle,
catered
on the pole of relative motion from
one period to the next. This procedure was
applied, in order of continental
area, to the
remaining group of continental
segments. The
solution is not unique, but it is the most
conservative
estimate
and is valuable
in
giving
a quantitative
estimate
of the
minimum velocity that satisfies paleomagne-
tic and geologic observations.
Determination
of the location of continents with a computer
program reduces the effect of human bias in
the reconstruction.
When stratigraphic
and
structural
geological
data is added to the
maps it becomes possible to deduce plate
boundaries for periods when this is not given
by oceanic magnetic lineations.
BASIC DATA
TERTIARY PERIOD, ANOMALY 13-38 Ma
The models for each period have been
generated
by a digital
computer
and a
Calcomp plotter
on a mercatar
projection.
More specifically
the projection
is a Millermodified
mercator
one in which the map
ordinate is y = cln tan (45+0.4$) where + is
the latitude
in degrees and c is a scaling
constant.
This modification
allows one to
depict the earth
with
less distortion
at
extreme latitudes. The Tertiary
period at the
time of formation
of magnetic
anomaly 13
(Pitman et al, 1974) is shown in Figure 1. The
petroleum deposits that are plotted are given
in the table in the Appendix. The references
for the data are extensive but rely heavily on
Halbouty
et al (19701, Demaison
(19771,
North (19711, Irving
et al (19741, Rigassi
(1976) and Gillen (1976) and other reports in
World Oil. Many oil fields have production
from several
systems
and, although
the
principal producing horizon is generally well
known, the reserves are not well documented
for secondary horizons. For cases where the
distribution
was not known,
secondary
horizons were arbitrarily
assigned one-third
of the known total. The Tertiary
fields have
been plotted on present day coordinates and
also the coordinates that were found for the
Tertiary
period. The present day map shows
the distribution
of warm and cold oceanic
currents and warm ocean water. It is zeen
that some warm
currents
traverse
high
latitudes and this may explain the occurrence
of fields north and south of a latitude of 35”.
On the geologic map it is wxn that most
major fields are within? 35” and that they are
also associated with mildly
active tectonic
areas. The Ekofisk field in the North Sea is
an exception
but the basin
has much
Cretaceous and Triassic production when the
area was at a latitude of 35” and more directly
in contact with warm oceanic currents.
PLATE
TECTONICS
P‘L0s
111ICI
a*, s-1
en I4
TERTIARY
LRND
SHELF & NON-MRR
MIOGEOSYNCLINE
AND THE LOCATION
ix
q
m.te-m
8a
;
*
2
-SW,
.
sm-P
1-l:
OF OIL FIELDS
COLD CURRENT
WARM CURRENT
TEMPERATURE
'27.5
TEMPERATURE
20
r\
q
k&e: Oil in billions of barrels; gas in trillion of Cubic ft.
Fig. 1. Top. The position of the continents and some stratigraphic data at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary
(magnetic anomaly 13, 38 ma) on a Miller-modified mercator projection.‘The positions of oil and gas field with
production in Tertiary sediments are shown. Bottom: Tertiary oil and gas fields are plotted with the present-day
position of continents. Mean annual surface ocean water temperatures and currents are also shown.
32
E. R. KANASEWICH
and J. HAVSKOV
PLATE TECTONICS AND THE LOCATION OF OIL FIELDS
CRETACEOUS (110 Ma) AND TRIASSIC (190 Ma)
PERIODS
Figure
2 shows all the Mesozoic
and
Paleozoic fields on a series of 6 maps with the
continents in their present day coordinates. A
comparison of figures 2, 3 and 4 shows that
plotting
fields in their Mesozoic coordinate
system places more fields in the equatorial
33
zone. However, there were many widespread
shallow seas in Asia and North America that
extended far north. A notable exceptional
case is the Prudhoe Bay Field in northern
Alaska.
