Università Roma Tre

Sedimentary basins are first-order geological structures capable of hosting abundant reserves of non-renewable (e.g., oil, gas, coal) and renewable (e.g., geothermal energy) energy resources and materials critical for the energy transition. Their sustainable exploitation is of vital importance to meet the growing global energy demand in the coming decades, while respecting the environment, with particular regard to the impact of energy production on climate change, and to ensure a fast and balanced transition from fossil to renewable energy sources. The aim of the course is to provide students with a theoretical and practical basis (through the use of modern quantitative analysis techniques) for the reconstruction of the dynamics, internal architecture and thermality of sedimentary basins for 'responsible' energy exploration and production.
Programme
PART 1 - The energy issue and the fight against climate change in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (goals 7, 11, 13). The role of the geologist in the energy transition.
PART 2 - Principles for the study of sedimentary basins -Generalities: 1. What are sedimentary basins; 2. Sedimentary basins as complex systems; 3. Criteria for classification; 4.Main characteristics in comparison: Duration; Heat flow; Fate; Subsidence; Sediment production; Preservation potential (uplift and exhumation); 5. From the sedimentary basin to the definition of oil systems (conventional and unconventional) and geothermal systems (high and medium enthalpy); Characteristics of a storage site (examples).
PART 3 - Dynamics of sedimentary basin formation 1.Extensional basins; 2.Flexural basins.
PART 4 - Subsidence and burial history: 1. compressibility and compaction of porous sediments; 2. porosity and permeability of sediments and sedimentary rocks; 3. subsidence history and backstripping; 4. tectonic subsidence; 5 Modelling input-output
PART 5- Thermal history: Arrhenius equation and indices of thermal maturity; 2. Factors influencing temperature and palaeo-temperature in sedimentary basins; 3. Thermal and thermochronological calibration methods and parameters (Organic matter dispersed in sediments; Low temperature thermochronology; Clay mineralogy; Correlations) 4.
PART 6- Subsidence and temperature modelling exercises in sedimentary basins

Philip A. Allen, John R. Allen, 2013. Analysis: Principles and Application to Petroleum Play Assessment, 3rd ed. ISBN: 978-0-470-67377-5. 632 pages