Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

Professor Christopher Jackson

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Visiting Professor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

c.jackson Website

 
 
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Location

 

1.46ARoyal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Qiliang:2019:10.1111/bre.12372,
author = {Qiliang, S and Jackson, C and Magee, C},
doi = {10.1111/bre.12372},
journal = {Basin Research},
title = {Deeply buried ancient volcanoes control hydrocarbon migration in the South China Sea},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bre.12372},
year = {2019}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Seismic reflection data image nowburied and inactive volcanoes, both onshore and along the submarine portions of continental margins. However, the impact that these volcanoes have on later, posteruption fluid flow events (e.g. hydrocarbon migration and accumulation) is poorly understood. Determining how buried volcanoes and their underlying plumbing systems influence subsurface fluid or gas flow, or form traps for hydrocarbon accumulations, is critical to derisk hydrocarbon exploration and production. Here we focus on evaluating how buried volcanoes affect the bulk permeability of hydrocarbon seals, and channel and focus hydrocarbons. We use highresolution 3D seismic reflection and borehole data from the northern South China Sea (SCS) to show how ~<10 km wide, ~<590 m high Miocene volcanoes, buried several kilometers (~1.9 km) below the seabed and fed by a subvolcanic plumbing system that exploited riftrelated faults: (i) acted as longlived migration pathways, and perhaps reservoirs, for hydrocarbons generated from even more deeply buried (~810 km) source rocks; and (ii) instigated differential compaction and doming of the overburden during subsequent burial, producing extensional faults that breached regional seal rocks. Considering that volcanism and related deformation are both common on many magmarich passive margins, the interplay between the magmatic products and hydrocarbon migration documented here may be more common than currently thought. Our results demonstrate that nowburied and inactive volcanoes can locally degrade hydrocarbon reservoir seals and control the migration of hydrocarbonrich fluids and gas. These fluids and gases can migrate into and be stored in shallower reservoirs, where they may then represent geohazards to drilling and impact slope stability.
AU  - Qiliang,S
AU  - Jackson,C
AU  - Magee,C
DO  - 10.1111/bre.12372
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 0950-091X
TI  - Deeply buried ancient volcanoes control hydrocarbon migration in the South China Sea
T2  - Basin Research
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bre.12372
UR  - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bre.12372
ER  -
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