Facies and Stratigraphic Organization of the E-D-B Groups (Middle Miocene) Incised Valley Successions of the Noring Field, Malay Basin, Malaysia

Abdul Hadi Abd Rahman, Geophysics Group, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800, Malaysia, phone: 11800, fax: 604-6579150, arahadi@usm.my, Mohd Rapi Mohamed Som, Geoscience Group, PETRONAS Research, PETRONAS Research Malaysia, Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, MALAYSIA, Bangi, Selangor, 43000, Malaysia, and Moh'D. Nurein Bushara, PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd, PETRONAS Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Noring field is located towards the northeastern margin of the Malay Basin, offshore east-coast of Peninsular Malaysia, in the South China Sea. Gas-bearing sandstones occur within the continental, coastal and marginal marine Middle Miocene sandstones, mudstones and coal successions of the E and D Groups.

Facies and stratigraphic analysis of the sections identified a total of seventeen lithofacies that are grouped into: i) a fluvial floodplain, and ii) an estuarine/tidal flat facies-assemblage. The floodplain facies-assemblage includes proximal over bank lithofacies association (fine-grained levee deposits, crevasse-channel and crevasse-splay), lacustrine-floodplain lithofacies association (laminated silt, shale and heterolithics) and back swamp lithofacies association (coal and paleosols). These lithofacies defines part of the E Group. Stratigraphic interpretation of the E Group identified a basal coal-bearing meandering fluvial and floodplain sub-interval, a middle sand-prone braided fluvial sub-interval and an upper lacustrine and meandering fluvial succession. The estuarine facies-assemblage is restricted to the D Group, which overlies the floodplain facies. This facies-assemblage is marked by the presence of Diplocraterion and Teichicnus trace fossils within the mudstones and siltstones, and the absence of coal. Thick, coarsening-upward deltaic successions of the B Group is represented by a basal lowstand fluvial facies, a transgressive prodelta mud succession, and capped by a delta-front highstand deposits.

The organization of depositional facies and intervals of the E-D-B Groups represent an incised-valley fill. The westward thickening of the marine-influenced mud-dominated successions within the D and B groups indicates the axis of the paleo-valley in the NNW seaward direction.

New Plays in Rift and Passive Margin Settings
2005 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition (September 11-14, 2005) Technical Program