Modelling of pore pressure evolution associated with sedimentation and uplift in sedimentary basins

Unconformities, which represent either periods of interruption of sedimentation or, in most cases events characterized by deposition and subsequent erosion, are commonplace geological phenomena in sedimentary basins, and will affect the pore pressure evolution of the basin fill. The effect of unconformities on pore pressure, as well as on sediment compaction and on burial processes is studied using a numerical basin model. For coarse sediments, which are permeable so that their pore pressure always remains nearly hydrostatic, the effects of both pure deposition interruption (hiatus) and deposition-erosion events are negligible for pore pressure evolution. However, for fine-grained sediments, unconformities can modify the pore pressure and the stress state to varying degrees. The results show that the rate of removal of overlying sediments, the permeability of sediments and time play important roles in the pore pressure evolution. In the East Slope of the Ordos Basin (China), in which overpressure has not been detected in deep wells, the modelling results suggest that the large-scale erosion occurring in the Late Cretaceous and in the Tertiary may have removed high overpressure existing in the basin before the erosion.