BUR IAL AND THER MAL HIS TORY AND HY DRO CAR BON
GEN ERA TION MOD EL LING OF THE LOWER PA LAEO ZOIC
SOURCE ROCKS IN THE KRAKÓW– RZESZÓW AREA
(SE PO LAND)
Pawe³ KO SAKOWSKI & Mag dalena WRÓBEL
AGH Uni ver sity of Sci ence and Tech nol ogy, Fac ulty of Ge ol ogy, Geo phys ics and En vi ron men tal Pro tec tion, Al. Mick iewicza 30, 30- 059 Kraków, Po land, e- mail: ko sak@agh.edu.pl
Ko sakowski, P. & Wróbel,M., 2011. Bur ial and ther mal his tory and hy dro car bon gen era tion mod el ling of the Lower Pa laeo zoic source rocks in the Kraków– Rzeszów area (SE Po land). An nales So cie ta tis Ge olo go rum Po lo -niae, 81: 459–471
Ab stract: Bur ial his tory, ther mal ma tur ity and tim ing of hy dro car bon gen era tion were mod elled for the Or do vi -cian and Si lu rian source rocks in the base ment of the Car pa thian Fore deep. 1-D mod el ling was car ried out for wells lo cated in the area be tween Kraków and Rzeszów cit ies (SE Po land). The fol low ing wells were mod elled: Bêdzi enica 2, Her ma nowa 1, Nawsie 1, Nosówka 2 and 12, Pilzno 40, and Za wada 8K. The Or do vi cian and Si lu rian source rocks, con tain ing oil prone Type II kero gen, are generally im ma ture show ing less than 0.5% re flec -tance of vitrinite- like mac er als (Ro), in most of the Kraków–Rzeszów area and only in the east ern part the or ganic mat ter is early ma ture, reach ing 0.7% equiva lent Ro. The high est ther mal ma tur ity is found in the east ern part of the study area, near Rzeszów city, where the Lower Pa laeo zoic strata are bur ied to the great est depth. Ma tur ity mod el ling shows that the source rocks reached the ini tial phase of the “oil win dow” only in the east ern part of the area, whereas they are im ma ture in the larger, west ern por tion of the area. In ad di tion, mod el ling in di cates that the on set of pe tro leum gen era tion started in the late Mio cene, af ter the Outer Car pa thian over thrust phase. The gen e-ra tion pro cesses in the east ern part of the ana lysed area reached the main and late gen ee-ra tion phase. The gen er ated hy dro car bons were mostly ex pelled from the source rocks. In the west ern part of the study area the gen era tion pro cess has not been ini tial ized.
Key words: source rocks, 1-D mod el ling, gen era tion, ex pul sion, Lower Pa laeo zoic, south east ern Po land. Manu script re ceived 19 May 2011, ac cepted 13 October 2011
IN TRO DUC TION
Hydrocarbon gen er a tion and ex pul sion were stud ied in the tec tonic unit known as the Ma³opolska Block, con sti tut -ing the sub stra tum of the Carpathian Foredeep and the Outer Carpathians. The study area ex tends from the con tact zone with the Up per Silesian Block to the west, to the Lower San Horst Struc ture, a dis tinct tec tonic-morpholo-gical struc ture ap pear ing in the struc tural pic ture of the sub-Perm ian and sub-Ter tiary base ment to the east (Po¿aryski & Tomczyk, 1968). Pe tro leum gen er a tion in the Lower Palaeozoic strata was mod elled in seven wells (Fig. 1). The pres -ence of the source rocks was as sessed from the re sults of geochem i cal anal y ses of well sam ples (Wiêc³aw et al., 2011), and their to tal thick ness on the ba sis of in ter pre ta tion of well logs and lith o logic data (Kosakowski et al., in press). Each source rock ho ri zon was as signed an adequate TOC, type of kerogen, ma tu rity and to tal thick ness. Pre vi -ous stud ies of pe tro leum pro cesses in the base ment of the
Carpathian Foredeep and the Outer Carpathians are re -stricted to the work of Kotarba et al. (2004), which con cerns only Car bon if er ous for ma tions. The lack of in ter est in the re main ing Palaeozoic strati graphic suc ces sion can be ex -plained by the very small num ber of dis cov er ies of oil and gas ac cu mu la tions in the area (Karnkowski, P., 1999; Myœliwiec et al., 2006). In the present work, gen er a tion and ex pul sion of hy dro car bons from Lower Palaeozoic source rocks in the area be tween Kraków and Rzeszów cit ies were stud ied.
