Kenneth E. Peters

Stanford University

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J. Michael Moldowan

Biomarker Technologies (China)

W.Sh. El Diasty

Mansoura University

Clifford C. Walters

Bureau of Economic Geology

Leslie B. Magoon

Stanford University

I. R. Kaplan

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Salah Y. El Beialy

Mansoura University

John E. Zumberge

Benchmark Research (United States)

Sven Petersen

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Oliver C. Mullins

Schlumberger (United States)

Andrew E. Pomerantz

Schlumberger (United States)

Cooperative Institutions

United States Geological Survey

Stanford University

ExxonMobil (United States)

Entertainment Industries Council

Schlumberger (British Virgin Islands)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Chevron (United States)

Planetary Science Institute

Menlo School

Kiel University

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Diamondoid hydrocarbons as indicators of natural oil cracking

Nature (1999)

Jeremy Dahl J. Michael Moldowan Kenneth E. Peters George E. Claypool Melodye A. Rooney

Diamondoid

10.1038/19953

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Citations (428)

Aerobic biodegradation of hopanes and norhopanes in Venezuelan crude oils

Organic Geochemistry (2001)

F. Bost Roberto Frontera-Suau Thomas J. McDonald Kenneth E. Peters Pamela J. Morris

Degradation

Oleanane

Sterane

10.1016/s0146-6380(00)00147-9

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Citations (109)

Hutton’s Great Unconformity at Siccar Point, Scotland: Where deep time was revealed and uniformitarianism conceived

AAPG Bulletin (2017)

Stuart Archer John R. Underhill Kenneth E. Peters

The classic angular unconformity at Siccar Point became a landmark location in the history of geology after a boat trip to the site by James Hutton and his colleagues Professor John Playfair and Sir James Hall in 1788. Hutton successfully used the unconformity to support his view that the Earth’s landforms and geological record resulted from uniform natural processes such as sedimentation, uplift, erosion, and renewed sedimentation through deep geologic time. At Siccar Point, gently dipping Devonian fluviatile Old Red Sandstones unconformably onlap vertical Silurian deep-water greywackes (schistus) to produce the most classic of angular unconformities that remains a must-see outcrop for geologists to this day. The relevance of this outcrop for the petroleum geologist is that it provides the opportunity to view an end-member stratal relationship in the continuum of unconformable surfaces (i.e., angular unconformity, disconformity, paraconformity, correlative conformity). The locality also aids the visualization of geometries relevant to unconformity (subcrop) traps and to onlap and pinchout (supracrop)–type traps. Although most Scottish geoscientists will have seen this outcrop in their student days, as a teaching aid to illustrate basic principles, a trip later in life can remind us of the importance of the site in a historical geology context. The location continues to inspire and instills a sense of duty in us, as scholars of the Earth’s formation, to communicate and share the principles of deep time with those who have not had the privilege of an education that included the fundamentals of geology.

Geologist

Onlap

Outcrop

10.1306/011817dig17036

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Citations (2)

Drilling Submarine Hydrothermal Sites in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy, during Meteor cruise M73/2

Sven Petersen Nico Augustin A. Esposito Andreas Gärtner A. Gardeler

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Geochemical evaluation of oils and source rocks from the Western Siberian basin, U. S. S. R

AAPG Bulletin (1991)

Kenneth E. Peters Bradley J. Huizinga J. Michael Moldowan A.E. Kontorovich Gerard Demaison

Although the Western Siberian basin is among the most prolific in the world, there has been disagreement among Soviet geoscientists on the origin of the petroleum within this basin. Screening geochemical analyses were used to select several oils and potential source rocks for a preliminary study using detailed biomarker and supporting geochemistry. Possible sources for this petroleum include rocks of Middle Jurassic, Upper Jurassic, and Lower Cretaceous age. Results indicate that most of the analyzed Western Siberian oils, occurring in reservoirs from Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous in age, are derived from the Upper Jurassic Bazhenov Formation. The locations of the samples in the study generally correspond to the distribution of the most effective oil-generative parts of the Bazhenov Formation. Analyses show that the Bazhenov rock samples contain abundant marine algal and bacterial organic matter, preserved under anoxic depositional conditions. Biomarkers show that thermal maturities of the samples range from the early to late oil-generative window and that some are biodegraded. For example, the Salym No. 114 oil, which flowed directly from the Bazhenov Formation, shows a maturity equivalent to the late oil window. The Van-Egan no. 110 oil shows maturity equivalent to the early oil window and is biodegraded.more » This oil shows preferential microbial conversion of lower homologs of the 17{alpha}, 21{beta}(H)-hopanes to 25-nor-17{alpha}(H)-hopanes.« less

