Abstract
In the Danish Sub-basin exploration for hydrocarbons has continued for decades without any commercial success. At present the petroleum industry is again showing an increased interest in Danish areas. The axis of the Danish Sub-basin runs parallel to the Tornquist—Teissure Line and perpendicular to the Oslo—Rhine Graben System. Mesozoic tectonics of the area were dominated by subsidence and halokinetic movements, in contrast to the Cenozoic, when inversion and partial erosion took place in the eastern parts of the basin. In this study the Lower Jurassic Fjerritslev Formation is considered to be the principal source rock, but so far only immature sections have been encountered in the subsurface, possibly because most of the features drilled are salt structures where the source rocks have never reached a depth greater than 1500 m. In modelling thermal history it is assumed that source rock maturation is related exponentially to temperature and linearly to time. Temperature data for wells were obtained from open-file information in the Danish Geological Survey. An estimate of palaeo-heat flux was based on an interpretation of the tectonic and depositional history of the Danish Sub-basin, and is taken into account in the model. By applying heat flux changes through time and adjusting geothermal gradients for differences in lithological heat conductivity, porosity variations and age, the geothermal history of the Danish Sub-basin has been modelled more precisely. It is concluded that locally-mature Lower Jurassic source rocks may occur in the Danish Sub-basin, and have potential to generate enough oil to fill some untested structures already identified.
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© 1985 Norwegian Petroleum Society
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Sørensen, S. (1985). Basin analysis and maturation modelling, onshore Denmark; a case study from the Danish First Round. In: Thomas, B.M. (eds) Petroleum Geochemistry in Exploration of the Norwegian Shelf. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4199-1_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4199-1_11
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