Course Objectives and Items You Will Learn About:

• To use seismic facies analysis to evaluate and interpret a volume of seismic data to recognize diverse stratigraphic play opportunities.
• The geological significance of reflection configurations and what environments they represent.
• Depositional models and how to test and map them in seismic data.
• How to prepare environmental and lithofacies maps from seismic facies maps.
• Geological processes operating in a variety of environments.
• How to improve the geological predictions of plays and prospects.

Overview:

The course is primarily a workshop. The initial discussions review stratigraphic concepts and then apply these to outcrops in the Grand Canyon of Arizona to compare sequences and environments recognized in the field with comparative resolution in seismic data. The problem of scale is addressed. This is followed by a discussion of what are seismic facies (reflection configuration, amplitude, frequency, and continuity). These are illustrated through numerous illustrations from CDP record sections from diverse environments. Participants then apply these ideas to unraveling the geological history of a thermal sag basin with a broad spectrum of environments. Source, seal, and reservoir potential of each unit differentiated are predicted and then compared to well data.

Three detailed problems follow. The first focuses on a submarine fan. Seismic facies variations are mapped to predict sand prone intervals. Comparative ideas on modern submarine fans are introduced and utilized. The second problem deals with shallow water siliciclastics and the recognition of a variety of systems tracts in the seismic data and the relevant lithofacies predictions. Different models are compared and evaluated. Modern environments are discussed and compared. The third problem focuses on the evolution of a carbonate margin. A variety of carbonate facies and environments are shown and prospected.

In addition to data sets used for interpretation, numerous other seismic lines are used to show comparative environments in other settings. The bottom line for each problem undertaken is to predict drilling locations.

Duration: Five days

Attendees: Interpreters with two-to-twenty years of experience