Published
Provenance and reservoir characterization of bituminous sands of Colombia, South America: Insights from petrography, U-Pb isotopes, X-ray diffraction, quantitative sedimentology and petrophysics
Procedencia y caracterización de yacimientos de arenas bituminosas de Colombia, Sudamérica: Perspectivas desde la petrografía, isótopos U-Pb, difracción de rayos X, sedimentología cuantitativa y petrofísica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/esrj.v30n(2).126182Keywords:
Bituminous sands, provenance, quantitative sedimentology, Colombia, reservoir characterization (en)arenas bituminosas, procedencia, sedimentología cuantitativa, Colombia, caracterización de yacimientos (es)
Downloads
An extensive study on the formation of bituminous sands in Colombia has been carried out to understand their genesis and distribution in the Colombian sedimentary basins. As part of this study, a provenance analysis was conducted to understand the formation of these reservoirs using petrographic data, U-Pb ages from detrital zircons, and X-ray diffraction data. Additionally, a reservoir characterization analysis from petrophysical and sedimentological data using quantitative sedimentology techniques was made to identify the best reservoirs for such resources. The provenance data shows a complex and varied distribution of sediments source areas, which is associated with the inversion and deformation of the Cretaceous Colombian Basin during the Cenozoic as a result of the tectonic inversion of the normal faults that give origin to this back-arc basin. This inversion led to the compartmentalization of the basin into multiple basins and a Cordillera in its central part. This deformational process controls the source areas and the reservoirs' deposition for the bituminous sand. The petrophysical and quantitative sedimentology data shows that high porosity and permeability reservoirs associated with high-energy fluvial-alluvial depositional environments are the best and most common units in which bituminous sands are found in the basins studied.
Este trabajo es un estudio extenso sobre la formación de arenas bituminosas en Colombia, con el fin de comprender su génesis y distribución en las cuencas sedimentarias del país. Como parte de este estudio, se realizó un análisis de procedencia para entender la formación de estos yacimientos, utilizando datos petrográficos, edades U-Pb de circones detríticos y datos de difracción de rayos X. Adicionalmente, se efectuó un análisis de caracterización de yacimientos a partir de datos petrofísicos y sedimentológicos, utilizando técnicas de sedimentología cuantitativa para identificar los mejores yacimientos para este tipo de recursos. Los datos de procedencia muestran una distribución compleja y variada de las áreas fuente de sedimentos, lo cual se asocia con la inversión y deformación de la Cuenca Colombiana Cretácica durante el Cenozoico, como resultado de la inversión tectónica de las fallas normales que dieron origen a esta cuenca de retroarco. Esta inversión condujo a la compartimentación de la cuenca en múltiples subcuencas y a la formación de una cordillera en su parte central. Este proceso deformacional controla las áreas fuente y la deposición en los yacimientos de arenas bituminosas. Los datos petrofísicos y de sedimentología cuantitativa muestran que los yacimientos de alta porosidad y permeabilidad, asociados a ambientes de depósito fluvio-aluviales de alta energía, son las unidades de mejor y más común ocurrencia de arenas bituminosas en las cuencas estudiadas.
