3-D reflection seismic imaging of the Hontomin structure in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (Spain)

J. Alcalde*, D. Marti, C. Juhlin, A. Malehmir, D. Sopher, E. Saura, I. Marzan, P. Ayarza, A. Calahorrano, A. Perez-Estaun, R. Carbonell

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

The Basque-Cantabrian Basin of the northern Iberia Peninsula constitutes a unique example of a major deformation system, featuring a dome structure developed by extensional tectonics followed by compressional reactivation. The occurrence of natural resources in the area and the possibility of establishing a geological storage site for carbon dioxide motivated the acquisition of a 3-D seismic reflection survey in 2010, centered on the Jurassic Hontomin dome. The objectives of this survey were to obtain a geological model of the overall structure and to establish a baseline model for a possible geological CO2 storage site. The 36 km(2) survey included approximately 5000 mixed (Vibroseis and explosives) source points recorded with a 25 m inline source and receiver spacing. The target reservoir is a saline aquifer, at approximately 1450 m depth, encased and sealed by carbonate formations. Acquisition and processing parameters were influenced by the rough topography and relatively complex geology. A strong near-surface velocity inversion is evident in the data, affecting the quality of the data. The resulting 3-D image provides constraints on the key features of the geologic model. The Hontom n structure is interpreted to consist of an approximately 10(7) m(2) large elongated dome with two major (W-E and NW-SE) striking faults bounding it. Preliminary capacity estimates indicate that about 1.2 Gt of CO2 can be stored in the target reservoir.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)481-496
Number of pages16
JournalSolid earth
Volume4
Issue number2
Early online date9 Dec 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Bibliographical note

The authors sincerely thank the Editor
Hans Thybo, Peter Bergmann and the anonymous reviewer for
their useful comments. Funding for this Project has been partially
provided by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade,
through the CIUDEN-CSIC-Inst. Jaume Almera agreement (Characterization,
Development and Validation of Seismic Techniques
applied to CO2 Geological Storage Sites) and by the European
Union through the Technology Demonstration Plant of Compostilla
OXYCFB300 project (European Energy Programme for 534 Recovery).
Additional support has been provided by Spanish Ministry
of Education Science (CSD2006-00041), Generalitat de Catalunya
(2009SGR006) and CSIC JAE-Doc postdoctoral research contract
(E.S.). The sole responsibility of this publication lies with the
authors. The European Union is not responsible for any use that
may be made of the information contained herein. Juan Alcalde
is being currently supported by the Fundación Ciudad de la
Energía (CIUDEN) research training program. We sincerely thank
CGGVeritas for their assistance during the acquisition. Processing
has been carried out using GLOBE ClaritasTM, under license from
the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, Lower
Hutt, New Zealand and SeismicUnix from CWP (Center for the
Wave phenomena, Colorado School of Mines). We thank all the
people involved directly or indirectly in the elaboration of this work.

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