Sterane

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Citations (3)

Do the Seismic Velocities Depend from Time-Temperature Index?*

Tanima Dutta Tapan Mukerji Gary Mavko Kenneth E. Peters

The objective of our study is to test whether seismic velocities of rock depend on time and temperature index (TTI). This study is motivated by the observations that overpressure and reservoir qualities depend on temperature and time in many sedimentary basins. TTI, an important thermal maturity indicator, is directly linked with oil and gas generation and combines the effects of temperature and time. However, there is no existing model (theoretical, empirical, and numerical) to predict TTI from observed seismic velocities. Our study identifies an empirical-numerical relation between TTI and seismic velocities. In order to obtain this relation, we perform petroleum system modeling at a well location. The well is located in deep-water petroleum system at Rio Muni Basin, West Africa. The essential petroleum system elements and TOC are identified based on petrophysical and rock-physics analysis. The TTIs obtained from finite-element modeling of petroleum system are then compared with velocities measured at the same well location. We find that both Vp and Vs increase exponentially with TTI. The results can be applied to predict TTI, and thereby thermal maturity, from observed seismic velocities.

Petrophysics

Overpressure

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California State Waters Map Series: Offshore of Coal Oil Point, California

Scientific investigations map (2014)

Samuel Y. Johnson Peter Dartnell Guy R. Cochrane Nadine E. Golden Eleyne L. Phillips

In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration, interpretation, and visualization of swath sonar data, acoustic backscatter, seafloor video, seafloor photography, high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles, and bottom-sediment sampling data. The map products display seafloor morphology and character, identify potential marine benthic habitats, and illustrate both the surficial seafloor geology and shallow (to about 100 m) subsurface geology. The Offshore of Coal Oil Point map area lies within the central Santa Barbara Channel region of the Southern California Bight. This geologically complex region forms a major biogeographic transition zone, separating the cold-temperate Oregonian province north of Point Conception from the warm-temperate California province to the south. The map area is in the southern part of the Western Transverse Ranges geologic province, which is north of the California Continental Borderland. Significant clockwise rotation—at least 90°—since the early Miocene has been proposed for the Western Transverse Ranges province, and geodetic studies indicate that the region is presently undergoing north-south shortening. Uplift rates (as much as 2.0 mm/yr) that are based on studies of onland marine terraces provide further evidence of significant shortening. The cities of Goleta and Isla Vista, the main population centers in the map area, are in the western part of a contiguous urban area that extends eastward through Santa Barbara to Carpinteria. This urban area is on the south flank of the east-west-trending Santa Ynez Mountains, on coalescing alluvial fans and uplifted marine terraces underlain by folded and faulted Miocene bedrock. In the map area, the relatively low-relief, elevated coastal bajada narrows from about 2.5 km wide in the east to less than 500 m wide in the west. Several beaches line the actively utilized coastal zone, including Isla Vista County Park beach, Coal Oil Point Reserve, and Goleta Beach County Park. The beaches are subject to erosion each winter during storm-wave attack, and then they undergo gradual recovery or accretion during the more gentle wave climate of the late spring, summer, and fall months. The Offshore of Coal Oil Point map area lies in the central part of the Santa Barbara littoral cell, which is characterized by littoral drift to the east-southeast. Longshore drift rates have been reported to range from about 160,000 to 800,000 tons/yr, averaging 400,000 tons/yr. Sediment supply to the western and central parts of the littoral cell, including the map area, is largely from relatively small transverse coastal watersheds. Within the map area, these coastal watersheds include (from east to west) Las Llagas Canyon, Gato Canyon, Las Varas Canyon, Dos Pueblos Canyon, Eagle Canyon, Tecolote Canyon, Winchester Canyon, Ellwood Canyon, Glen Annie Canyon, and San Jose Creek. The Santa Ynez and Santa Maria Rivers, the mouths of which are about 100 to 140 km northwest of the map area, are not significant sediment sources because Point Conception and Point Arguello provide obstacles to downcoast sediment transport and also because much of their sediment load is trapped in dams. The Ventura and Santa Clara Rivers, the mouths of which are about 45 to 55 km southeast of the map area, are much larger sediment sources. Still farther east, eastward-moving sediment in the littoral cell is trapped by Hueneme and Mugu Canyons and then transported to the deep-water Santa Monica Basin. The offshore part of the map area consists of a relatively flat and shallow continental shelf, which dips gently seaward (about 0.8° to 1.0°) so that water depths at the shelf break, roughly coincident with the California’s State Waters limit, are about 90 m. This part of the Santa Barbara Channel is relatively well protected from large Pacific swells from the north and northwest by Point Conception and from the south and southwest by offshore islands and banks. The shelf is underlain by variable amounts of upper Quaternary marine and fluvial sediments deposited as sea level fluctuated in the late Pleistocene. The large (130 km2) Goleta landslide complex lies along the shelf break in the southern part of the map area. This compound slump complex may have been initiated more than 200,000 years ago, but it also includes three recent failures that may have been generated between 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. A local, 5- to 10-m-high tsunami may have been generated from these failure events. The map area has had a long history of hydrocarbon development, which began in 1928 with discovery of the Ellwood oil field. Subsequent discoveries in the offshore include South Ellwood offshore oil field, Coal Oil Point oil field, and Naples oil and gas field. Development of South Ellwood offshore field began in 1966 from platform “Holly,” the last platform to be installed in California’s State Waters. The area also is known for “the world’s most spectacular marine hydrocarbon seeps,” and large tar seeps are exposed on beaches east of the mouth of Goleta Slough. Offshore seeps adjacent to South Ellwood oil field release about 40 tons per day of methane and about 19 tons per day of ethane, propane, butane, and higher hydrocarbons. Seafloor habitats in the broad Santa Barbara Channel region consist of significant amounts of soft sediment and isolated areas of rocky habitat that support kelp-forest communities nearshore and rocky-reef communities in deep water. The potential marine benthic habitat types mapped in the Offshore of Coal Oil Point map area are directly related to its Quaternary geologic history, geomorphology, and active sedimentary processes. These potential habitats, which lie primarily within the Shelf (continental shelf) but also partly within the Flank (basin flank or continental slope) megahabitats, range from soft, unconsolidated sediment to hard sedimentary bedrock. This heterogeneous seafloor provides promising habitat for rockfish, groundfish, crabs, shrimp, and other marine benthic organisms.

