LAUSR

The aim of basin modeling is to characterise fluids and rocks in a basin considering its history and data partly describing its present state. In usual basin simulators, only a simplified description of geomechanics based on the hypothesis of oedometric strain is used. To both enhance the modeling of basin history and to characterise actual in situ stresses, the effect of stress redistribution, horizontal stresses, and strain variations during basin history should be considered. To address this point, a coupled basin-geomechanics framework based on a new constitutive law is proposed in this paper using the prototype simulator $$\mathrm{A}^{2}$$A2. This framework has been built to provide relevant results for various kinds of basin cases including tectonic loading. A finite strain poromechanical approach is considered along with an modified Drucker–Prager Cap model to describe rock compaction under natural sedimentation, erosion, and tectonics. The constitutive model can be seen as a tensorial extension of the compaction models of Athy or Schneider as it allows to recover the same behaviour in oedometric context. Simple test cases are modeled considering typical sand or shale properties, emphasizing the effect of tectonic loading on the present-day pore pressures and in situ stresses. It appears that even relatively moderate tectonic loading ($$5\%$$5% of horizontal strain) can lead to overpressures of several hundreds of bars and to a complete change in in situ stress regime for deeply buried layers (above a depth of 2000 m).