CPG

Dr. Giovanni Bertotti

Adjunct Professor, Department of Geosciences

Giovanni Bertotti is a structural geologist with a long experience in the analysis of multiscale deformation patterns in different tectonic settings in different parts of the world. Building on his knowledge of the evolution of sedimentary basins, he has gradually moved towards a more quantitative description addressing the stress and strain evolution of rocks during basin formation and deformation. During the last years, he has developed research on Naturally Fractured Reservoirs combining numerical modeling techniques with observations from outcropping analogs of buried reservoirs. He has worked on fractures networks in a variety of lithologies from fluvial deposits (Jordan), turbidite sands in the Karoo Basin (South Africa) as well as on tight shallow water Devonian sand in Morocco. Since a few years, he is investigating fracture patterns in sub-horizontal and in folded shallow-water carbonates on the basis of outcropping analogs in Tunisia (Kef eddour/Berda Formations) and Brazil (Jandaira Formation). Building on the strong collaboration with geomechanics and flow modellers at the Delft University of Technology and elsewhere, Giovanni Bertotti investigates the impact fractures have on porosity and permeability and, eventually, on flow reservoir scale flow patterns.

Educational Qualification

  • Ph.D. at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
  • MSc in Earth Sciences, University of Pisa (Italy)

Research Interests

  • Structural Geology
  • Sedimentary Basins
  • Tectonics-Sedimentation Interactions
  • Fractured Reservoirs
  • Thermal Evolution of Sedimentary Basins
  • Petroleum Systems

Selected Publications

2018

  • LOPES J.A.G, de CASTRO, D.L. and BERTOTTI, G. 2018. Quantitative analysis of the tectonic subsidence in the Potiguar Basin (NE Brazil). Journal of Geodynamics, 117, 60-74.

2017

  • BISDOM, K., BERTOTTI, G., BEZERRA, F.H., 2017. Inter-well scale natural fracture geometry and permeability variations in low-deformation carbonate rocks. J. Structural Geology, 97, 23-36.
  • de GRAAF, S., BERTOTTI, G., REIJMER, J.J.G., BEZERRA, F.H., CAZARIN, C., BISDOM, K., VONHOF, H.B., 2017. Fracture-controlled fluid circulation and calcite vein cementation during early burial in shallow water carbonates (Jandaíra Formation, northeast Brazil), Marine and Petroleum Geology, 80, 382-393.
  • BISDOM, K., NICK, H.M. and BERTOTTI, G. 2017. An integrated workflow for stress and flow modeling using outcrop-derived discrete fracture networks. Computer and Geosciences, 103, 21-35 
  • GOUIZA, M., BERTOTTI, G., ANDRIESSEN, P. in press. Mesozoic and Cenozoic thermal history of the western Reguibat Shield (West African Craton). Terra Nova
  • EGYA, D.O., GEIGER, S., CORBETT, P., MARCH, R., BISDOM, K., BERTOTTI, G., BEZERRA, F.H. in press. Geological well testing in fractured formations – exploration of the dual porosity response. Petroleum Geoscience.  
  • BERTOTTI, G., de GRAAF, S., BISDOM, S., OSKAM, B., VONHOF, H., BEZERRA, F.H., REIJMER, J. and CAZARIN, C. Fracturing and fluid flow during post-rift subsidence in carbonates of the Jandaíra Formation, Potiguar Basin, NE Brazil, Basin Research 1–18, doi: 10.1111/bre.12246

2016

  • BERTOTTI, G., de GRAAF, S., BISDOM, S., OSKAM, B., VONHOF, H., BEZERRA, F.H., REIJMER, J. and CAZARIN, C. Fracturing and fluid flow during post-rift subsidence in carbonates of the Jandaíra Formation, Potiguar Basin, NE Brazil, Basin Research submitted
  • ENGLISH, K., REDFERN, J., BERTOTTI, G., ENGLISH, J., CHERIF, R.Y. 2016. Intraplate uplift: new constraints on the Hoggar dome from the Illizi basin (Algeria). Basin Research. doi: 10.1111/bre.12182
  • de GRAAF, S., BERTOTTI, G., REIJMER, J.J.G., BEZERRA, F.H., CAZARIN, C., BISDOM, K., VONHOF, H.B. Fracture-controlled fluid circulation and calcite vein cementation during early burial in shallow water carbonates (Jandaíra Formation, northeast Brazil), in press
  • COSTA DE MELO, A., LOPES de CASTRO, D., BEZERRA, F.H., BERTOTTI, G., Rift fault geometry and evolution in the Cretaceous Potiguar Basin (NE Brazil) based on fault growth models. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 71, 96-107
  • GOUIZA, M., CHARTON, R., BERTOTTI, G., ANDRIESSEN, P.A.M. and STORMS, J.E.A. Post-Variscan evolution of the Anti-Atlas belt of Morocco constrained from low-temperature geochronology. International Journal Earth Sciences DOI 10.1007/s00531-016-1325-0
  • ENGLISH, K., REDFERN, J., BERTOTTI, G., ENGLISH, J., CHERIF, R.Y. 2016. Intraplate uplift: new constraints on the Hoggar dome from the Illizi basin (Algeria). Basin Research. doi: 10.1111/bre.12182
  • BISDOM, K., BERTOTTI, G. and NICK, H.. The impact of different aperture distributions and critical stress criteria on equivalent permeability in complex fracture networks. J. Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 121 (5), 4045-4063.
  • BISDOM, K., BERTOTTI, G. and NICK, H. The impact of in-situ stress and fracture geometry on hydraulic aperture and upscaled permeability in carbonate rocks: inferences from outcropping pavements. Tectonophysics, s 690 (2016) 63–75
  • BISDOM, K., BERTOTTI, G. and NICK, H. A geometrically-based method for predicting stress-induced fracture aperture and flow in Discrete Fracture Networks. AAPG Bulletin 100 (7), 1075-1097.

