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Frans Van Buchem

Professor, Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering

Physical Science and Engineering Division 
Center membership :
Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center

frans.vanbuchem@kaust.edu.sa
SEASTAR: Climate, Sea-level and Stratigraphic Architecture


Affiliations

Education Profile

  • Ph.D, Sedimentology, University of Cambridge, UK, 1990
  • MSc, Geology, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1987
  • MSc, Biology, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1986

Research Interests

​The study of the dynamics in space and time of carbonate and organic-rich depositional systems, their architecture, and their importance as an archive of past climate change, sea level fluctuations, and the global biogeochemical carbon cycle. The integration of stratigraphic forward modeling, machine learning and high-resolution seismic interpretation to improve the quantification of sedimentary processes (e.g. magnitude of sea level change, sedimentation rates, geobody variability). The natural laboratories to conduct this research are the geological record of the Arabian Plate, integrating outcrop, seismic, logs and core material, and the modern day carbonate settings of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.

Selected Publications

  • The magnitude and cause of short-term eustatic Cretaceous sea-level change: A synthesis D.C. Ray, F.S.P. van Buchem, G. Baines, A. Davies, B. Gréselle, M.D. Simmons, C. Robson Earth Science Reviews, vol. 197, pp. 1-20, (2019) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102901
  • Tectono-stratigraphic framework and depositional history of the Cretaceous-Danian succession of the Danish Central Graben (North Sea) – new light on a mature area. In: M. Bowman and B. Levell (eds.): Petroleum Geology of NW Europe: 50 Years of Learning. F. van Buchem, F. Smit, G. Buijs, B. Trudgill, P.H. Larsen Proceedings of the 8th Petroleum Geological Conference, Geological Society of London, pp. 9-46, (2018)
  • Seismic geomorphology and origin of diagenetic geobodies in the Upper Cretaceous chalk of the North Sea Basin (Danish Central Graben). W.H.F. Smit, F.S.P. van Buchem, J.C. Holst, M. Luthje, K. Anderskouv, N. Thibault, G.J.A. Buijs, L. Stemmerik Basin Research, vol. , pp. 1-31, (2018) DOI:10.1111/bre12285
  • Depositional history and petroleum habitat of Qatar. In: L. Marlow, C.C.G. Kendall, L. A. Yose, Petroleum Systems of the Tethyan Region. F.S.P. van Buchem, N. Svendsen, E. Hoch, R. Pedersen-Tatalovic, K. Habib AAPG Memoir no. 106, pp. 641- 678, (2014)
  • Late Aptian long-lived glacio-eustatic lowstand recorded on the Arabian Plate. F. Maurer, F.S.P. van Buchem, G.P. Eberli, B.J. Pierson, M.J. Raven, P.H. Larsen, M. I. Al-Husseini, B. Vincent Terra Nova, vol. 25, pp. 87-94, (2013)
  • Mesozoic and Cenozoic Carbonate Systems of the Mediterranean and the Middle East: Stratigraphic and Diagenetic Reference Models. F.S.P. van Buchem, K.D. Gerdes, M. Esteban (eds.) Geological Society of London Special Publication no. 329, 421 p., (2010)
  • Barremian-Aptian Stratigraphy and Hydrocarbon Habitat of the Eastern Arabian Plate. F.S.P. van Buchem, M.I. Al-Husseini, F. Maurer, H. Droste, H. (eds.) GeoArabia Special Publication no. 4, 2 volumes, 614 p., (2010)
  • Stratigraphic patterns in carbonate source rock distribution: 2nd to 4th order control and sediment flux. In: N.H. Harris (ed.), The deposition of organic-carbon-rich sediments: models, mechanisms and consequences. F.S.P. van Buchem, A.Y. Huc, B. Pradier, M. Stefani SEPM Special Publication no. 82, p. 191- 221, (2005)
  • The Cenomanian/Turonian carbonate petroleum system of northern Oman (Natih Formation) – a stratigraphic organisation of carbonate ramps and organic-rich intrashelf basins. F.S.P. van Buchem, P. Razin, P. Homewood, H. Oterdoom, J. Philip (2002) AAPG Bulletin, vol. 86, 21-53, (2002)