The mod el ling includes bur ial and ther mal his tory re -con struc tions for the wells, with res to ra tion of the thick ness of eroded sedi ments and heat flow changes over time be ing of par ticu lar im por tance for the cur rent study. Hav ing bur ial and ther mal his tory con strained, the ba sic gen era tion con di -tions were es tab lished for the in di vid ual wells by the use of 1-D nu meri cal mod el ling.
MOD EL LING PRO CE DURE
The ob jec tive of the nu meri cal mod el ling was to de ter -mine the depth and tim ing of hy dro car bon gen era tion and ex pul sion for seven wells pene trat ing the base ment of the Car pa thian Fore deep and the mar ginal part of the Outer Car pa thi ans (Fig. 1). Bur ial his tory, hy dro car bon gen era -tion and ex pul sion pro cesses were re con structed us ing the Basin Mod™ 1-D mod el ling sof ware pack age (BMRM 1-D, 2006). To as sess the amount of hy dro car bons gen er ated and ex pelled from Lower Pa laeo zoic source rocks, the fol low -ing data were quan ti fied: def i ni tion of events (de po si tion, ero sion, non- deposition), pres ent and origi nal thick nesses, li thol ogy of strata, and pres ent and palaeo- heat flows. In put pa rame ters for the mod el ling in clude geo chemi cal data such as the re con structed TOC and type of kero gen. Ma tur ity was cal cu lated us ing the EASY% Ro model (Sweeney & Burn
ham, 1990), whereas for the mod el ling of hy dro car bon gen -era tion and ex pul sion the LLNL model (BMRM 1-D, 2006) was ap plied. The ma tur ity mod el ling was cali brated with Rock-Eval Tmax tem pera ture and re flec tance of
like mac er als (Ro). The pro ce dure of es ti ma tion of the re
-flec tance of vitrinite- like mac er als was de scribed in de tail by Gro tek (2006).
GEO LOG I CAL SET TING
The ana lysed part of the Pa laeo zoic sub stra tum of the Car pa thian Fore deep and the Outer Car pa thi ans, called the Ma³opol ska Block, de vel oped in the fore land of a larger tec -tonic struc ture, i.e., the East-Eu ro pean Cra ton. The old est stages of de vel op ment of this tec tonic unit, which be gan dur ing Pro tero zoic to early Cam brian, are un clear or am -bigu ous (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008; Bu³a & Habryn, 2011) due to the in com plete ness of the Pa laeo zoic suc ces sion or to
a sim ple lack of data. Dif fer ent views on the ba sin evo lu tion in this stra tigraphic in ter val were pre sented by, among oth -ers, Nawrocki and Po prawa (2006), Po prawa (2006a, b), Nark iewicz (2007), Nawrocki et al. (2007), Bu³a and Habryn, eds (2008), and ¯elaŸniewicz et al. (2009). A de -scrip tion and dis cus sion of those views can be found in Bu³a and Habryn (2011).
The sedi men tary cover of the Ma³opol ska Block com -prises three struc tural stages – the Cale do nian, Varis can and Al pine stages (Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004). In the west ern part, the Cale do nian stage af fects Or do vi cian and Si lu rian for ma tions, whereas Cam brian for ma tions are ab sent. The Or do vi cian and Si lu rian strata rest di rectly on the an chi meta mor -phic com plex (Bu³a, 2000; ¯elaŸniewicz et al., 2004). The ab sence of Cam brian strata in the west ern part of the area is proba bly due to up lift dur ing the Ca domian phase (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008).
The Or do vi cian for ma tions vary in char ac ter from car -bon ate fa cies in the west ern part to grap to litic shale fa cies in the east ern part. The Si lu rian strata are more mo noto nously de vel oped in grap to litic shales fa cies, al though in the south- west ern part of the Ma³opol ska Block con glom er ates and sand stones oc cur (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008). Stratal re la tion ships are con form able, and they are per ceived as be -long ing to one sin gle struc tural com plex (Bu³a & Ha byn, 2011). Fur ther to in ten sive Up per Si lu rian or Lower De vo nian ero sion, a hia tus is pres ent in the late Si lu rian, and de -pos its of this age are only pre served as thin sheets (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008). Over ly ing this suc ces sion, with a stra -tigraphic gap in the ear liest Lower De vo nian, Em sian clas tic rocks and/or Mid dle De vo nian–Lower Car bon if er ous car -bon ate-clastic suc ces sions rep re sent the Varis can struc tural stage (Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004; Nark iewicz, 2007; Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008).
