Overview of Plate Tectonic Reconstruction, a Key Element of Modern-Day Petroleum Exploration

Pratap V. Nair

Abstract: Plate tectonic reconstruction and visualization is an effective means of deciphering Earth's history through geologic time. It provides an optimum perspective of the fundamental requirements of petroleum exploration, which is an enabler in frontier and heartland basins. The movement of the Earth's surface impacts the locations of oil and natural gas deposits, making the study of Plate Tectonics essential for Petroleum Geologists. Currently, interactive modeling tools are available that allow the workout of the important elements of petroleum systems, including paleogeography and gross depositional environments, paleoclimate and palaeodrainage modeling, and source rock predictions. Plate tectonics study is indispensable to exploration at the basin scale. In India, unraveling the prospectivity of the deep-sea basins relies on the proper understanding of plate history. In this short paper, I attempt to address the plate modeling activities related to petroleum exploration and discuss examples from the sedimentary basins of India.

Keywords: Plate tectonics, Petroleum Exploration, Modeling, Reconstruction, Visualisation