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Basement reservoir plumbing: fracture aperture, length and topology analysis of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland

View ORCID ProfileK. J. W. McCaffrey, View ORCID ProfileR. E. Holdsworth, J. Pless, B. S. G. Franklin and K. Hardman
Journal of the Geological Society, 177, 1281-1293, 22 July 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-143
K. J. W. McCaffrey
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
2Geospatial Research Ltd, Office Suite 7, Harrison House, 1 Hawthorn Terrace, ,
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Data curation (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Lead)], [Funding acquisition (Supporting)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Methodology (Lead)], [Supervision (Supporting)], [Writing - Original Draft (Lead)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • ORCID record for K. J. W. McCaffrey
  • For correspondence: k.j.w.mccaffrey@durham.ac.uk
R. E. Holdsworth
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
2Geospatial Research Ltd, Office Suite 7, Harrison House, 1 Hawthorn Terrace, ,
Roles: [Conceptualization (Supporting)], [Funding acquisition (Lead)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Supervision (Lead)], [Writing - Original Draft (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • ORCID record for R. E. Holdsworth
J. Pless
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
Roles: [Data curation (Supporting)], [Formal analysis (Supporting)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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B. S. G. Franklin
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
Roles: [Data curation (Supporting)], [Formal analysis (Supporting)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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K. Hardman
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
3Energy and Environment Institute, Hull University, , UK,
Roles: [Visualization (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
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Abstract

Upfaulted ridges of Neoarchean crystalline basement rocks formed in the Faeroe-Shetland basin as a consequence of Mesozoic rift processes and are an active target for oil exploration. We carried out a comprehensive fault and fracture attribute study on the extensive exposures of geologically equivalent crystalline basement rocks onshore in NW Scotland (Lewisian Gneiss Complex) as an analogue for the offshore oil and gas reservoirs of the uplifted Rona Ridge basement high. Our analysis shows a power-law distribution for fracture sizes (aperture and length), with random to clustered spacing and high connectivity indices. Regional variations between the Scottish mainland and the Outer Hebrides are recognized that compare directly with variations observed along the Rona Ridge in the Faeroe-Shetland basin. Here we develop a model for the scaling properties of the fracture systems in which variations in the aperture attributes are a function of the depth of erosion beneath the top basement unconformity. More generally, the combination of size, spatial and connectivity attributes we found in these basement highs demonstrates that they can form highly effective, well-plumbed reservoir systems in their own right.

Supplementary material: Additional methods and results are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5017139

Thematic collection: This article is part of the The Geology of Fractured Reservoirs collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/the-geology-of-fractured-reservoirs

  • © 2020 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Journal of the Geological Society: 177 (6)
Journal of the Geological Society
Volume 177, Issue 6
November 2020
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Basement reservoir plumbing: fracture aperture, length and topology analysis of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland

K. J. W. McCaffrey, R. E. Holdsworth, J. Pless, B. S. G. Franklin and K. Hardman
Journal of the Geological Society, 177, 1281-1293, 22 July 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-143
K. J. W. McCaffrey
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
2Geospatial Research Ltd, Office Suite 7, Harrison House, 1 Hawthorn Terrace, ,
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Data curation (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Lead)], [Funding acquisition (Supporting)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Methodology (Lead)], [Supervision (Supporting)], [Writing - Original Draft (Lead)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for K. J. W. McCaffrey
  • For correspondence: k.j.w.mccaffrey@durham.ac.uk
R. E. Holdsworth
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
2Geospatial Research Ltd, Office Suite 7, Harrison House, 1 Hawthorn Terrace, ,
Roles: [Conceptualization (Supporting)], [Funding acquisition (Lead)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Supervision (Lead)], [Writing - Original Draft (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for R. E. Holdsworth
J. Pless
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
Roles: [Data curation (Supporting)], [Formal analysis (Supporting)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
B. S. G. Franklin
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
Roles: [Data curation (Supporting)], [Formal analysis (Supporting)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
K. Hardman
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, , UK,
3Energy and Environment Institute, Hull University, , UK,
Roles: [Visualization (Supporting)], [Writing - Review & Editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site

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Basement reservoir plumbing: fracture aperture, length and topology analysis of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland

K. J. W. McCaffrey, R. E. Holdsworth, J. Pless, B. S. G. Franklin and K. Hardman
Journal of the Geological Society, 177, 1281-1293, 22 July 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-143
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