Lo cally, the Si lu rian strata are cov ered by younger strata. The thick ness of the De vo nian strata is very vari able,
Fig. 1. Tec tonic sketch map of the west ern part of the Pol ish Carpathian Foredeep (af ter Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008) and lo ca tion of 1-D mod elled wells. USB – Up per Silesian Block, A – Aus tria, Lt – Lith u a nia
from tens to more than 1,000 m (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008). Si lu rian de pos its are ab sent in the Dêbica area as well as in the D¹browa Tar nowska area. The sig nifi cant varia tion in thick ness of the De vo nian strata is a re sult of ver ti cal tec -tonic move ments. The late Tournaisian–early Namurian for ma tions oc cur only in the west ern part of the Ma³opolska Block be tween Kraków and Rzeszów cities, and are rep re -sented by three litho logi cal com plexes: carbonate- clastic com plex A, car bon ate com plex B, and clas tic com plex C. The maximum present- day thick ness of the Car bon if er ous for ma tions in the ana lysed part of the Ma³opol ska Block reaches 1,500 m (Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004; Bu³a & Habryn,
eds, 2008).
Permian– Mesozoic strata rep re sent ing the Al pine struc -tural stage over lie the De vo nian–Car bon if er ous suc ces sion. The Per mian strata are mainly con glom er ates and sand -stones with clay -stones and mud -stones in the up per most part of the in ter val de pos ited in de pres sions, and with thick nesses rarely ex ceed ing a few tens of me tres (Ja wor & Ba -ran, 2004). The Per mian suc ces sion is over lain by Lower Tri as sic for ma tions, rep re sented by the clas tics with car bon -ates in the up per part of the suc ces sion (Mo ryc, 1971). The Mid dle Tri as sic con sists pre domi nantly of car bon ate rocks, whereas the up per most Tri as sic con sists of clay stones and mud stones with sand stones (Maksym et al., 2003; Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004). Following tec tonic move ments dur ing the Kimmerian orog eny, the Tri as sic strata were folded, faul-ted, up lifted and par tially eroded, so that pres ently Tri as sic for ma tions only oc cur in the east ern part of the ana lysed area, to the south of the line Pilzno–Dêbica and to the north of the line D¹browa Tar nowska–Mielec (Fig. 1) (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008).
Ju ras sic for ma tions cover al most the en tire west ern part of the Ma³opol ska Block (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008). The Mid dle Ju ras sic suc ces sion con sists of clas tic rocks with coal (Ba ran et al., 1997; Dayczak- Calikowska & Mo ryc, 1988), whereas the Up per Ju ras sic (Ox for dian and Kim me -ridgian) suc ces sion con sists of car bon ates. Lo cally, in the Dêbica re gion, iso lated oc currences of Lower Cre ta ceous strata are found (Ki jakowa & Mo ryc, 1991; Mo ryc, 1997). To wards the end of the Lower Cre ta ceous pe riod, shal low -ing of the ba sin and up lift -ing was ac com pa nied by ero sion. There fore, the Cre ta ceous suc ces sion starts with depo si tion of Ce no ma nian-age glau co nitic sand stones, how ever, they oc cur only in the nar row area be tween Ka zim ierza Wielka and Brze sko, delim ited by a N–S trend ing fault zone (Ja wor & Ja wor, 1989; Ja wor & Ba ran, 2001; Mo ryc, 2006). The re main ing part of the Cre ta ceous suc ces sion con sists of car -bon ates and marls (Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004; Mo ryc, 2006). The to tal thick ness of the Cre ta ceous strata does not ex ceed 800 m (Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004).
