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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1992; v. 62; p. 3-16;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1992.062.01.02
© 1992 Geological Society of London

Basin Histories and Hydrocarbon Source Rocks

Burial histories and hydrocarbon source rocks on the North West Seaboard

J. Parnell

School of Geosciences, Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK

The basins on the North West Seaboard of the British Isles had widely differing burial histories and consequently contain different successions. Basins active in the Permo-Triassic saw early maturation of Carboniferous source rocks, but Jurassic sections remain immature. Basins active in the Cretaceous — Tertiary saw later maturation of the Carboniferous, followed by maturation of the Jurassic. Potential source rocks range from Ordovician to Tertiary age, but Carboniferous source rocks are probably the most widely distributed. Samples from onshore Carboniferous outcrops in Northern Ireland and western Scotland give good pyrolysis yields, with a potential for gas and limited quantities of oil. The Jurassic rocks of the Hebrides include bitumen-impregnated sandstones where Jurassic shales have achieved maturation in the vicinity of Tertiary intrusions. The North West Irish Basin shows evidence for oil migration in Carboniferous rocks and the burial history suggests that gas may have been generated from the Carboniferous in eastern Ulster where the succession is analogous to that in the Morecambe Gas Field.





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