Basin modelling is the term broadly applied to a group of geological disciplines that can be used to analyse the formation and evolution of sedimentary basins, often but not exclusively to aid evaluation of potential hydrocarbon reserves.
At its most basic, a basin modelling exercise must assess:
- The burial history of the basin (see back-stripping).
- The thermal history of the basin (see thermal history modelling).
- The maturity history of the source rocks.
- The expulsion, migration and trapping of hydrocarbons.
By doing so, valuable inferences can be made about such matters as hydrocarbon generation and timing, maturity of potential source rocks and migration paths of expelled hydrocarbons.
Famous quotes containing the word modelling:
“The windy springs and the blazing summers, one after another, had enriched and mellowed that flat tableland; all the human effort that had gone into it was coming back in long, sweeping lines of fertility. The changes seemed beautiful and harmonious to me; it was like watching the growth of a great man or of a great idea. I recognized every tree and sandbank and rugged draw. I found that I remembered the conformation of the land as one remembers the modelling of human faces.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)