Cre ta ceous sedi men ta tion was in ter rupted by the Cre ta ceous/Palaeogene orog eny that caused up lift and deep ero sion, in some ar eas even af fect ing the Pa laeo zoic sub stra -tum. Ero sion pre vailed through out the en tire Palaeo gene, and only in the Mio cene did a ma rine trans gres sion took place, lead ing to depo si tion of thick mo lasse for ma tions, onto which the Outer Car pa thi ans oro gen was over thrust. The thick ness of the Mio cene cover in the ana lysed area ranges from tens of metres in the east ern part to 2,500 m in
the Rzeszów area (Ja wor & Ba ran, 2004). The thick ness of the flysch cover form ing the Outer Car pa thi ans grows to -wards the south and is pene trated to a depth of 7,541 m in the KuŸmina 1 well.
MOD EL LING OF THE THER MAL
AND BURIAL HIS TORY
1D ma tur ity mod el ling of the ther mal and bur ial his tory was con ducted for seven wells: Bêdzi enica 2, Her ma nowa 1, Nawsie 1, Nosówka 2 and 12, Pilzno 40, and Za -wada 8K (Fig. 1). The ther mal re gime was cali brated with ei ther well tem pera ture logs or/and in di rectly with data ob tained from maps of tem pera tures at the given depth ho ri -zons from the in ves ti gated or ad ja cent area (Jurk iewicz & Szczerba, 1976; Ma jor owicz & Plewa, 1979; Ma jor owicz, 1984; Plewa, 1994; Kar wa siecka & Bruszewska, 1997). Heat flow val ues and tem pera tures dif fer in the works men -tioned above, so av er age val ues were used for cre at ing an hy dro car bon gen era tion and ex pul sion model. Present- day heat flow shows a strict re la tion ship with the ex tent of the ma jor tec tonic struc tures of the Up per Sile sian and Ma³o-polska blocks. A grad ual de crease in the value of heat flow can be ob served from an av er age of 70 mW/m2 in the Sile -sian Block to ca. 50 mW/m2 in the con tact zone of the Up -per Sile sian and Ma³opol ska blocks, and 30– 40 mW/m2 in the east ern part of the Ma³opol ska Block (Ma jor owicz & Plewa, 1979; Belka, 1993a,b; Kar wa siecka, 2001; Ko tarba
et al., 2004). That re la tion ship also has im pact on the value
of the palaeo-heat flow in the Pa laeo zoic struc tural stages and in over ly ing stages.
Geo logi cal mod els by Nark iewicz (2002, 2007), Po -prawa et al. (1997) and Po -prawa (2006a, b) were ap plied for ther mal re con struc tion of the area at the Cale do nian and Pre-Cal edo nian stages of de vel op ment. These mod els do not in clude sig nifi cant ther mal events dur ing Cam brian – Lower De vo nian time. At the Varis can stage, oro gen over heat ing and later cool ing dur ing Per mian, Meso zoic and Ce -no zoic times is gen erally as sumed, in keep ing with the work of Ma jor owicz (1984). In most cases, scar city of ther mal ma tur ity meas ure ments, and par ticu larly their dis tri bu tion across the sec tion do not al low re li able in put data for the mod el ling to be ob tained. There fore, for some mod els with weaker geo chemi cal and geo logi cal in for ma tion, a dif fer ent ap proach was used, as sum ing con stant heat flow dur ing the Per mian, Meso zoic and Ce no zoic times (Karn kowski, P. H., 1999; Nark iewicz et al., 2010).
With the above- mentioned limi ta tions of the ma tur ity mod el ling, sev eral ther mal and bur ial sce nar ios were ana-lysed. In case of ma jor hia tuses in the sedi men tary col umn and dis con tinu ous ma tur ity pro files, the sce nario of con stant heat flow through time was ap plied. The model of con -stant heat flow, equal to that pre vail ing to day, through time is suf fi cient to ex plain the avail able ther mal ma tur ity meas ure ments in most of the ana lysed wells (Ta ble 1). The re flec tance of the vitrinite like mac er als in the Lower Pa laeo -zoic (Or do vi cian and Si lu rian) strata ranges from about 0.56% in the Za wada 8K well to 0.80% in the Her ma nowa 1 well (Ta ble 1). The vitrin ite re flec tance val ues meas ured in
younger (De vo nian, Car bon if er ous and Ju ras sic) strata in the ana lysed well pro files vary in the same range (0.63 to 0.77%) (Ta ble 1). In these mod els, no sig nifi cant im pact of the Varis can over heat ing on the ma tur ity of or ganic mat ter has been ob served (Figs 2B, 3). In all model runs the Outer Car pa thian over thrusting played a pre domi nant role in ther -mal matu ra tion.