2015

  • KLEIPOOL, L., REIJMER, J.J.G., HARDEBOL, N.J., BERTOTTI, G., AURELL, M. and BADENAS, B. Fracture distribution along an Upper Jurassic carbonate ramp, NE Spain. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 70, 201-221.
  • HARDEBOL, N.J., MAIER, C., NICK, H., GEIGER, S., BERTOTTI, G. and BORO, H. in press. Multi-scale fracture network characterization and impact on flow: a case study on the Latemar carbonate platform. J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 120, 8197–8222, doi:10.1002/2015JB011879.

2014

  • PEPE, F., BERTOTTI, G., FERRANTI, L., SACCHI, M., COLLURA A.-M., PASSARO, S. and SULLI, A. 2014. Pattern and rate of post-20ka vertical tectonic motion around the Capo Vaticano promontory (W Calabria, Italy) based on offshore geomorphological indicators. Quaternary International, 332, 85-98.
  • GOUIZA, M., HALL, J. and BERTOTTI, G. 2014. Rifting and pre-rift lithosphere variability in the Orphan Basin, Newfoundland margin, Eastern Canada. Basin Research, 26, 1-20.
  • BISDOM, K., GAUTHIER, B.D.M., BERTOTTI, G. and HARDEBOL, N.J. 2014. Calibrating discrete fracture-network models with a carbonate three-dimensional outcrop fracture network: Implications for naturally fractured reservoir modeling. AAPG Bulletin, 98, 1351-1376
  • BORO, H., ROSERO, E. and BERTOTTI, G. 2014. Fracture network analysis of the Latemar platform (northern Italy): Integrating outcrop studies to constrain the hydraulic properties of fractures in reservoir models. Petroleum Geoscience, 20, 79-92. doi: 10.1144/petgeo2013-007

2013

  • AGAR, S., GEIGER, S., LEONIDE, P., LAMARCHE, J., NEILSON, J., GOSSELIN, O., PYRAK-NOLTE, L., JACKSON, M., KENTER, J., BERTOTTI, G., JONES, G., WHITAKER, F., HAMPSON, G. and MATTHAI, S. 2013. Summary of the AAPG-Society of Petroleum Engineers – Society of Exploration Geophysicists Hedberg Research Conference on “Fundamental Controls on Flow in Carbonates”. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 97/4, 553-552.
  • ÖZSAYIN, E., ÇINER, A., ROJAY, B., DIRIK, K., MELNICK, D., FERNANDEZ-BLANCO, D., BERTOTTI, G., SCHILDGEN, T., GARCIN, Y., STRECKER. M.R., SUDO, M. accepted. Plio-Quaternary extensional tectonics of the Central Anatolia Plateau: A case study from the Tuz Golu Basin, Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences.
  • STRIJKER, G., BEEKMAN, W.W.W., BERTOTTI, G. and LUTHI, S.M. submitted. FEM analysis of deformation localization mechanisms in a 3D fractured medium under rotating compressive stress conditions. Tectonophysics. 593, 95-110.
  • FERNANDEZ-BLANCO, D., BERTOTTI, G. and CINER, A. accepted. Cenozoic tectonics in Central Anatolia, Turkey: A 3D evolution model for the Tüz Gölü Basin and surroundings
  • HARDEBOL, G. and BERTOTTI, G. 2013. DigiFract: a software and data model implementation for flexible acquisition and processing of fracture data from outcrops. Computer and Geosciences, 54, 326-336.
  • BORO, H., BERTOTTI, G., and HARDEBOL, N. 2013. Low-strain distributed fracturing affecting the Latemar atoll-like platform (N Italy). Marine and Petroleum Geology, 40, 69-84.

2012

  • STRIJKER, G., BERTOTTI, G. and S.M. LUTHI. 2012. Multi-scale fracture network analysis from an outcrop analog: a case study from the Cambro-Ordovician succession in Petra, Jordan. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 38, 104-116.
  • BERTOTTI, G. and GOUIZA, M. 2012. Post-rift vertical movements and horizontal deformations in the eastern margin of the Central Atlantic: The Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous evolution of Morocco. International Journal of Earth Sciences DOI 10.1007/s00531-012-0773-4.

2011

  • DUPRÉ, S., CLOETINGH, S. and BERTOTTI, G. (2011). Structure of the Gabon margin from integrated seismic reflection and gravity data. Tectonophysics, 506, 31-45.

2010

  • GOUIZA, M., BERTOTTI, G. and HAFID, M. 2010. The tectonic evolution of the passive margin of Morocco along a transect from the Atlantic ocean to the Anti-Atlas. Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2009TC002464
  • PEPE, F., SULLI, A., BERTOTTI, G. and CELLA, F. 2010. The West Calabria passive continental margin. Implications for the evolution of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin. Tectonics, 29, TC3007, doi: 10.1029/2009TC002599
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