Facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy of shallow marine, coarse-grained siliciclastic deposits in the southern Utsira High: The Late Jurassic intra-Draupne Formation sandstones in the Johan Sverdrup Field (Norwegian North Sea)

Abstract

Thin, condensed coarse-grained shallow marine successions can be difficult to describe and interpret, especially in the subsurface since the recognition of finer-grained intervals, typically associated with sequence stratigraphic surfaces, is challenging. This lack of mudstones and siltstones means that they also typically make excellent reservoir intervals. The Oxfordian to Volgian intra-Draupne Formation sandstones in the Johan Sverdrup Field, southern Utsira High, represent such a system. This study presents a new sequence stratigraphic model for the Johan Sverdrup Field that unravels the detailed depositional history of the succession and places its formation within a regional Late Jurassic tectonostratigraphic framework. The intra-Draupne Formation sandstones comprise four parasequences deposited following a regional Kimmeridgian marine flooding event. Sediments were mainly supplied through West-derived fan deltas from the Haugaland High and NW-SE-directed tidal currents reworking the Augvald Graben and the Avaldsnes High at the East. The oldest parasequence shows a distinctive suite of facies consisting of fine-grained and mud-rich bioturbated sandstones deposited in a semi-restricted lagoon. Subsequent parasequences lack fine-grained sediments and are dominated by bidirectional cross-stratified, very coarse-to coarse-grained sandstones and gravels deposited in a tidal strait. A progressive reduction of fault-related subsidence in the Middle Volgian along with Late Volgian-Ryazanian sea-level rise and inversion of pre-existing structures promoted backstepping of the feeder systems, sediment starvation and the progressive deposition of the black and green-red shales of the Draupne and Asgard formations. The results of this study account for features previously unidentified in the Johan Sverdrup Field and which have implications for understanding the deposition of coarse-grained shallow marine successions around the Utsira High and other transgressed basement highs.