Most
of the production
is in
Mississippian
to Jurassic rocks when Alaska
was at a latitude of 50”N as compared to its
present ‘70-N. However, the most important
source rocks are thought
to be Cretaceous
'"'CRETACEOUS
Fig. 3. The position of the continent and some stratigraphic data in the middle Cretaceous (magnetic
anomaly Mt, 110 ma). The longitude is not absolutely determined but was obtained from a least squares
minimization of continental vetoCities between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. The position 01 oil and gas
fields wtih production in Cretaceous sediments is shown.
'O/TRIASSICL=XJ,
SRS
zm-so
rm8eYoII
60-1
TIIISRYD8
.95
~TR”8IYIIS
m
l
IDD-60
1100-600
LRND
SHELF
8, NON-MRR
q
-10 MIOGEOSYNCLINE
-180
Fig. 4. The position of the continents and some stratigraphic data in the Triassic period (190 ma). The
lzogitude was obtained by a least squares minimization of the Laurasian and Gondwanaland continental
velocities between the Triassic and the Cretaceous periods. The positions of the oil and gas fields with
production in the Triassic and Jurassic sediments is shown.
34
E. R. KANASEWICH
marine shales because they contain 5.4% of
organic
carbon as compared
to 1.9% for
Jurassic marine shale and 1.1% for basal
Mississippian
shale (Morgridge
and Smith,
1972). According to our paleomagnetic
reamstruction
the latitude
of Prudhoe Bay was
81”N in the Cretaceous. It was 50”N in the
Carboniferous
and 35”N in the Devonian.
and J. HAVSKOV
North (1971) believed “that the oil on the
Arctic slope will prove to be of Devono-Mississippian origin (the age of the Ellesmerian
orogeny).”
However,
little is known of the
Devonian sedimentation
in the area between
Brook’s
Range
and Barrow
Arch.
The
question of source rocks for Prudhoe Bay
cannot be answered definitively
at present.
Flg. 5. The pasition of the continents and some stratigraphic data in the Permo-Carboniferous periods (280
ma). The langttude was obtained by a least squares minimization of Laurasian and Gondwanaland velccities
between the Carboniferous and the Triassic oeriods. The Dosition of the oil fields with oroduction in Permian.
Pennsylvanian or Mississippian sediments is &wn.
Fig. 6. The position of the continents and some stratigraphic data in Me Devonian period (370 ma). The
longitude was obtained by a least squares minimization of continental velocities between the Devonian and
Permian p&ids. The position of the oil fields with production in Devonian sediments is Shown.
j
PLATE TECTONICS AND THE LOCATION OF OIL FIELDS
!
1
!
In general it is found that oil deposits in the
Mesozoic are distributed
over a wide range of
paleolatitudes.
This may reflect the high
ocean temperatures
that were present in the
Cretaceous.
From 0’” isotope studies
on
calcareous fossils (Urey et al, 1951, Emiliani,
1966) it is found that sea temperatures
were
as much as 10°C higher than now. Therefore
these plate tectonic reconstructions
for the
Mesozoic are only useful insofar as they give
tectonic information.
To keep the maps from
being too cluttered,
information
on model
spreading
caters,
subduction
zones and
eugeosynclinal
deposits have been omitted
from the figures here but they may be seen in
Kanasewich et al (1978).
THE PERMO-CARBONIFEROUS AND DEVONWN
PERIODS
From figures 5 and 6 and the tables in the
appendix it is seen that except for two gas
fields in Australia
and one oil shale in South
America, the petroleum deposits in the Permo
Carboniferous
are all north of present-day
latitude 26”. All major Devonian oil and gas
fields lie between present-day
latitudes
of
28”N and 17”N. When plotted as in figures 5
and 6 on reconstructed
palmlatitudes
for the
Permo-Carboniferous
and
the
Devonian
periods, the fields are within
40” of the
35
equator. Note that the reefs in the Alberta
basin all lie within 15” of equator in Devonian
times. The results are consistent with the
migration
of reef belts as tabulated
by
Schwarzbach (1963).
