
%0 Journal Article
%A Gartrell, A. 
%A Bailey, W. 
%A Brincat, M. 
%T STRAIN LOCALISATION AND TRAP GEOMETRY AS KEY CONTROLS ON HYDROCARBON PRESERVATION IN THE LAMINARIA HIGH AREA
%J The APPEA Journal
%D 2005/06/30
%V 45
%N 1
%P 477-492
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ04037
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AJ04037 
%X A strong relationship between the distribution of Late Miocene to recent (post-rift) strain, trap geometry and remaining oil columns is recognised in the heavily re-activated Laminaria High area. Preferential localisation of post-rift strain onto larger faults in the population resulted in the smaller faults accommodating progressively less strain with time. The strain localisation process appears to have protected some fault-bound traps with favourable geometries from breaching during fault re-activation, but promoted breaching of others. Where faults with high postrift strain are located at the crest of a trap, oil columns are not preserved. In contrast, where high strain post-rift faults are located down-dip of the trap crest, oil columns are preserved down to the depth of the critical high strain fault-top reservoir intersection. These observations suggest that a relatively simple assessment of the basic structural geometry of a trap may provide a first order approximation of trap integrity risks and could also be predictive of preserved hydrocarbon column heights. 
