MR CHRISTOPHER CARD

Biography

I started studying geology in 2013 at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, Gorleston, U.K. by accidentally stumbling into the wrong introduction class, although stayed and joined the A-level Geology course after finding that it seemed to culminate many aspects of science I was drawn to (credit goes to Reuben Woolnough). In 2018 I completed a BSc in Geoscience at Keele University, U.K, with my dissertation focusing on Early Carboniferous Lithostratigraphy of the Castleton region (Peak District National Park, U.K.). It was throughout the later stage of my undergraduate studies I began to home in on my passion for solving complex stratigraphic problems within sedimentary successions.

Continuing at Keele University under the supervision of Dr Michael Montenari, I completed an MSc in Geoscience Research in 2019 investigating Lower Carboniferous deep-marine red beds from Menorca, Spain, and their relationship to oceanic redox change in the Palaeotethys as well as geochemical affinity to marine red beds throughout the Phanerozoic. This study utilised a combination of sedimentology, SEM-EDS, spectral GRS and handheld XRF to charachterise the succession in terms of chemostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and, cyclostratigraphy.

After finishing my MSc, I spent a year working as a Graduate Geoscientist in Glasgow with RSK before commencing a PhD at the University of Aberdeen, U.K. in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Adrian Hartley, Prof. David Jolley, Prof. Andrew Morton and Prof. John Howell. My project utilises a multidisciplinary approach by combining palynology with multi-proxy provenance analysis to aid with our understanding of correlation, provenance, and reservoir quality of the Triassic Skagerrak Formation, Central North Sea. I am currently in the second year of my PhD and spending most of my time generating datasets as well as providing offshore heavy mineral analyst services to Heavy Mineral Research Associates Ltd.

Internal Memberships

Vice President AAPG Student Chapter - 2020-21

President AAPG Student Chapter- 2021-22

Current Research

Correlation, Provenance and Reservoir Quality of Triassic Strata in the Central North Sea, U.K.

Triassic fluvial successions from the Skagerrak Formation located in the Central North Sea (CNS) constitute a high-pressure- high-temperature (HPHT) play that provides important primary and secondary hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir intervals. Although exploiting these sandstone intervals is negatively impacted by a limited understanding of correlation and variations in reservoir quality. The core hypotheses to be tested in this study are (1) an existing heavy mineral and biostratigraphic correlation framework can be succinctly combined and successfully extended into unstudied wells. (2) Variations in sediment provenance during deposition of the Skagerrak Formation impacts present-day hydrocarbon reservoir quality. This project focuses upon 10 wells covering 586 m and 1238 m of core and cuttings from Triassic penetrations in UKCS quadrants 22, 29 and 30. The studied wells have been used to build composite sections through the Skagerrak Fm reservoir units across different fields. This project utilises four methodologies to generate multiproxy composite sections: (1) palynostratigraphy for age dating, correlation and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (2) heavy mineral analysis for investigating provenance signals and correlation, (3) petrographic analysis of sandstone members to understand the framework composition, (4) detrital apatite geochronology and geochemistry for investigating provenance and sediment recycling. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of defining and characterising ancient fluvial systems with different and/ or mixed provenance. Whilst permitting key questions to be investigated regarding the source-to-sink configuration of the CNS Basin during the Triassic. This is a Joint Industry Project (JIP) supported by the Triassic Phase 3 consortium of companies: BP, NEO Energy, Total, CNOOC and Neptune Energy.