ORDOVICIAN AND ‘!.4MBRIAN PERIODS
There are only a small number of oil and
gas fields which produce from the lower
Paleozoic.
On the p&x-reconstruction
of
figures 7 and 8 the Ordovician and Cambrian
fields in Oklahoma
and Texas are found
within 20” of the equator.
There
is
a considerable
body
of
palmmagnetic
data for t~he lower Paleozoic
which indicates
that there was a major
reorganization
of continental
segments between the lower and upper Paleozoic. This
probably coincides with the various episodes
of the Caledonian
Orogeny.
The evidence
from paleomagnetism
also indicates
that
rather
high
v&cities
(5-7 cm/year)
of
continental
plate segments must have occurred. North Africa is placed in the south polar
region and this is supported by various glacial
indicators (Beuf et al, 1968, Fairbridge,
1969,
1971) in the geological outcrops. The unusual
occurrence of several oil and gas fields in
Libya and Algeria at paleolatitudes
of ‘77% to
85% in the Ordovician and 56% to 65% in the
Fig. 7. The position of the continents and some stratigraphic data in the Ordovician period (470 ma). The
lmgitude was obtained by a least squares minimization of continental velocities between the Ordovician and
Devonian periods. The position of the oil fields with production in Ordovician and Silurian sediments is shown.
E. R. KANASEWICH
and J. HAVSKOV
Fig. 8. The position of the continents and some stratigraphic data in the Cambrian period (550 ma). The
longitude was obtained by a least squares minimisation 01 mntinental velccities between the Cambrian and the
Ordovician periods. The position of the oil fields with production in Cambrian sediments is shown.
Cambrian indicates that the source rocks are
higher stratigraphically
than the reservoir
rocks. The source rocks for the Hassi
Messaoud field (Balducci and Pommier, 1910)
are thought to be Triassic or Silurian shales.
The source rocks for the Amal and other
related fields in Libya (Roberts, 1910) are
thoueht
to be the R&b
formation
of
Cret&eous age.
CoNCLUsroNs
The influence
of continental
geometry,
climate and tectonic activity
on the generation of petroleum
can only be evaluated by
obtained accurate plate tectonic reconstruction. Future work should incorporate
models
of ocean currents and data OD paleotemperatures. More paleomagnetic
data is needed in
many critical
areas, particularly
in China,
South America
and the Arctic
of North
America. The results of studies such as these
are best applied to Paleozoic basins. The maps
of the Ordovician and Cambrian should be of
particular
value in considering broad exploration targets. In particular
it would appear
that because of the equatorial
position of
North America
and Asia during the lower
Paleozoic, basins with Ordovician and Cambrian
sediment
should be explored
more
intensely.
REFERENCEs
Balduccbi,
A. and Pommier,
G. (1970).
Cambrian
oil field of Hassi Messaoud,
Algeria.
AAPG Memoir
14. Geology of
giant petroleum
fields. Tulsa Okla., p.
411.488.
Beuf, S., Bennacef, A., Biju-Duval,
B., De
Charpal.
0.. Gariel. 0.. and Roenan. P.
(1968). ies ‘grand&
e&embles
&i&entaires du Pal&ozoique inflrieur
du Sahara.
Sm. GBol. France Compte Rendu, B, p.
260.263.
Demaison,
G.J. (1917).
Tar
sands and
suwreiant
oil fields. American Association
of’&&oleum
Geologists Bulletin,
61, p.
1950.1961.
Deutsch, E.R. (1965). The paleolatitude
of
Tertiary
oil fields. Journal of Geophysical
Research 70, p. 5193-5203.
Emil&i,
C. (1966). Isotopic paleotemperatures. Science I54, p. 851-851.
Fairbridge,
R.W. (1969). Early
Paleozoic
south hole in Northwest Africa. Geoloeical
So&
of America
Bull. 80 P. 113:114;
(1971),82, p. 269.274.
PLATE
TECTONICS
AND THE LOCATION
Gillen, W. (1976). U.K. North Sea potential
still growing.