References
Abdul Qader Al-Ojaili, W., Ragab Shalaby, M., & Bauer, W. (2024). Reservoir quality evaluation of the Narimba Formation in Bass Basin, Australia: Implications from petrophysical analysis, sedimentological features, capillary pressure and wetting fluid saturation. Energy Geoscience, 5(1), 100220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engeos.2023.100220
Amaefule, J. O., & Altunbay, M. (1993). Enhanced reservoir description: Using core and log data to identify hydraulic (flow) units and predict permeability in uncored intervals/wells. Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, TX. https://doi.org/10.2118/26436-MS
Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos. (2011). Caguán-Putumayo Basin. https://www.anh.gov.co/documents/4189/Caguan_Putumayo.pdf (Accessed June 27, 2024)
Barrero, D., Pardo, A., Vargas, C. A., & Martínez, J. F. (2007). Colombian sedimentary basins: Nomenclature, boundaries and petroleum geology, a new proposal. Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos. https://www.anh.gov.co/documents/12/colombian_sedimentary_basins.pdf (Accessed June 27, 2024)
Bonilla, A., Cramer, T., Poujol, M., Cano, H., Franco, J. A., & Amaya, Z. (2019). Petrografía, geoquímica y geocronología U/Pb en circones de rocas ígneas y metamórficas a lo largo del Río Cuiarí en el sur del Departamento de Guainía, Colombia. Boletín de Geología, 41(1), 55–84. https://doi.org/10.18273/revbol.v41n1-2019003
Bustamante, C., Cardona, A., Archanjo, C., Bayona, G., Lara, M., & Valencia, V. (2017). Geochemistry and isotopic signatures of Paleogene plutonic and detrital rocks of the Northern Andes of Colombia: A record of post-collisional arc magmatism. Lithos, 277, 199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2016.11.025
Burley, S., & Worden, R. (2003). Sandstone diagenesis: Recent and ancient. Reprint Series Volume 4 of the International Association of Sedimentologists. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Caballero, V., Parra, M., & Mora-Bohorquez, A. (2010). Levantamiento de la Cordillera Oriental de Colombia durante el Eoceno tardío - Oligoceno temprano: Proveniencia sedimentaria en el Sinclinal de Nuevo Mundo, cuenca Valle Medio del Magdalena. Boletín de Geología, 32(1).
China National Petroleum Corporation, & Science & Technology Management Department. (2011). Thermal recovery technology for heavy oil.
Choquette, P. W., & Pray, L. C. (1970). Geologic nomenclature and classification of porosity in sedimentary carbonates. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 54, 207–250. https://doi.org/10.1306/5D25C98B-16C1-11D7-8645000102C1865D
Cooper, M. A., Addison, F. T., Alvarez, R., Coral, M., Graham, R. H., Hayward, A. B., Howe, S., Martinez, J., Naar, J., Peñas, R., Pulham, J., & Taborda, A. (1995). Basin development and tectonic history of the Llanos Basin, Eastern Cordillera, and Middle Magdalena Valley, Colombia. AAPG Bulletin, 79(10), 1421–1443. https://doi.org/10.1306/7834D9F4-1721-11D7-8645000102C1865D
Cordani, U. G., Cardona, A., Jiménez, D. M., Liu, D., & Nutman, A. P. (2005). Geochronology of Proterozoic basement inliers in the Colombian Andes: Tectonic history of remnants of a fragmented Grenville belt. In A. P. M. Vaughan, P. T. Leat, & R. J. Pankhurst (Eds.), Terrane processes at the margins of Gondwana (Geological Society of London, Special Publication, 246, pp. 329–346). London: Geological Society of London. https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.2005.246.01.13
Dickinson, W. R. (1985). Interpreting provenance relations from detrital modes of sandstones. In G. C. Zuffa (Ed.), Provenance of arenites (pp. 333–362). D. Reidel Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2809-6_15
Ferreira, S. A. (2016). Termocronología y geocronología del basamento metamórfico del Macizo de Santander, departamento de Santander. [PhD dissertation: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.]
Gómez, E., Jordan, T. E., Allmendinger, R. W., & Cardozo, N. (2005). Development of the Colombian foreland-basin system as a consequence of diachronous exhumation of the northern Andes. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 117(9), 1272. https://doi.org/10.1130/B25456.1
Guerrero, J., Sarmiento, G., & Navarrete, R. (2000). The stratigraphy of the west side of the Cretaceous Colombian Basin in the Upper Magdalena Valley: Reevaluation of selected areas and type localities including Aipe, Guaduas, Ortega, and Piedras. Geología Colombiana, 25, 45–110.