The lack of a sig nifi cant Varis can ther mal im pact dur -ing the Car bon if er ous can be ob served also in other mod els. Moreo ver, since the heat flow value used for the Pa laeo zoic is lower than in the Meso zoic and in the pres ent, the or ganic mat ter reaches higher lev els of ther mal ma tur ity when mod
-elled us ing a con stant heat flow, e.g. in the Za wada 8K well (Figs 2B, 3A). The lack of a sig nifi cant im pact of the Varis -can over heat ing on ther mal ma tur ity of the or ganic mat ter of the Lower Pa laeo zoic is caused by a fast post- Carboniferous in ver sion, ac com pa nied by ero sion, reach ing at times the Lower Pa laeo zoic sub stra tum.
The depo si tion of the Meso zoic strata was also inter -rupted by pe ri ods of up lift and ero sion. These pe ri ods are clearly pres ent, es pe cially in the early Ju ras sic and in the early Cre ta ceous and at the turn of the Cre ta ceous and the Palaeo gene (Figs 3–5). Pe ri ods of ero sion were to some ex tent quan ti ta tively com pen sated for by pe ri ods of depo si -tion, with the ex cep tion of the Up per Ju ras sic depo si tion. There fore, we ob serve only small changes in the ma tur ity of the or ganic mat ter of the Lower Pa laeo zoic in that stra -tigraphic range (Fig. 2). The last and the most im por tant ther mal – bur ial event was the Outer Car pa thian over thrust on the fore land. It re sulted both in an in crease in the depth of bur ial and in tem per a ture and, con se quently, to wards the end of the stage of the Car pa thian thrust belt, also in an in -crease in or ganic mat ter ma tur ity (Fig. 2).
MOD EL LING OF MAT U RA TION
HIS TORY OF THE LOWER PALAEOZOIC
OR GANIC MAT TER
The evo lu tion of the ther mal ma tur ity of or ganic mat ter was de ter mined for the Or do vi cian and Si lu rian com plex, because the Cam brian for ma tions are not found in the Kraków–Rzeszów area (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008). The Lower Pa laeo zoic for ma tions oc cur in two sepa rated sheets: south of Tarnów and be tween Pilzno and Rzeszów towns (Bu³a & Habryn, 2011); the ther mal mod el ling was car ried out in both ar eas (Figs 1, 6, 7). The geo chemi cal char ac ter -is tics of the Or do vi cian and Si lu rian com plexes in the study ar eas were pre sented by Wiêc³aw et al. (2011).
In the area to the south of Tarnów, only a thin sheet of the Si lu rian for ma tions is pres ent, whereas the Or do vi cian is ab sent (Bu³a & Habryn, eds., 2008). The ther mal mod el -ling car ried out in the Zawada 8K well, as sum ing pres ence of Variscan over heat ing and with as sumed val ues of ero -sion, showed that the Si lu rian source rocks reached the early stage of ther mal ma tu rity (0.5–0.7% equiv a lent Ro) as late
as the early Neo gene (Figs 2B, 3A). The de po si tion of the Up per Cre ta ceous strata caused only an in sig nif i cant in -crease in ma tu rity of the or ganic mat ter, but the in ver sion of the ana lysed area at the turn of the Cre ta ceous and the Palaeo gene in ter rupted the pro cess of burial and the in crease in tem per a ture and, con se quently, the in crease in or ganic mat ter ma tu rity (Fig. 2B). An other event, which re -sumed the pro cess of burial of the source rock ho ri zons was the de po si tion of the Mio cene and the pro cess of the Carpathian overthrust. Par tic u larly the lat ter event caused a sig nif i cant in crease in burial of the Si lu rian strata from ca. 1,800 m at the be gin ning of the Mio cene de po si tion to over 4,000 m at the end of the ep i sode of Carpathian over-thrusting (Fig. 3A). This re sulted in an in crease in source rock ma tu rity to ca. 0.65% equiv a lent Ro and brought the
