PETROLEUM GEOLOGY OF NORTON BASIN, ALASKA.

Basement rocks beneath the main part of the Norton basin were deformed and heated during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous to the extent that these rocks were not capable of generating hydrocarbons when the basin formed during the latest Cretaceous or early Paleogene. Consequently, source rocks for oil, if they exist, are most likely to be within the basin fill. If the Norton basin began to form 65 m. y. ago, subsided at a nearly constant rate, and had an average geothermal gradient of between 35 and 45 degree C/km, then rocks as young as late Oligocene are in the oil window. The appearance on seismic sections of reflections from rocks in and below the calculated oil window suggests that these rocks were deposited in a nonmarine environment. Thus, gas and condensate are the most likely hydrocarbons to be present in the basin. Numerous potential traps for hydrocarbons exist in the Norton basin; the traps include fractured or weathered basement rocks in horsts, strata in alluvial fans on the flanks of horsts, and arched strata over horsts. Refs.