Lateral facies transitions in Ross Formation deep-water sandstones, western Ireland
PhD Candidate: Arnau Obradors Latre
Supervisors: Prof. Peter Haughton, Prof. Patrick M. Shannon
Funded by: Four-year Griffith Geoscience funded PhD Studentship awarded to the Marine and Petroleum Geology group at UCD - Irish Government under the National Development Plan (NDP, 2007-2013); Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources; Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (SSTI) and Statoil ASA. Statoil and The Geological Survey of Ireland is also acknowledged for providing the cores.
Abstract
Phase 3 of a major Statoil-funded, behind-outcrop coring project in the Upper Carboniferous Clare Basin, western Ireland is currently underway. Earlier drilling has targeted the upper and lower parts of the Ross Formation, a 500 m thick succession of basin-floor sandstones that have high value as a subsurface training and reservoir analogue resource. Initial drilling has focused on the Loop Head area in west Clare where the deep-water deposits are particularly well exposed in high cliffs and where the emphasis has been on building a better understanding of the vertical succession and the high-frequency cycles that characterise this 'ice-house' fan system. Most recent new research cores have been acquired from Ballybunion in North Kerry and the inner Shannon area and these will help constrain down-dip facies changes and the relationship between the basin floor sand system and lateral slopes.
References:
Arnau Obradors-Latre*, Peter Haughton, Patrick Shannon (2013) Sedimentology of the upper Ross Formation (Pennsylvanian) in borehole GSI 09/05 at Ballybunion, Co. Kerry; IGRM Annual Meeting in Derry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom;
A. Obradors-Latre*; C. Pierce, P. Haughton, P. Shannon, A. Pulham, A. Lacchia, S. Barker, O. Martinsen (2013) Facies Trends and Large-Scale Architecture of the Pennsylvanian Ross Formation, Western Ireland - New Insight from Cores South of the Shannon; BSRG Annual Meeting in Hull, United Kingdom;
A. Obradors-Latre1*, E. Remacha2 & M. Poyatos-Moré2,3 (2013) Facies Analysis and Architecture of the Fosado Turbidite Channel Complex; BSRG Annual Meeting in Hull, United Kingdom;
Obradors-Latre, A.*; Pierce, C.S., Haughton, P.D.W. & Shannon, P.M. (2013) Facies and internal stratigraphic variability in the Ross Sandstone Formation (Pennsylvanian), western Ireland - new borehole data from south of the Shannon Estuary; IAS Annual Meeting in Manchester, United Kingdom;
A. Obradors-Latre*; C. Pierce, P. Haughton, P. Shannon, A. Pulham, A. Lacchia, S. Barker, O. Martinsen (2014) Facies Trends and Large-Scale Architecture of the Pennsylvanian Ross Formation, Western Ireland - New Insight from Cores South of the Shannon; AAPG Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, United States of America;
A. Obradors-Latre*; C. Pierce, P. Haughton, P. Shannon, A. Pulham, A. Lacchia, S. Barker, O. Martinsen (2015) THE CLARE SHALE - BASAL ROSS FORMATION CONTACT, WESTERN IRELAND – NEW INSIGHT FROM BEHIND-OUTCROP CORES; IGRM Annual Meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom;
A. Obradors-Latre*; C. Pierce, P. Haughton, P. Shannon, A. Pulham, A. Lacchia, S. Barker, O. Martinsen (2015) DOWN-DIP TERMINATION OF THE CARBONIFEROUS ROSS FAN SYSTEM IN THE INNER SHANNON AREA, WESTERN IRELAND – NEW INSIGHT FROM CORE AND OUTCROP; IAS Annual Meeting in Krakow, Poland;
A. Obradors-Latre*; C. Pierce, P. Haughton, P. Shannon, A. Pulham, A. Lacchia, S. Barker, O. Martinsen (2015) DOWN-DIP TERMINATION OF SANDY FAN SYSTEMS - NEW INSIGHT FROM THE PENNSYLVANIAN ROSS SANDSTONE FORMATION, WESTERN IRELAND; BSRG Annual Meeting in Nottingham, United Kingdom;
A. Obradors-Latre*; C. Pierce, P. Haughton, P. Shannon, A. Pulham, A. Lacchia, S. Barker, O. Martinsen (2016) DOWN-DIP TERMINATION OF SANDY FAN SYSTEMS - NEW INSIGHT FROM THE PENNSYLVANIAN ROSS SANDSTONE FORMATION, WESTERN IRELAND; AAPG Annual Meeting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada;