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3 Case Studies For Applied Palaeontology

How Palaeontology is used for
Commercial Purposes

Palaeontology in Hydrocarbon Exploration around the Gulf of Mexico
With in the deep water geological setting of the Gulf of Mexico lies a very substantial accumulation of hydrocarbons that the oil companies of the USA have been exploring and extracting to meet the countries oil and electricity demands. The role of palaeontology involved with hydrocarbon exploration and extraction is incredibly useful; predominantly in the form of biostratigraphy and in determining palaeoenvironment in which the hydrocarbon originated.

The types of fossils that are most useful in hydrocarbon biostratigraphy are Microfossils found in marine environments. This is because the rock samples that studied during exploration (drilling) are in the form of cuttings; broken pieces of the rocks that are brought to the surface by the drill piece. Fossilised bones or shells are often destroyed as the drill bores into the rock, but microfossils are small enough to be recovered undamaged.

For hydrocarbon geology, there are 3 main types of microfossils; Foraminifera (FORAMS), Calcareous nanofossils, and Palynomorphs. FORAMS are single-celled, eukaryotic organisms that have a calcium carbonate shell. Many FORAMS are benthic and tend to be restricted to different environments providing palaeontologists with a good idea into what sort of environment the organisms were in when the they were deposited, which can be very useful to oil companies. For example, if a oil company wanted to drill for hydrocarbons in deltaic reservoirs then palaeontologist would look for fossil FORAMS that are known to be restricted to that environment.

Calcareous nanofossils are extremely small objects (less than 25 microns) produced by planktonic unicellular algae. Both planktonic FORAMS and calcareous nanofossils such as Coccolithophorans aren’t very good at providing the palaeoenvironment of deposition...