Seafloor Spreading

Side-scan sonar

Marine geology

10.3133/sim3302

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Citations (4)

Oil families and mixed oil of the North–Central West Siberian basin, Russia

AAPG Bulletin (2016)

Zhaoqian Liu Michael J. Moldowan Alla Nemchenko-Rovenskaya Kenneth E. Peters

The recognition, correlation, and quantification of oil mixtures remain challenging in petroleum system studies. Most prolific basins have multiple source rocks that generate petroleum over wide ranges of maturity. Compound-specific isotopic analyses of alkanes (CSIA-A) and diamondoids (CSIA-D) are very effective for determining hydrocarbon mixtures. Quantitative diamondoid analysis (QDA) and CSIA-D provide a unique advantage for source correlation of thermally altered liquids or condensates and for condensate mixtures with black oil. Biomarker fingerprints, QDA, and various CSIA methods were applied to 37 oil and condensate samples to investigate the existence of deep sources and to identify and deconvolute cosourced oil mixtures. The data were used to unravel the components of mixed oil having widely diverse levels of maturity in the north–central West Siberian basin. Three oil families and their locations are recognized in the basin. One of the families appears to be composed of oil mixtures derived from two end-member families that originated from the Upper Jurassic Bazhenov and Lower to Middle Jurassic Tyumen source rocks. Our results suggest that a significant part of the gas in the giant gas fields of north–central western Siberia (e.g., Urengoi and Yamburg) is of thermogenic origin. The source of this thermal gas, which was formerly assigned to various source origins, was determined to be the Tyumen Formation. Some samples in the basin also show mixtures of noncracked Bazhenov oil with cracked Tyumen condensate. The area where prevalent oil cracking has occurred was determined from QDA.

10.1306/12111514199

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Citations (19)

From Mantle to Ocean: tracing the pathway of sulphur with multiple sulphur isotopes

Harald Strauß Kenneth E. Peters James Farquhar Benjamin Eickmann Dieter Garbe‐Schönberg

Tracing

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Reply to Comment by M.D. Lewan

Organic Geochemistry (2023)

Kenneth E. Peters Paul C. Hackley Andrew E. Pomerantz