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Dorothy Drayton

Dorothy Drayton

  • Email: ee15dld@leeds.ac.uk
  • Thesis title: Impact faults on fluid flow in microbial and hydrothermal carbonates

Profile

Having finished a masters in Structural Geology and Geophysics here at the Univeristy of Leeds, I wanted to continue in this field of research, especially with relation to the petroleum industry which led me to start a PhD in October 2017 looking at how faults in Microbial (i.e. stromatolites, thrombolites etc) and hydrothermal (travertine) rocks affect fluid flow with the aim of upscaling sealing/non-sealing predictions to a reservoir scale. 

Faults can have a major impact on sub-surface fluid flow which has a range of implications for a number of industries including, oil and gas exploration, CO2 sequestration and radioactive waste disposal. It is therefore imperative to understand the control that faults have within a range of settings. There has been significant progress of research into siliciclastic fault rocks with established models for their implication on fluid flow (Knipe, 1992; Yielding et al. 1992; Fisher & Knipe 1998, 2001; Crawford et al. 2002; Yielding 2015). However, little previous work has been done looking at similar concepts applied to carbonate rocks. Of increasing importance are microbial and lacustrine-microbial carbonates associated with the developing lacustrine carbonate plays within the ‘pre-salt’ of the Santos and Campos basins, offshore Brazil (Carminatti et al., 2008; Wright, 2012; Fazende & Pope, 2015). This project sets out to characterise faulting styles within these carbonate rocks, with the ultimate aim of understanding the control of any variation and microstructure and how this affects fluid flow.

Research interests

My main research interests are in the field of research geology, in particular looking at fault seal analysis within both siliciclastic rocks and now carbonate rocks in my PhD project. I am also interested in research looking at the role of structural inheritence in fault growth and re-activation which lead me to complete my MSc thesis looking at the influence of pre-exisiting structures on tectonistratigraphic evolution within the Veslemøy High in the SW Barents Sea utilising fault network topology methods. Find out more about the project.

Qualifications

  • BSc Applied Geology, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter
  • MSc Structural Geology with Geophysics, University of Leeds