Traps
Traps . A trap forms when the buoyancy forces driving the upward migration of hydrocarbons through a permeable rock cannot overcome the capillary forces of a sealing medium. The timing of trap formation relative to that of petroleum generation and migration is crucial to ensuring a reservoir can form. Petroleum geologists broadly classify traps into three categories that are based on their geological characteristics: the structural trap , the stratigraphic trap and the far less common hydrodynamic trap. The trapping mechanisms for many petroleum reservoirs have characteristics from several categories and can be known as a combination trap. Structural traps . Fold (structural) trap Fault (structural) trap Structural traps are formed as a result of changes in the structure of the subsurface due to processes such as folding and faulting...