Astronomical forcing of meter-scale organic-rich mudstone–limestone cyclicity in the Eocene Dongying sag, China: Implications for shale reservoir exploration

The middle Eocene Dongying sag in the Bohai Bay Basin of China has an estimated shale oil resource of approximately 1.1 billion t (8.06 billion bbl); flows of shale oil have been produced in the succession from tens of wells, where the daily production of a single well generally varies between 10 and 100 t (73.3–733 bbl). Therein, the mudrock...

Sandstone body character and river planform styles of the lower Eocene Willwood Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA

ABSTRACT The lower Eocene Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA, is an alluvial succession with a sand content varying around 25 palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates, as well as sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis. Channel dynamics were studied at a relatively low resolution throughout the basin over the geological time...

Evaluating alluvial stratigraphic response to cyclic and non-cyclic upstream forcing through process-based alluvial architecture modelling

Formation of alluvial stratigraphy is controlled by autogenic processes that mix their imprints with allogenic forcing. In some alluvial successions, sedimentary cycles have been linked to astronomically-driven, cyclic climate changes. However, it remains challenging to define how such cyclic allogenic forcing leads to sedimentary cycles when...

Modelling orbital climate signals in fluvial stratigraphy

There are certain orbital cycles influencing the relative position and location of the earth towards the sun, resulting in the cyclic insolation received on the earth, which causes climate changes and subsequent environmental response in the catchment, including precipitation, temperature, and vegetation, and so on. Furthermore, such catchment...

Modelling astronomical climate signals in fluvial stratigraphy

Orbital climate forcing is demonstrated to result in cyclic changes as reflected in the catchment, including precipitation, temperature, vegetation, sediment supply and water discharge. All of these are known to largely impact alluvial architecture. Climate change related to the 21-kyr precession cycle was proposed as driver of regularly...