Guggenheim, S., Chang, H. Y., & Koster van Groos, A. F. (1987). Muscovite dehydroxylation: High-temperature studies. American Mineralogist, 72, 537–550.
Henao, S. Z. (2015). Pre-collisional extensional tectonics in convergent continental margins: The Cretaceous evolution of the Central Cordillera of the Colombian Andes. [Master’s thesis: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.]
Hong, D., Cao, J., Wu, T., Dang, S., Hu, W., & Yao, S. (2020). Authigenic clay minerals and calcite dissolution influence reservoir quality in tight sandstones: Insights from the central Junggar Basin, NW China. Energy Geoscience, 1(1–2), 8–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engeos.2020.03.001
Horton, B. K., Parra, M., & Mora, A. (2020). Construction of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia: Insights from the sedimentary record. In: J. Gómez & D. Mateus-Zabala (Eds.), The Geology of Colombia (Vol. 3, Paleogene–Neogene, pp. 67–88). Servicio Geológico Colombiano, Publicaciones Geológicas Especiales.
Horton, B. K., Parra, M., Saylor, J. E., Nie, J., Mora, A., Torres, V., Stockli, D., & Strecker, M. R. (2010). Resolving uplift of the northern Andes using detrital zircon age signatures. GSA Today, 20, 4–9.
Ibañez-Mejia, M., Pullen, A., Arenstein, J., Gehrels, G., Valley, J., Ducea, M., Mora, A., Pecha, M., & Ruiz, J. (2015). Unraveling crustal growth and reworking processes in complex zircons from orogenic lower-crust: The Proterozoic Putumayo Orogen of Amazonia. Precambrian Research, 267, 285–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2015.06.014
Ludwig, K. R. (2009). Squid 2: A user’s manual. Berkeley Geochronology Center Special Publication.
Mantilla Figueroa, L. C., Bissig, T., Cottle, J. M., & Hart, C. (2012). Remains of early Ordovician mantle-derived magmatism in the Santander Massif (Colombian Eastern Cordillera). Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 38, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2012.03.001
Mojica, J., & Bayer, K. (1987). Características esenciales del Valle Superior del Magdalena, una cuenca petrolífera Cretácica interandina de Colombia. In: 3er Simposio Cretácico de América Latina, Proyecto IGCP 242, Tucumán, Argentina.
Mora, A., Venegas, D., & Vergara, L. (1998). Estratigrafía del Cretácico Superior y Terciario Inferior en el sector norte de la Cuenca del Putumayo, departamento del Caquetá, Colombia. Geología Colombiana, 23, 31–77.
Mora, A., Parra, M., Strecker, M. R., Sobel, E. R., Zeilinger, G., Jaramillo, C., Da Silva, S. F., & Blanco, M. (2010). The eastern foothills of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia: An example of multiple factors controlling structural styles and active tectonics. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 122(11–12), 1846–1864. https://doi.org/10.1130/B30033.1
Nabawy, B. S., Basal, A. M. K., Sarhan, M. A., & Safa, M. G. (2018). Reservoir zonation, rock typing and compartmentalization of the Tortonian-Serravallian sequence, Temsah Gas Field, offshore Nile Delta, Egypt. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 92, 609–631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.03.030
Nabawy, B. S., Rashed, M. A., Mansour, A. S., & Afify, W. S. M. (2018). Petrophysical and microfacies analysis as a tool for reservoir rock typing and modeling: Rudeis Formation, off-shore October Oil Field, Sinai. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 97, 260–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2018.07.011
Nie, J., Horton, B. K., Saylor, J. E., Mora, A., Mange, M., Garzione, C. N., Basu, A., Moreno, C. J., Caballero, V., & Parra, M. (2012). Integrated provenance analysis of a convergent retroarc foreland system: U-Pb ages, heavy minerals, Nd isotopes, and sandstone compositions of the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, northern Andes, Colombia. Earth-Science Reviews, 110, 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.11.002
Paredes, Ó. Z., Goenaga, G. A., Bonilla, A., Juan, P., Reyes, P., Carrillo, E., Carvajal, F., Jorge, H., Ruíz, E., Luisa, U., Chavarría, C., Marina, A., Rojas, S., Facio, I., Téllez, L., Carolina, L., Rivera, M., Antonio, C., & Chinchilla, T. (2022). Unificación información geológica de superficie en un sistema integral basado en la cartografía para la subcuenca Caguán. Colombian Geological Survey internal report, unpublished.
