Hydrocarbon potential of the middle Eocene-middle Miocene Mesohellenic piggy-back basin (central Greece): A case study

• Published in: Marine and petroleum geology Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 811 - 824
• Main Authors: Kontopoulos, Nikolaos, Fokianou, Teresa, Zelilidis, Abraham, Alexiadis, Christos, Rigakis, Nikolaos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.12.1999; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Geology and geochemistry. Geological and geochemical prospecting. Petroliferous series; Greece; Hydrocarbon potential; Hydrocarbons; Kerogen; Piggy-back basin; Prospecting and exploration; Prospecting and production of crude oil, natural gas, oil shales and tar sands; Sedimentary rocks; Stratigraphy; Turbidites; Greece; Southern Europe; Greece; Turbidites; Hydrocarbon potential; Kerogen; Piggy-back basin; Neogene; Paleogene; lower Miocene; vertical seismic profiles; synsedimentary tectonics; thickness; reservoirs; upper Tertiary; paleogeography; sandstone; maturation; Oligocene; isopach maps; upper Eocene; kerogen; submarine fans; Cenozoic; clastic rocks; hydrocarbons; Europe; Tertiary; source rocks; Eocene; sedimentary rocks; turbidites; depocenters; Miocene; Phanerozoic; middle Eocene; middle Miocene
• ISSN: 0264-8172; 1873-4073
• DOI: 10.1016/S0264-8172(99)00031-8

Two depocentres, >4200 m and >3200 m thick, have been recognized in the Mesohellenic piggy-back basin of middle Eocene to middle Miocene age, where submarine fans have accumulated unconformably over an ophiolite complex. The hydrocarbon potential is indicated by the presence of kerogen types II/III with minor amounts of type I; the evidence is mostly for wet gas and gas, with minor oil. Source rocks are the middle Eocene to lower Oligocene Krania and Eptachori formations, of up to 2000 m total thickness, reaching maturation during the early Miocene. The source rocks consist of outer fan and basin plain deposits. They are conformably overlain by the lower member (late Oligocene) of the up to 2600 m thick Pentalophos Formation, which consists mostly of thick submarine sandstone lobes. Possible stratigraphically trapped reservoirs include the lower member of the Pentalophos Formation, which overlies source rocks, as well as limestones tectonically intercalated within the ophiolite complex, underlying the source rocks. Traps may have formed also on the western side of an internal thrust (Theotokos Thrust), which influenced the evolution of the depocentres.