Integrated geochemical exploration in the north sector of offshore Argentina Basin

GÓMEZ DACAL, ALEJANDRO; SILIO, OFELIA; PALMA, FERMÍN; PRINCIPI, SEBASTIÁN; BREA, FABIÁN; BOLATTI, NÉSTOR

Aracaju

Congreso; Congress on Organic Geochemistry; 2023

Asociación Latinoaméricana de Geoquímica Orgánica

Surface geochemical analyses are a valuable resource for exploring frontier areas that lack well data, including offshore basins. This is because source rocks and reservoirs release liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons from the subsurface to the marine seabed. Various geochemical techniques have been developed over the years for offshore prospecting to identify hydrocarbon anomalies in core samples taken from the ocean floor sediments.The Pampa Azul Project is an interdisciplinary initiative of the Argentine government to study the Argentine sea. In this framework, YPF and CONICET signed an agreement to study the Continental Margin by the execution of oceanographic research cruises onboard the R/V Austral Vessel. This work describes the seafloor geochemistry results obtained from the samples taken in the northernoffshore Argentina Basin during the YTEC-GTGM 4 cruise in 2019.In the present contribution, we identified migrated hydrocarbons through the integrated analysis of the organic, inorganic, chromatographic and isotope data. Furthermore, we analyzed the origin, distribution, maturity, and secondary processes which affected the hydrocarbon accumulations. Finally, we estimated which geochemical proxies are related to the presence of seepsand which are associated with the sedimentary dynamic