Strike-Slip Terrains and Transform Margins: Structural Architecture, Thermal Regimes and Petroleum Systems

Many of the world's continents are bounded or traversed by vast fault networks that move laterally, like the well-known San Andreas Fault. As well as being major tectonic features of the Earth's surface, these strike-slip regimes are vitally important to the world's natural resources – petroleum, water, and geothermal energy. This book covers all aspects of these regimes; how they initiate; how they develop; and the natural resources associated with them. Numerous global case studies illustrate structural development, thermal and fluid flow implications, and commercial applicability. No other book provides such a comprehensive overview of these settings, and this volume will stand as a critical reference of the state of knowledge of strike-slip terrains and transform margins. It will be invaluable for a broad range of readers, from advanced students of geology and researchers specializing in strike-slip regimes to geoscientists and managers involved in natural resources and energy solutions.

Michal Nemčok was a research professor at the Energy and Geoscience Institute of the University of Utah, USA for twenty-two years, until 2022. Now he runs his own company, RM Geology, and has a part-time position in the Faculty of Mining and Geology at the Technical University Ostrava, Czech Republic. He is the co-author of Thrustbelts: Structural Architecture, Thermal Regimes and Petroleum Systems (2005, Cambridge University Press) and author of Rifts and Passive Margins: Structural Architecture, Thermal Regimes, and Petroleum Systems (2016, Cambridge University Press).

Anthony G. Doré held leadership positions with Equinor (formerly Statoil) for twenty-five years, including Vice President, Exploration Americas. He is currently Global Chief Scientist with the Energy and Geoscience Institute of the University of Utah, based in London. He has extensive experience with global petroleum provinces including offshore NW Europe, the Arctic and the Americas. He is a recipient of several major awards for services to geology, including the Petroleum Group medal (2006), Order of the British Empire (OBE, 2010) and William Smith Medal of the Geological Society (2015).

Andreas Henk is Professor of Engineering Geology in the Institute of Applied Geosciences at Technical University, Darmstadt. Andreas has a strong interest in the numerical modeling of geodynamic processes. With respect to transform margins, he has performed several thermomechanical and thermokinematic studies focusing on the Equatorial Atlantic.

Helen Doran is a consultant geologist with 25 years of experience. She has extensive expertise in modeling variations in heat flow, pressure, and fluid flow across sedimentary basins, including those developed along strike-slip and transform margins. Her career began in the oil and gas industry before transitioning to the geothermal sector. Helen has held leadership roles at Causeway GT, bp, Ophir Energy, and Project InnerSpace, where she currently leads an international research program aimed at enhancing the understanding of the lithosphere to improve thermal inversion models for geothermal prospecting.