Hydrocarbons Migration through Groundwater Convergence toward Saline Depressions: A Case Study, Sidi El Hani Discharge Playa, Tunisian Sahel

Abstract

This paper aims to provide proofs of hydrocarbons migration from petroleum reservoirs towards the surface of discharge playas. This is a case study of the discharge playa of Sidi El Hani, eastern Tunisia. The geochemistry of water of some hydrological drills in the Sahel area and of water from the discharge playa proves relatedness between the deep aquifer and the water of the discharge playa. Thus, the hydrology is now more than likely converging from the subsurface. This convergence may be an agent of transport of hydrocarbons. Concerning the organic matter within the discharge playa, high percentages of different fractions seem abnormal in such a saline context. This maturated organic matter should be viewed in the widest context of a multidisciplinary study taking into account the presence of petroleum potentials in the subsurface, the converging hydrogeology, and the tectonised region. The high percentage of Aromatic Polycyclic Hydrocarbon (APH) may be the result of hydrocarbons migration rather than anthropogenic pollution. As for the reinterpretation of previous works about the organic matter in playas done in sebkha Moknine, the contaminated organic matter, which was interpreted as a human induced activity, may have another origin from a reservoir located in the subsurface of the Sahel area.