The search for "Jenyon's channel": The Missing link between the Permian basins in the North Sea

Thomas Houghton; Rachel Brackenridge; Joyce Neilson; John Underhill

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619

The search for "Jenyon's channel": The Missing link between the Permian basins in the North Sea

Thomas Houghton^* (Corresponding Author), Rachel Brackenridge, Joyce Neilson, John Underhill

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The Mid North Sea High (MNSH) Seaway, otherwise known as Jenyon's Channel, was the only major marine connection between the Northern and Southern Zechstein Basins during the latest Permian. Current understanding favours a model where marine replenishment began with a northern connection to the Panthalassic Ocean (along a network of basins that were precursors to the North Atlantic Rift System), after which marine water passed into the Northern Zechstein Basin, travelled through the MNSH Seaway before finally reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This study delineates evaporite formations in an extensive petrophysical dataset to analyse marine connections and whether they influenced Zechstein facies distribution. The first four Zechstein Cycles (Z1-Z4) are identified on the MNSH platform which shows that this structure was always covered by a thin water column during sea-level highstand; however, during Z2 sea-level lowstand, the MNSH Seaway provided the main connection between the basins. As relative sea-level fell, the MNSH Seaway became increasingly constricted resulting in hypersalinity due to limited volumes of marine water reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This system precipitated vast volumes of Z2 (late Wuchiapingian) halite in the Southern Zechstein Basin, whereas this facies remains reduced in the Northern Zechstein Basin. In Z3 and Z4 (Changhsingian) times relative average sea-level was higher resulting in sustained communication between the basins, even in times of sea-level lowstand. This is evidenced through a regionally traceable blanket of Z3 halite, along with occasional examples of Z2 carbonate platforms becoming entombed in Z3 halite. This work provides revised palaeoenvironmental understanding for the latest Permian. The workflow could also aid in the study of other oceanic gateways with further implications for hydrocarbon exploration efforts and emerging energy transition technologies such as subsurface storage on the UK Continental Shelf.

Original language	English
Article number	106619
Journal	Marine and Petroleum Geology
Volume	160
Early online date	30 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619
Publication status	Published - Feb 2024

Bibliographical note

Open Access via the Elsevier Agreement.

The work contained in this publication was conducted during a PhD study undertaken as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geoscience and the Low Carbon Energy Transition and is fully funded by NeoEnergy Upstream whose support is gratefully acknowledged. The interpretations and analyses were undertaken in the Centre for Energy Transition at the University of Aberdeen, the underpinning financial and computer support for which is gratefully acknowledged. We thank the British Geological Survey and the North Sea Transition Authority for access to and permission to publish examples from their proprietary data on which these interpretations and analyses are made and we are grateful to SLB for providing academic licences for their Petrel software which was used to visualise and interrogate the seismic and petrophysical data. Proof-reading assistance from Baylee Schütte and Heather Kennedy and excellent technical discussions with Rifky Wijanarko are gratefully acknowledged. Finally, the authors thank the reviewers and editor whose feedback and comments greatly improved the manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

The seismic and petrophysical datasets related to this article can be found in the National Data Repository (NDR) and is available at [https://ndr.nstauthority.co.uk/], an open-source online data repository hosted by the North Sea Transition Authority. Similarly, the surfaces and maps of the Zechstein related to this article are available on the North Sea Transition Authority Data Centre (Brackenridge et al., 2018). The core datasets related to this article are part of the British Geological Survey ’s National Geological Repository and can be viewed at the core store at BGS Keyworth.