World Oil, Aug. 1976, p.
90.91.
Halbouty,
M.T., Meyerhoff, A.A., King, R.E.,
Dott, R.H., Klemme, H.D., and Shabed, T.
(1970). World’s giant oil and gas fields,
geologic factors affecting their formation
and basin classification.
Part 1. p, 502.528.
Memoir 14, Geology of Giant Petroleum
Fields. American Association of Petroleum
Geologists. Tulsa, Okla.
Irving,
E. and Gaskell,
T.F. (1962). The
paleogeographic
latitude
of oil fields.
Geophysical
Journal, Royal Astronomical
Society 1, p. 54.63.
Irving,
E., North,
F.K. and Couillard,
R.
(1974). Oil, climate, and tectonics. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 11, p. l-17.
Kanasewich,
E.R., Havskov,
J. and Evans,
M.E.
(19%).
Plate
tectonics
in the
Phanerozoic.
Canadian
Journal
of Earth
Sciences 15, p. 919-955.
Morgridge,
D.L. and Smith, W.B. Jr. (1972).
Geology and discovery
of Prudhoe Bay
Field, Eastern Arctic Slope, Alaska. AAPG
Memoir
16. Stratigraphic
oil and gas
fields. Tulsa Okla. p. 489.501.
Appendix
illld
IoRi”W
1111
11111”
Cllll
I”1ISIX
,*I
011”
LLL”II”
I
l”lII”ii
,C.
mm* CXilX
1I1I.Y.”
DA”11 mrm
“.“A
11” ,lYil
WI”
IESll
OI”I
l”XB”YYBl
<“EIlU.8.
Prrrlnf
rOYnflj //*w,"PI T"WY161
hf. LOW
- Data
LLlPI
Ill/r
LlEll
LIE”*
Lib,&
LILIA
SiTP1
LlPll
llrli‘”
LIE””
‘In”*
Lik”.
lIbliil
“lit”i*
*IrEal*
“IiiBIA
CCYLYIB,
iSUb.
Pickard,
G.L. (1975). Descriptive
Physical
Oceanography.
Pergamon
Press, Oxford,
1975.
Pitman, W.C., Larson, R.L. and Herron, E.M.
(1974). The age of the ocean basins.
Geological Society of America, Boulder, Co.
Rigassi, D.A. (1976). USSR growth rate slows,
but is still impressive. World Oil, August,
1976 p. 119.127. Other East European
countries, p. 127.130.
Roberts, J.M. (1970). Amal
Field,
Libya.
AAPG
Memoir
14, Geology
of giant
petroleum fields. Tulsa Okla. p. 438-448.
Schwanbach,
M. (1963). Climates
- Translation
by R.O. Muir.
trand Co Ltd., London.
Deposits
FlS/d
prpirnt
w
coYnfl" P.l.l".i hPe"arr LA%.Longs Llf, Longsu*,
L”Z
81Sill
El*“”
l”l1.I.SliiD
E&W””
D”II”I
XblW
111”“11
JYI
USI
i”i”DJZR
ElilOlll
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67
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:: z
::“U z:
//>>s
of the Past
Van Nos-
Urey, H.C., Lowenstam, H.A., Epstein, S. and
MeKinney,
CR., (1951). Measurement
of
palmtemperatures
and temperatures
of the
upper Cretaceous of England,
Denmark,
and the South-eastern
United
States.
Bulletin, Geological Society of America 62,
p. 399-416.
“II”
.R”Oi”
I.rYv
1.11”“”
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(I”XI”II
“li”Wi
L”II,IAU
North,
F.K. (1971). Characteristics
of oil
provinces: a study for students. Bulletin of
Canadian Petroleum
Geology 19, p. 601.
658.
on Hydrocarbon
&gg
Lat. LOW XP‘.
37
OF OIL FIELDS
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PLATE
TECTONICS
AND THE LOCATION
OF OIL FIELDS
39
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