suc ces sion into the main phase of the “oil win dow” (Fig. 2B). Ta ble 1
Vitrinite reflectance and reflectance of vitrinite like macerals of the Palaeozoic or ganic mat ter
Well Depth (m) Stratigraphy Vitrinite reflectance Ro (%) Range Meas. Bêdzie-nica 2 4,364.5 Carboni-ferous 0.66 0.55-0.77 125 4,367.0 0.64 n.m. 3 4,521.0 0.77 n.m. 50 4,592.5 Silurian 0.66 0.48-0.84 61 4,594.5 0.64 0.49-0.73 60 Herma-nowa 1 4,581.5 Devonian 0.63 0.50-0.70 72 4,659.5 Silurian 0.72 0.57-0.85 103 4,676.5 0.65 0.60-0.78 98 4,705.5 0.68 0.58-0.85 113 4,798.2 Ordovician 0.69 0.58-0.83 42 4,912.5 0.80 0.58-0.95 134 Nawsie 1 3,807.5 Jurassic 0.60 0.46-0.67 15 4,008.5 0.69 0.63-0.79 12 4,818.5 Silurian 0.67 0.55-0.88 105 4,851.5 0.75 0.62-0.91 97 4,857.5 0.75 0.62-0.91 97 Nosówka 6 3,698.2 Carboni-ferous 0.84 n.m. 50 3,699.5 0.64 0.51-0.77 91 3,702.5 0.65 0.58-0.73 90 3,737.5 0.65 0.56-0.72 78 3,762.4 0.96 n.m. 50 3,767.6 0.66 0.62-0.76 36 3,790.5 0.66 0.57-0.78 33 3,831.0 0.68 0.58-0.78 89 3,869.5 0.71 0.63-0.77 11 4,019.6 Ordovician 0.71 0.62-0.75 18 Pilzno 40 2,963.5 Jurassic 0.64 0.49-0.79 12 3,149.5 0.67 0.58-0.80 13 3,236.6 0.67 0.63-0.79 10 3,551.0 Silurian 0.69 0.57-0.77 63 Zawada 8k 3,327.0 Silurian 0.56 0.40-0.71 111 3,333.5 0.60 0.40-0.78 75 3,335.0 0.57 0.36-0.67 67 Ro – vitrinite reflectance; Roredep – re de pos ited or ganic mat ter; Meas. – num
A thick cover of Or do vi cian and Si lu rian for ma tions is pres ent between Pilzno and Rzeszów (Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008; Bu³a & Habryn, 2011). Here, ther mal mod el ling was car ried out in the Pilzno 40 well, rep re sent ing the east ern por tion of the area, and the Bêdzi enica 2, Her ma nowa 1, Nawsie 1, Nosówka 2 and 12 wells rep re sent ing the west ern part (Fig. 1).
Mod el ling of the Pilzno 40 well, us ing simi lar in put pa rame ters as in the Za wada 8K well, shows that the Or do vi -cian and Si lu rian source rocks reached the ini tial phase of the “oil win dow” at the turn of the Ju ras sic and the Cre ta ceous, with a bur ial depth of about 1,800 m and a tem pera -ture above 80oC (Figs 2B, 3B). The depo si tion of the Cre ta -ceous strata caused an in crease in or ganic mat ter ma tur ity to
about 0.65% Ro. The Outer Car pa thian overthrusting re
-sulted in a sig nifi cant in crease in bur ial of the source rock layer to a depth of about 3,900 m, but the in crease in ther mal ma tur ity was in sig nifi cant (Fig. 3B). The re sult ing level of ma tur ity of 0.75% Ro is higher than that ob tained in the Za
-wada 8K well (Fig. 2B).
Mod el ling of other wells in the area yield simi lar re -sults. Just as in the case of the Pilzno 40 well, the ini tial phase of the “oil win dow” was reached at the turn of the Ju -ras sic and the Cre ta ceous (Figs 2, 4, 5). The depo si tion of Cre ta ceous for ma tions and, particu larly, the Outer Car pa -thian over thrust, de ci sively in flu enced the fi nal or ganic mat ter ma tur ity, which, in par ticu lar wells, was equal to: Nawsie 1 – 0.85%, Bêdzi enica 2 – 0.80%, Her ma nowa 1 –
Fig. 2. Ma tu rity evo lu tion curves for the (A) Or do vi cian and (B) Si lu rian source rocks in pro files of ana lysed wells. Pr – Pre cam brian, Cm – Cam brian, O – Or do vi cian, S – Si lu rian, D – De vo nian, C – Car bon if er ous, P – Perm ian, T – Tri as sic, J – Ju ras sic, Cr – Cre ta ceous, Pg – Palaeogene, N – Neo gene
0.78%, Nosówka 2 – 0.65%, and Nosówka 12 – 0.80% Ro
(Fig. 2). The ma tur ity val ues ob tained dur ing the ther mal mod el ling are gen er ally com pati ble with the meas ured val -ues (Ta ble 1, Fig. 2).
