Basin modelling is the term broadly applied to a group of
geological
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
disciplines that can be used to analyse the formation and evolution of
sedimentary basin
Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subsidence ...
s, often but not exclusively to aid evaluation of potential
hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...
reserves.
At its most basic, a basin modelling exercise must assess:
# The burial history of the basin (see
back-stripping).
# The thermal history of the basin (see
thermal history modelling).
# The maturity history of the
source rock
In petroleum geology, source rock is rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been depos ...
s.
# The expulsion, migration and trapping of hydrocarbons.
By doing so, valuable inferences can be made about such matters as hydrocarbon generation and timing, maturity of potential source rocks and migration paths of expelled hydrocarbons.
References
* Duppenbecker S. J. and Eliffe J. E., Basin Modelling: Practice and Progress, Geological Society Special Publication, (1998).
* Lerche I., Basin Analysis: Quantitative Methods v.2, Academic Press (1990).
* Hantschel, T. and Kauerauf, A.I., Fundamentals of Basin and Petroleum Systems Modeling, Springer (2009).
* Lee, E.Y., Novotny, J., Wagreich, M., Subsidence analysis and visualization - for sedimentary basin analysis and modelling. Springer (2019). {{ISBN, 978-3-319-76423-8 https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319764238
Basin modelling software
Software packages have been designed for 1D/2D/3D basin modelling purposes to simulate the burial and thermal history of a basin as well as petroleum migration modelling.
Basin Modeling software programs:
Permedia (Halliburton),
PBM-Pars Basin Modeler(Research Institute of Petroleum Industry),
PetroMod (Schlumberger),
BasinMod (Platte River Associates, Inc.),
Genex,Temis 2D,3D (Beicip/IFP),
Migri, MigriX (Migris),
Sigma2D (JNOC/TRC),
Novva (Sirius Exploration Geochemistry Inc.),
Genesis-Trinity(Zetaware),and
WinBury software.
Basin modelling publications
Basin Modeling Publications
Sedimentology
Petroleum geology