Keywords

Mid North Sea High
Zechstein
Seaway
Petrophysics
Basin connectivity
Restricted basins

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619Licence: CC BY

Houghton_etal_MGP_The_Search_For_AAM
This manuscript has been made open access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence under the terms of the University of Aberdeen Research Publications Policy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The final published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619
Accepted author manuscript, 3.67 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "The Mid North Sea High (MNSH) Seaway, otherwise known as Jenyon's Channel, was the only major marine connection between the Northern and Southern Zechstein Basins during the latest Permian. Current understanding favours a model where marine replenishment began with a northern connection to the Panthalassic Ocean (along a network of basins that were precursors to the North Atlantic Rift System), after which marine water passed into the Northern Zechstein Basin, travelled through the MNSH Seaway before finally reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This study delineates evaporite formations in an extensive petrophysical dataset to analyse marine connections and whether they influenced Zechstein facies distribution. The first four Zechstein Cycles (Z1-Z4) are identified on the MNSH platform which shows that this structure was always covered by a thin water column during sea-level highstand; however, during Z2 sea-level lowstand, the MNSH Seaway provided the main connection between the basins. As relative sea-level fell, the MNSH Seaway became increasingly constricted resulting in hypersalinity due to limited volumes of marine water reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This system precipitated vast volumes of Z2 (late Wuchiapingian) halite in the Southern Zechstein Basin, whereas this facies remains reduced in the Northern Zechstein Basin. In Z3 and Z4 (Changhsingian) times relative average sea-level was higher resulting in sustained communication between the basins, even in times of sea-level lowstand. This is evidenced through a regionally traceable blanket of Z3 halite, along with occasional examples of Z2 carbonate platforms becoming entombed in Z3 halite. This work provides revised palaeoenvironmental understanding for the latest Permian. The workflow could also aid in the study of other oceanic gateways with further implications for hydrocarbon exploration efforts and emerging energy transition technologies such as subsurface storage on the UK Continental Shelf.",

keywords = "Mid North Sea High, Zechstein, Seaway, Petrophysics, Basin connectivity, Restricted basins",

author = "Thomas Houghton and Rachel Brackenridge and Joyce Neilson and John Underhill",

note = "Open Access via the Elsevier Agreement. The work contained in this publication was conducted during a PhD study undertaken as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geoscience and the Low Carbon Energy Transition and is fully funded by NeoEnergy Upstream whose support is gratefully acknowledged. The interpretations and analyses were undertaken in the Centre for Energy Transition at the University of Aberdeen, the underpinning financial and computer support for which is gratefully acknowledged. We thank the British Geological Survey and the North Sea Transition Authority for access to and permission to publish examples from their proprietary data on which these interpretations and analyses are made and we are grateful to SLB for providing academic licences for their Petrel software which was used to visualise and interrogate the seismic and petrophysical data. Proof-reading assistance from Baylee Sch{\"u}tte and Heather Kennedy and excellent technical discussions with Rifky Wijanarko are gratefully acknowledged. Finally, the authors thank the reviewers and editor whose feedback and comments greatly improved the manuscript.",

year = "2024",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619",

language = "English",

volume = "160",

journal = "Marine and Petroleum Geology",

issn = "0264-8172",

publisher = "Elsevier",

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T1 - The search for "Jenyon's channel"

T2 - The Missing link between the Permian basins in the North Sea

AU - Houghton, Thomas

AU - Brackenridge, Rachel

AU - Neilson, Joyce

AU - Underhill, John

N1 - Open Access via the Elsevier Agreement. The work contained in this publication was conducted during a PhD study undertaken as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Geoscience and the Low Carbon Energy Transition and is fully funded by NeoEnergy Upstream whose support is gratefully acknowledged. The interpretations and analyses were undertaken in the Centre for Energy Transition at the University of Aberdeen, the underpinning financial and computer support for which is gratefully acknowledged. We thank the British Geological Survey and the North Sea Transition Authority for access to and permission to publish examples from their proprietary data on which these interpretations and analyses are made and we are grateful to SLB for providing academic licences for their Petrel software which was used to visualise and interrogate the seismic and petrophysical data. Proof-reading assistance from Baylee Schütte and Heather Kennedy and excellent technical discussions with Rifky Wijanarko are gratefully acknowledged. Finally, the authors thank the reviewers and editor whose feedback and comments greatly improved the manuscript.

