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Regional Studies |
V. C. Illing and Partners, Cheam, England
Recently published seismic and other investigations into the Late Carboniferous — Early Permian thrust and fold belts of the Appalachians, the Franco-German border, and to a limited degree so far of southern England, suggest that Variscan deformation is characterised by thin-skinned tectonics. This provides a rationale for recognising flat-lying thrust slices and mapping them in the subsurface. It also implies that the over-ridden rocks may not have been subjected to the excessive burial or the degree of disturbance once assumed. In the Variscan province of southern England the existence of potential source and reservoir rocks can be expected on regional grounds. Consideration of the likely burial and thermal history suggests there may be areas where gas if not liquid hydrocarbons from Palaeozoic source rocks could be preserved. Further geochemical, geophysical and petrophysical investigation seems warranted.
