Geology & Geophysics Group
Sedimentary processes
Contact: Dr Russell Wynn
G&G research into sedimentary processes aims to understand how continental margins are constructed and modified by landslides, gravity flows, bottom currents and pelagic/hemipelagic settling, and how these processes influence and interact with biological and geochemical processes. Current research has major applications in the fields of hydrocarbon exploration and ecosystem habitat mapping.
Key areas of research include:
- Depositional process and deposit architecture of deep-water sands, and their use as hydrocarbon reservoir analogues
- Links between acoustic character, lithology and geotechnical properties of sediments, particularly those that host gas hydrates
- Deposition of deep sea sediments in slope, canyon and basinal environments, and their modification by, and influence on, biological and geochemical processes
- Exploration and mapping of deep-water sedimentary systems, for the purpose of characterising controls on location and composition of benthic ecosystems.
Right: the Lisbon and Setubal submarine canyons offshore Portugal
A large part of our current research is carried out within the HERMES project, investigating relationships between sedimentary processes and benthic ecosystems, particularly in the NE Atlantic region and in the major canyon systems offshore western Portugal. Earlier research on these canyons was undertaken as part of the EUROSTRATAFORM project. Another area of active HERMES research is the geological evolution of mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz, which is also a key area of investigation for scientists working on fluid flow.
Research into hydrocarbon reservoir analogues is the focus of the UK-TAPS Group, headed by Dr Russell Wynn. UK-TAPS (Turbidite Architecture and Process Studies) is a collaborative working group involving researchers from NOC and the Universities of Bristol and Aberdeen. Current UK-TAPS projects contribute to the research programs of several major oil companies, and include modern, outcrop and modeling-based studies of gravity flow processes and deposits in a variety of deep-water settings.
Left: the Agadir Canyon (AC) system feeding into the Agadir Basin (AB) and the Seine and Madeira abyssal plains (SAP and MAP), NW African margin.