Parra, M., Mora, A., Jaramillo, C., Strecker, M. R., & Veloza, G. (2005). New stratigraphic data on the initiation of mountain building at the eastern front of the Colombian Eastern Cordillera. In: 6th International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics (pp. 567–571).
Parra, M., Mora, A., Sobel, E. R., Strecker, M. R., Jaramillo, C., O’Sullivan, P. B., & González, R. (2008). Cenozoic orogenic growth of the North Andes: Shortening and exhumation histories of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. Paper presented at the AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas.
Parra, M., Mora, A., Jaramillo, C., Strecker, M. R., Sobel, E. R., Quiroz, L., Rueda, M., & Torres, V. (2009). Orogenic wedge advance in the northern Andes: Evidence from the Oligocene-Miocene sedimentary record of the Medina Basin, Eastern Cordillera, Colombia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 121, 780–800. https://doi.org/10.1130/B26257.1
Rodríguez-Corcho, A. F., Rojas-Agramonte, Y., Barrera-González, J. A., Marroquín-Gómez, M. P., Bonilla-Correa, S., Izquierdo-Camacho, D., ... Montes, C. (2021). The Colombian geochronological database (CGD). International Geology Review, 64(12), 1635–1669. https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2021.1954556
Rodríguez–García, G., Correa–Martínez, A. M., Zapata–Villada, J. P., & Obando–Erazo, G. (2019). Fragments of a Permian arc on the western margin of the Neoproterozoic basement of Colombia. In: J. Gómez & D. Mateus–Zabala (Eds.), The Geology of Colombia (Vol. 1, Proterozoic–Paleozoic, pp. 205–239). Servicio Geológico Colombiano, Publicaciones Geológicas Especiales, 35. https://doi.org/10.32685/pub.esp.35.2019.10
Sahu, B. K. (1964). Depositional mechanisms from the size analysis of clastic sediments. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 34(1), 73–83.
Sarmiento-Rojas, L. F., Van Wess, J. D., & Cloetingh, S. (2006). Mesozoic transtensional basin history of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombian Andes: Inferences from tectonic models. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 21(4), 383–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2006.07.003
Stacey, J. S., & Kramers, J. D. (1975). Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a two-stage model. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 26(2), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(75)90088-6
Villar, A., Alarcón, H., Jiménez, G., & Velandia, F. (2017). Zonas transversales en el dominio axial de la Cordillera Oriental—bloque yacente de la Falla de Soapaga (Sátiva sur—Sátiva norte, Boyacá). Boletín Geológico, 39, 13–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.18273/revbol.v39n3-2017001
Williams, I. S. (1998). U-Th-Pb geochronology by ion microprobe. In: M. A. McKibben, W. C. Shanks, & W. I. Ridley (Eds.), Applications of microanalytical techniques to understanding mineralizing processes (pp. 1–35). https://doi.org/10.5382/Rev.07.01
Yi, D., Xiaobo, G., & Shuyun, C. (2021). Research on identification of flow units based on FZI. E3S Web of Conferences, 248, 01005. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202124801005
Dimensions
PlumX
Article abstract page views
Downloads
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Earth Sciences Research Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Earth Sciences Research Journal holds a Creative Commons Attribution license.
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
The Earth Sciences Research Journal is the copyright holder for these license attributes.
