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Prospective Subsurface Hydrocarbon Accumulations and Their Association with Source and Reservoir Rocks Using Airborne Spectral Gamma-Ray Data, West Aswan, Egypt |
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PP: 139-145 |
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doi:10.18576/jrna/110203
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Author(s) |
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Ali Mohamed Mostafa Mohamed,
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Abstract |
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| Besides employing aerial spectral gamma-ray data for geological mapping, radioactive deposit exploration, and radiation dose evaluation, additional uses encompass thorium normalization to ascertain the possible existence of subsurface hydrocarbon resources. Recently, measures of radiogenic heat production (RHP) have been employed to distinguish between reservoir and source rocks of hydrocarbons in the west Aswan area, southwestern desert, Egypt. The histogram technique was applied to illustrate the distribution of calculated radiogenic heat production values in the study area. It was found that about 50.4 percent of values are more than 1.64 µW/m3, which was calculated as the arithmetic mean of the RHP value. The statistical analysis of RHP values, which was calculated among the different rock units in the study area, illustrates that the standard deviation value was calculated as 0.5 µW/m3, and the values ranged from 0.03 µW/m3 as a minimum to a maximum value of 3.72 µW/m3. Values exceeding 1.64 µW/m3 signify the existence of hydrocarbons linked to the rocks exhibiting these values. These rocks can be categorized as reservoir rocks, characterized by radiogenic heat production values between the arithmetic mean of 1.64 µW/m3 and the arithmetic mean plus one standard deviation, as 2.14 µW/m3. Rocks with radiogenic heat production rates exceeding 2.14 µW/m3are designated as source rocks for hydrocarbons. Farafra formations constitute the fundamental units of the Thebes Group, deposited during the Eocene age. It is linked to the reservoir rocks in the research area, as corroborated by its lithological composition. The Farafra Formation consists of alveolinid white to grey limestone deposits, whereas the Dakhla Formation, deposited during the late Cretaceous age, is composed of submarine fan deposits of yellowish carbonate-bound siltstone and sandstone intercalated with clay, which increases the possibility of them being hydrocarbon source rocks. |
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