Inversion of multiple thermal indicators: Quantitative methods of determining paleoheat flux and geological parameters. III. Stratigraphic age determination from inversion of vitrinite reflectance data and sterane isomerization data

Thermal indicator data are used in an inverse mode to determine ages of stratigraphic horizons simultaneously with paleoheat flux. Results from blind tests on wells with horizon ages ranging from Ordovician through Carboniferous and Jurassic to Miocene indicate that thermal indicator inversions are capable of resolving such ages to within about 10% uncertainty. Results using the inversion procedure with one thermal indicator (vitrinite reflectance) were comparable to the results using another independent thermal indicator (sterane isomerization) in the same well. The activation energy for sterane isomerization was determined to be 30±15 kJ mol^–1. In addition: (a) the age of a stratigraphic horizon, the thickness of eroded sediments at an unconformity, and the variation of paleoheat flux with time were determined simultaneously by thermal indicator inversion in a single well; (b) two neighboring wells, less than 10 km apart, provided essentially identical ages for the same formation when tested using the inversion procedure. The ability to determine stratigraphic horizon ages from inversion of thermal indicator data implies that sedimentation rates can be determined; thus, basinal evolution can be inferred to a degree of resolution not previously obtainable from assumed interpolation methods applied to determine the age of horizons between a limited set of stratigraphic horizons of known ages.