Fluidnets
A study of Texas and Oklahoma

Author: A.G.Repin

Publisher: Otechestvennaya Geologya 1/2006 ISSN 0869-7175

English Translation: Philip Aghion

A note on the article from the author.

A note on the article from the author.

This essay is dedicated to the geological scientific community. The article's main goal is to facilitate a discussion and to draw the focus group's interest to the techniques that Terra Exploro has been utilizing for over a decade now in its oil exploration projects.

This article avoids covering the nature of origin and transformation of hydrocarbons, it is focused only on some aspects of redistribution of fluids found in the upper levels of the basins' sedimentary cover.

In a recently published article /2/, we had examined the possibility of employing horizontal filtration of the fluids along the fault-fold formations or - dizplicats -as some Russian specialists refer to them.

The Western Siberia analysis (see /2/) presented rather interesting results. In order to explore our theory further, we carried out a lineament analysis of several other well-researched territories, basing the analysis on materials available to a wide range of researchers. We chose the fossil-fuel rich states of Oklahoma and Texas in the US.

When examining the deciphered satellite image of the areas of Texas (see pic. below) and Oklahoma, the earth's surface is depicted in the form of extensive tectonic linear formations corresponding to many fossil fuel deposits, interpreted by us as linear objects. These linear shapes form distinctive tectonic systems on the map. Notice the more intertwined the lines are, the bigger the deposits. Unfortunately, the absence of ideally necessary image data, made it impossible to create a complete picture of the lineaments. However, we obtained enough of them for analysis and we assessed parallels with similar findings indicated in /1/.

Texas Lineaments

Essentially, we have enough evidence to put foward a hypothesis presuming the existence of a regional system of spatial fluid filtration channels in the rock mass, and, accordingly, indicate the orderliness of the filtration leading to a natural spatial distribution of hydrocarbons accumulations in the earth's crust.

To clarify our classification of these regional systems we are introducing a new term - "fluidnet'". In our opinion, fluidnets are narrow three-dimensional zones - where hydrocarbon migration, water and gas flows are heavily concentrated. It is specifically for these linear formations that produce special lattices inside the earth's crust that we have designated the term fluidnet.

However tempting it may be to draw an analogy between fluidnets and the existing concept of earth's hydro systems as they share similarities in morphology and the genesis, such comparisons can easily confuse the layman. Tectonics is the major factor that forms and influences both as it is the "ultimate source" that influences the flow of fluids in the core and on the surface. Tectonics also is the important factor in the formation of the gradients, which forms these flows.

Certainly, the free flow of water and the filtration - are two different processes. In the first case, gravity is the primary influence as it forces the flow though the geomorphological differentiation of the surfaces formed by tectonics. As for filtration, however, the reasons for the gradient formations are not so clearly determined since there is a marked factor of tectonic stresses. Moreover, there are also distinct differences, for example the hydro system is two-dimensional, whereas fluidnets are three-dimensional, so the factors controlling earth's surface flow are different from the internal flow.

The geological activity of the surface based flows is very diverse both in the quantitative and in the qualitative aspects. Fluid flows, apparently, are just the active agents of diverse homogeneous activity.

As hydro system have running flow and basinal lakes, fluidnet have formations analogous to surface based formations that trap water. Only in fluidnets do they trap fluids. Furthermore, fluidnet connects plicative and other formations, which serve as fluid traps.

Both systems are normally confined to the same breaking zones (see /2/ for details). However, the speed of flow in fluidnets is not the same as the surface's, additionally, they have a different role in the geological history. Therefore, although the probability that both surface and fluidnet systems have similar paths at a given time, it is not always fully guaranteed to be the case.

There has been a lot written on the topic of paragenesis of fractured dislocations (the core of both hydro system and fluidnet) and plicates. The formation processes of this interrelation are modeled by tectonophysics (see works of M.V.Gzovskiy and his adherents ).

Many prominent researches and practicing geologists noted the pattern: on the earth's surface the lineaments are represented by hydro system formations. This has been observed for many years in natural gas explorations. In his book TEXAS RICH /3/,Harry Hurt III notes that H.L. Hunt in the early XXth century had been using creekology to find oil. (CREEKOLOGY is a petroleum prospecting method which appeared in the 19th century in US south gas-oil states. In its simplest form, it was the search for above-ground indications of oil, such as natural seeps. Creekologists also placed wells on singular points of a territory in accordance with landscape features. The placing of wells often occurred near, or on, linear objects - erosion relief forms (valleys, creeks, etc.) - giving rise to the term creekology. The success rates of some creekologists in the 19th century were very high - 80-90% of their wells gave production and more recent petroleum firms can only dream about such results. In the middle of the 20th century some geologists formed an idea about existing fault-fold systems in the earth's crust, in sediment cover, and this gave creekology a "scientific base". Linear forms in earth landscape connect with fault tectonics, and some folds near faults can be reservoirs of hydrocarbons. The non-fold types of traps mark by lineation too (paleo-rivers formed on faults). Now some geologists mark probable gas-oil areas with the help of space image lineation interpreting. This activity can be defined as "new creekology". Despite some difficulties, this technique had considerably scaled down his expenses on the research, proving that careful analysis surface's linear formations can bring very beneficial results to the explorers.

Bearing in mind that nowadays what's old is now back in style, the localization of search operations and accelerated pace of detection of hydrocarbons accumulation can be effectively accomplished at a higher level, by applying the contemporary methods of mapping the breakings on the basis of deciphering aerospace information and construction of the lineaments maps.

Furthermore, we would like to point out that geological information necessary for conducting this research was obtained via the Internet, and this experiment was one of the first in this field permitting the creation of a lineament map for this region based on data available to any researcher. Unfortunately, the possiblities for conducting similiar research on Russian terrain, remain limited which dampens Russia's competitive edge in geological science.

Sources:

1. Repin A.G. Desiphering as a scientific system. Izvestya RAN, ser. Geogr., May-June, 1993 pp.102-109.

2. Repin A.G. Faults -Lineations on the North of West Siberia. Otechestvennaya Geologiya, Iss.1 - 2005, p.p. 37-41 ISSN 0869-7175

3. Harry Hurt III. TEXAS RICH. The Hunt Dynasty from the Early Oil Days through the Silver Crash. W.W.Norton & Company, NY, 1981).

The author has used the materials (maps and space images) from the following sites:

and other government and private organizations of the USA and expresses his deep gratitude to all for unobstructed access to geological information.

Special Thank You to Philip Aghion for his extensive involvement with translating our articles in English.

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Article Highlights:

“...The Western Siberia analysis (see /2/) presented rather interesting results. In order to explore our theory further, we carried out a lineament analysis of several other well-researched territories, basing the analysis on materials available to a wide range of researchers. We chose the fossil-fuel rich states of Oklahoma and Texas in the US.”

“Essentially, we have enough evidence to put foward a hypothesis presuming the existence of a regional system of spatial fluid filtration channels in the rock mass, and, accordingly, indicate the orderliness of the filtration leading to a natural spatial distribution of hydrocarbons accumulations in the earth's crust. ”

“Many prominent researches and practicing geologists noted the pattern: on the earth's surface the lineaments are represented by hydro system formations. This has been observed for many years in natural gas explorations. ”

“Bearing in mind that nowadays what's old is now back in style, the localization of search operations and accelerated pace of detection of hydrocarbons accumulation can be effectively accomplished at a higher level, by applying the contemporary methods of mapping the breakings on the basis of deciphering aerospace information and construction of the lineaments maps.”


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