The level of ther mal ma tur ity of the Lower Pa laeo zoic source rocks in all mod elled wells is gen er ally suf fi cient for ini tia tion of pe tro leum gen era tion. This is en cour ag ing for ex plo ra tion in ar eas lo cated to the south of the ana lysed wells, where the Lower Pa laeo zoic for ma tions are found at much greater depths (Figs 6, 7).
MOD EL LING OF HY DRO CAR BON
GEN ER A TION AND EX PUL SION
Mod el ling of hy dro car bon gen era tion and ex pul sion from the Or do vi cian and Si lu rian source rocks re veals that they oc cur in all stages of ther mal ma tur ity, from early to the late ma ture with re spect to pe tro leum gen era tion. Only in the west ern part of the study area, in the Za wada 8K well, the source rocks do not reach the early phase of gen era tion (10– 25% of genera tion po ten tial). The maxi mum de gree of
Fig. 3. Burial his tory curves of (A) Zawada 8K and (B) Pilzno 40 wells. J2 – Mid dle Ju ras sic, J3 – Late Ju ras sic, Cr2 – Late Cre ta ceous, M – Mio cene, Q – Qua ter nary, Carpath. – Carpathians. For the re main ing ab bre vi a tions see Fig. 2
trans for ma tion was reached at the stage of the Car pa thian over thrust and does not ex ceed 10% (Fig. 8B). The de gree of trans for ma tion in the Pilzno 40 well is 35%, sug gest ing the early phase of gen era tion (Fig. 8B).
Higher ther mal ma tur ity and thus de gree of trans for ma -tion is ob served in wells lo cated be tween Pilzno and Rze-szów. In the Nosówka 12 well, the de gree of trans for ma tion is 60% and was reached, simi larly to the Za wada 8K well, at the stage of the Outer Car pa thian over thrust ing (Fig. 8A). Other wells in the area yield simi lar re sults. The high est de
-gree of trans for ma tion, 85%, is ob served in the Nawsie 1 well, sug gest ing that the source rocks in this well have passed through the main phase of pe tro leum gen era tion (25– 65% of gen era tion po ten tial) and en tered the fi nal phase (65– 90% of gen era tion po ten tial) dur ing the short in -ter val of the Ou-ter Car pathian over thrust ing (Figs 8A, 9A).
The mod el ling data in di cate that the Or do vi cian and Si -lu rian strata are ef fec tive source rocks, and hy dro car bon gen era tion mainly took place over a brief in ter val re lated to the Outer Car pa thian over thrust ing.
Fig. 4. Burial his tory curves of (A) Nawsie 1 and (B) Bêdzienica 2 wells. C1Visean – Early Car bon if er ous (Visean), C1Culm – Early Car -bon if er ous (Culm), T1 – Early Tri as sic, T2 – Mid dle Tri as sic, Cr1 – Early Cre ta ceous. For the re main ing ab bre vi a tions see Figs 2 and 3
AMOUNT OF GEN ER ATED
AND EX PELLED HY DRO CAR BONS
1-D mod el ling made it pos si ble to cal cu late the amount of hy dro car bon gen er a tion and ex pul sion po ten tial from the Lower Palaeozoic source rocks. The dif fer ences in the de -gree of trans for ma tion of kerogen ob served be tween the mod elled wells carry in for ma tion on the gen er ated masses of hy dro car bons. The re sult ing hy dro car bon mass var ies
sig nif i cantly and de pends also on the orig i nal con tent of or -ganic car bon, hy dro car bon po ten tial and the thick ness of source rocks, data on which were ob tained from geo chem i -cal in ves ti ga tions (Wiêc³aw et al., 2011) and well log ging (Kosakowski et al., in press).