PY - 2024/2

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N2 - The Mid North Sea High (MNSH) Seaway, otherwise known as Jenyon's Channel, was the only major marine connection between the Northern and Southern Zechstein Basins during the latest Permian. Current understanding favours a model where marine replenishment began with a northern connection to the Panthalassic Ocean (along a network of basins that were precursors to the North Atlantic Rift System), after which marine water passed into the Northern Zechstein Basin, travelled through the MNSH Seaway before finally reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This study delineates evaporite formations in an extensive petrophysical dataset to analyse marine connections and whether they influenced Zechstein facies distribution. The first four Zechstein Cycles (Z1-Z4) are identified on the MNSH platform which shows that this structure was always covered by a thin water column during sea-level highstand; however, during Z2 sea-level lowstand, the MNSH Seaway provided the main connection between the basins. As relative sea-level fell, the MNSH Seaway became increasingly constricted resulting in hypersalinity due to limited volumes of marine water reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This system precipitated vast volumes of Z2 (late Wuchiapingian) halite in the Southern Zechstein Basin, whereas this facies remains reduced in the Northern Zechstein Basin. In Z3 and Z4 (Changhsingian) times relative average sea-level was higher resulting in sustained communication between the basins, even in times of sea-level lowstand. This is evidenced through a regionally traceable blanket of Z3 halite, along with occasional examples of Z2 carbonate platforms becoming entombed in Z3 halite. This work provides revised palaeoenvironmental understanding for the latest Permian. The workflow could also aid in the study of other oceanic gateways with further implications for hydrocarbon exploration efforts and emerging energy transition technologies such as subsurface storage on the UK Continental Shelf.

AB - The Mid North Sea High (MNSH) Seaway, otherwise known as Jenyon's Channel, was the only major marine connection between the Northern and Southern Zechstein Basins during the latest Permian. Current understanding favours a model where marine replenishment began with a northern connection to the Panthalassic Ocean (along a network of basins that were precursors to the North Atlantic Rift System), after which marine water passed into the Northern Zechstein Basin, travelled through the MNSH Seaway before finally reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This study delineates evaporite formations in an extensive petrophysical dataset to analyse marine connections and whether they influenced Zechstein facies distribution. The first four Zechstein Cycles (Z1-Z4) are identified on the MNSH platform which shows that this structure was always covered by a thin water column during sea-level highstand; however, during Z2 sea-level lowstand, the MNSH Seaway provided the main connection between the basins. As relative sea-level fell, the MNSH Seaway became increasingly constricted resulting in hypersalinity due to limited volumes of marine water reaching the Southern Zechstein Basin. This system precipitated vast volumes of Z2 (late Wuchiapingian) halite in the Southern Zechstein Basin, whereas this facies remains reduced in the Northern Zechstein Basin. In Z3 and Z4 (Changhsingian) times relative average sea-level was higher resulting in sustained communication between the basins, even in times of sea-level lowstand. This is evidenced through a regionally traceable blanket of Z3 halite, along with occasional examples of Z2 carbonate platforms becoming entombed in Z3 halite. This work provides revised palaeoenvironmental understanding for the latest Permian. The workflow could also aid in the study of other oceanic gateways with further implications for hydrocarbon exploration efforts and emerging energy transition technologies such as subsurface storage on the UK Continental Shelf.

KW - Mid North Sea High

KW - Zechstein

KW - Seaway

KW - Petrophysics

KW - Basin connectivity

KW - Restricted basins

U2 - 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619

DO - 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106619

M3 - Article

SN - 0264-8172

VL - 160

JO - Marine and Petroleum Geology

JF - Marine and Petroleum Geology

M1 - 106619

ER -

The search for "Jenyon's channel": The Missing link between the Permian basins in the North Sea

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this