Title: Regional Geology and Exploration Potential of Mongolia utilizing Public Domain Data

Biography:

Ernest Berkman graduated from the Colorado School of Mines, Geophysical Engineer, 1958. He worked for Mobil Oil for 20 years and then started EMEX. At EMEX, his experience includes prospect analysis and regional geological/geophysical studies including reflection seismic, gravity, magnetics, magneto-tellurucs, refraction analysis, in North America and worldwide; plus a lot of shallow seismic for coal mine development and site characterization. Interpretation background includes site characterization, and technical writing, modeling, quality control, project and team management, industrial teaching, and mentoring. He has been a member of the SEG since 1955

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the public domain data in Mongolia and adjacent countries. This presentation includes discussions of the geologic setting, plate tectonics, the geothermal regime, satellite imagery, seismic, gravity and magnetic data, and ancillary data; and concludes with a discussion of several productive basins in northern China. Our analysis clearly confirms that regional scale geological mapping and gravity and magnetic surveys along with plate tectonic implications, satellite imagery analysis, and ancillary data give good indications of the presence of basin areas, which appear to contain sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous, Jurassic and Paleozoic age, which are considered to be prospective for commercial hydrocarbon accumulation. Continued exploration with higher quality potential field data and seismic data, leading to drilling is recommended.

The discussion on geologic setting includes a simplified surface geology map, coal and oil resource maps, stratigraphic columns, and example seismic sections. The discussion on plate tectonics presents hypotheses for the origin of this complex area. The discussion on geothermal regime utilizes both the limited data available in Mongolia and the newly available data in Northern China to strengthen the argument that Mongolia is a valid exploration target. Satellite images confirm geologic structures noted in the literature and observed in the gravity and magnetic data. The regional gravity data has been used to characterize the basin shape and major structural elements involving the older denser strata. This is a clearly valid use of the technique as shown by seismic data in China over numerous oil fields.