In the Za wada 8K well, which shows the low est de gree of trans for ma tion, the amount of hy dro car bons gen er ated per unit of or ganic car bon mass is the low est, cor re spond ing to 25 mg HC/g TOC (Fig. 10A). The hy dro car bons were
gen er ated mainly in the liq uid phase. The ma jor part of the hy dro car bon mass was gen er ated at the stage of the Outer Car pa thian over thrust ing, but ex pul sion of hy dro car bons was not achieved.
In the Pilzno 40 well, the Si lu rian source rocks gen er -ated 150 mg HC/g TOC (Fig. 10B), and higher amounts were gen er ated in the Bêdzi enica 2 and Nawsie 1 wells (Fig. 10C). In the Her ma nowa 1 well, the amount of hy dro car -bons gen er ated from the Or do vi cian source rocks ex ceeds
280 mg HC/g TOC (Fig. 10D), reach ing 380 mg HC/g TOC in the Nosówka 12 well (Fig. 10D). How ever, the Nosówka 2 well only yielded about 20 mg HC/g TOC be cause of low or ganic car bon con tents.
A sig nifi cant por tion of the hy dro car bons were ex pelled. In the Nawsie 1 well ap proxi mately 90% of the hy -dro car bons were ex pelled (Fig. 10C). Only in the Za wada 8K and Nosówka 2 wells, ex pul sion did not take place (Fig. 10A).
Fig. 6. Map of ex tent of the Or do vi cian strata in the Ma³opolska Block (af ter Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008) and lo ca tion of 1-D mod elled wells
Fig. 7. Map of the ex tent of Si lu rian strata in the Ma³opolska Block (af ter Bu³a & Habryn, eds, 2008) and lo ca tion of 1-D mod elled wells. Ab bre vi a tions – see Fig. 6
CON CLU SIONS
Mod el ling of hy dro car bon gen era tion and ex pul sion from the Lower Pa laeo zoic com plex in the sub stra tum of the Car pa thian Fore deep and the Outer Carpathians, in the area be tween Kraków and Rzeszów cit ies, re vealed that:
(i) Or do vi cian and Si lu rian source rocks reached ther mal ma tur ity in the ini tial and main phases of the “oil win -dow”. These phases were ob tained suc ces sively from the turn of the Ju ras sic and Cre ta ceous to the Mio cene time. The main phase of ma tur ity was con nected with over thrust -ing of the Outer Car pa thi ans;
(ii) over the en tire area where the Or do vi cian and Si lu rian for ma tions oc cur, ef fec tive source rocks ex ist. The pro -cesses of hy dro car bon gen era tion and ex pul sion de vel oped, simi larly to in creas ing ther mal ma tur ity, mainly at the stage
of the over thrust ing of the Outer Car pa thi ans. The least trans formed source rocks are found in the west ern part of the study area. The trans for ma tion de gree grows suc ces -sively eastwards, where the Lower Pa laeo zoic for ma tions oc cur at the great est depth. The gen era tion pro cesses in that part of the ana lysed area reached the main and fi nal gen era -tion stages, with ex pul sion of up to 90% of the gen er ated hy dro car bons. The amount of hy dro car bons gen er ated var -ies sig nifi cantly, from appr. 20 to appr. 380 mg HC/g TOC.
Ac knowl edge ments
The re search was un der taken as the pro ject No. UKRAINE/ 193/2006 of the Min is try of Sci ence and Higher Ed u ca tion car ried out at the AGH Uni ver sity of Sci ence and Tech nol ogy in Kraków and the Pol ish Geo log i cal In sti tute – Na tional Re search In sti tute in Fig. 8. Trans for ma tion ra tio of kerogen in the (A) Or do vi cian and (B) Si lu rian source rocks in pro files of ana lysed wells. For ab bre vi a -tions see Fig. 2
War saw. Sci en tific work was fi nanced from the fund in the years 2007–2010. The de tailed com ments of JÝrgen A. Bojesen-Koe-foed and Pawe³ Poprawa were of great as sis tance in the re vi sions of this manu script. We also thank John B. Curtis of the Col o rado School of Mines in Golden for im prove ment of Eng lish manu script. The authors thank Izabella Grotek from the Pol ish Geolog i -cal In sti tute – Na tional Re search In sti tute in War saw for mea sure-ments of reflectance of vitrinite and vitrinite-like macerals.
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