PETROLEUM GEOLOGY

Rock Cycle
- Four main layers that make up the earth:
1. Inner Core - A mass of iron with a temperature of
about 7000 degrees F.
Immense pressure keeps it in a solid form.
Approximately 1,500 miles in diameter.
2. Outer Core - A mass of molten iron about 1,425
miles deep that surrounds the solid inner core.
Electrical currents generated from this area
produce the
earth's magnetic field.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Rock Cycle
3. Mantle - A rock layer about 1,750 miles thick that
reaches about half the distance to the center of the
earth. Parts of this layer become hot enough to liquify
and become slow moving molten rock or magma.
4. Crust - A layer from 4-25 miles thick consisting of
sand and rock.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Rock Cycle

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Rock Cycle
Core, mantle and crust of the earth - giant rock
recycling machine.
Liquid (molten) rock material solidifies either at or
below the surface of the earth to form igneous rocks .
Uplifting occurs forming mountains made of rock.

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Rock Cycle
Exposure of rocks to weathering and erosion at the
earth's surface breaks them down into smaller grains
producing soil.
The grains (soil) are transported by wind, water and
gravity and eventually deposited as sediments. This
process is referred to as erosion.

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Rock Cycle
- Sediments

are deposited in layers and become

compacted and cemented (lithified) forming
sedimentary
rocks.
- Variation in temperature, pressure, and/or the
chemistry of the rock can cause chemical and/or physical
changes in igneous and sedimentary rocks
to form
metamorphic rocks.
- Exposure to higher temperatures, metamorphic
rocks may be partially melted resulting in the
creation of igneous rocks, re- starting the cycle.

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Types of rocks.
All rocks can be put into one of three fundamentally
different types of rocks:
- Igneous
- Sedimentary
- Metamorphic rocks:

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Igneous Rocks
- Crystalline solids, formed directly from the cooling
of magma.
- Exothermic process (it loses heat) involving a phase
change from the liquid to solid state.
- Each mineral forms a characteristic type of crystal.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Igneous Rocks
e.g. Granite, is composed of three main minerals,
Quartz, Mica and Feldspar, all of which look different
and can be clearly seen in the sample.
Black=Mica,
White=Feldspar
Grey =Quartz

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Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Formed at the surface of the Earth, in water or on land.
- Layered accumulations of sediments (fragments of
rocks, minerals, or animal or plant material).
- Most sedimentary rocks become cemented together by
minerals and chemicals or are held together by electrical
attraction

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Some remain loose and unconsolidated.
The layers are normally parallel to the Earth's surface
Earth movement results in layers being at high angles to
the surface or twisted or broken,
Sedimentary rocks are forming around us all the time

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Three main types of sedimentary rocks:
Clastic sedimentary rocks
Chemical sedimentary rocks
Organic Sedimentary rocks

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks
- These rocks are accumulations of clasts: little pieces of
broken up rock which have piled up and been "lithified"
by compaction and cementation
- e.g. Sandstone, conglomerate, shale, clay, bentonite

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks
Sandstone
Composed of mineral grains (commonly quartz) cemented
together by silica, iron oxide, or calcium carbonate.
Typically white, gray, brown, or red.
Red and brown sandstone is colored by iron oxide
impurities.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Sandstone
Most sandstones feel gritty, and some are easily crushed
(friable) and break up to form sand.
Sandstones have pore spaces between each grain of sand
which makes them good reservoirs for oil and natural gas.

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Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Conglomerate
Usually composed of rounded quartz pebbles, cobbles,
and boulders surrounded by a matrix of sand and finer
material, and cemented with silica, iron oxide, or
calcium carbonate.
The rock fragments are rounded from being rolled along
a stream bed or a beach during transportation.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Shale
- Most

abundant of all sedimentary rocks.

- Composed primarily of soft clay minerals, but may

include variable amounts of organic matter, calcareous
material, and quartz grains.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Shale
- May be any color, but is generally greenish gray to
grayish black.
Relatively soft and has a smooth, greasy feel when freshly
exposed, but is hard and brittle when dry.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Shale
- Most shales split into thin plates or sheets and are
termed fissile
Others are massive (nonfissile) and break into irregular
blocks. Shales weather very easily to form mud and clay.

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Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Clay
- Applied to various earthy materials composed mainly of
hydrous aluminum magnesium silicate minerals.
The most familiar characteristic of clay is plasticity or the
ability of moist clay to be fashioned into a desired shape .

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Clay
- Physical properties of a clay are plasticity, strength, and
refractoriness.
-Plasticity enables the clay to be molded
- Strength permits it to be handled during the forming

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Clay
- Drying, burning processes; and refractoriness permits it
to be burned into a hard body of permanent form

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Clastic sedimentary rocks:
Bentonite
- Soft, low-specific-gravity, expandable clay.
- Is altered volcanic ash.
- Used in rotary drilling muds to prevent contaminating
formations with drilling fluid.

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Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Chemical sedimentary rocks:
Many when standing water evaporates, leaving dissolved
minerals behind.
Thick deposits of salt and gypsum can form due to
repeated flooding and evaporation over long periods of
time.
Other chemical sedimentary rocks include sedimentary
iron ores, evaporites such as rock salt (Halite), and to
some extent flint, limestone and chert.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Chemical sedimentary rocks:
Other chemical sedimentary rocks include sedimentary
iron ores, evaporites such as rock salt (Halite), and to
some extent flint, limestone and chert.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
- Organic sedimentary rocks:
Accumulation of sedimentary debris caused by organic
processes.
Many animals use calcium for shells, bones, and teeth.
These bits of calcium can pile up on the seafloor and
accumulate into a thick enough layer to form an "organic"
sedimentary rock. These include Limestone, Chalk and
Coal.

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Types of rocks.
Sedimentary Rocks
Clues that may help you recognize a sedimentary rock:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

It looks like bits of other rocks stuck together.

It has a gritty feel and bits can be rubbed off it.
It contains fossils, bits of shell or pebbles.
There are no, or very few crystals in it.
All the grains look rounded and worn.

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Types of rocks.
Metamorphic Rocks
- Meta" (change) and "morph" (form).
- Rock must be moved into an environment in which the
minerals which make up the rock become unstable and
out of equilibrium with the new environmental conditions.
Transforms them into denser, more compact rocks.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Types of rocks.
Metamorphic Rocks
- New minerals are created either by rearrangement of
mineral components or by reactions with fluids that enter
the rocks.
- Common

metamorphic rocks include slate, schist,

gneiss, and marble.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
The Geological Time Scale
- A sequence

of divisions of geological
time comprising in order from
oldest to youngest:
- Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician,
Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous,
Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous,
Tertiary and Quaternary.

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The Geological Time Scale
- Each of the geological periods is characterised by
groups, or suites, of fossils.

Typical fossil
embedded in a rock.

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
The Geological Time Scale
- Ancient life" is dated from some 540 million years
before present (the Cambrian) to about 245 million years
before present (the Permian).
Middle life" (the Mesozoic Era), commenced with the
Triassic Period (starting about 245 million years ago) and
concluded with the Cretaceous Period (66.4 million years
ago).
Cenozoic Era with two geological periods, the Tertiary
and the Quaternary.
We are living in the Quaternary Period.

PETROLEUM ACREAGE IN TRINIDAD