AAPG Bulletin; October 2007; v. 91; no. 10;
p. 1405-1436; DOI: 10.1306/05210705188
© 2007 American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Three-dimensional geological and synthetic seismic model of Early Permian redeposited basinal carbonate deposits, Victorio Canyon, west Texas
Xavier Janson1,
Charles Kerans2,
Jerome A. Bellian3 and
William Fitchen4
1 Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, University Station Box X, Austin, Texas 78713-8924; xavier.janson{at}beg.utexas.edu
2 Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1100, Austin, Texas 78712-0254
3 Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, University Station Box X, Austin, Texas 78713-8924
4 Occidental of Oman, Inc., P.O. Box 27759, Houston, Texas 77227-7759
Xavier Janson received his Ph.D. from the University of Miami in 2002, where he was a student in the Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory. He received a D.E.A. degree (equivalent to an M.Sc.) from the Institut Français du Pétrole. He joined the Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory at the Bureau of Economic Geology of the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin in 2002, where his current research involves building three-dimensional (3-D) geocellular models and 3-D synthetic seismic models from outcrop study to help reservoir characterization and seismic interpretation.
Charlie Kerans is currently the Goldhammer Chair of Carbonate Geology at the Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin. Up until 2005, he was a senior research scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas where he had worked since 1985. His areas of focus are in carbonate sequence stratigraphy and reservoir characterization, with an emphasis on integrating outcrop analog information for improved understanding of the subsurface. Kerans received his Ph.D. from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, in 1982, where he studied basin analysis and the origin of Precambrian carbonates. Kerans held a Western Australian Mining and Petroleum Research Institute postdoctoral fellowship between 1982 and 1985, studying Devonian reef complexes of the Canning Basin under Philip Playford of the Western Australian Geological Survey. In 1985, Kerans took a position at the Bureau of Economic Geology where he initiated the Carbonate Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory at the bureau in 1988 and has codirected this research effort with Jerry Lucia of the Bureau up to the present. Kerans has been both a domestic and international AAPG distinguished lecturer. He also won the Pratt Award from AAPG for best paper in the AAPG Bulletin in 1994 (first author) and in 2005 (second author).
Jerome Bellian is a research scientist associate at the Bureau of Economic Geology of the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also currently working with Kerans on his Ph.D., studying Ordovician paleokarst in the Franklins Mountains of west Texas. He received his M.Sc. from Miami University in 1998. He then worked at Exxon Upstream Research in Houston, Texas, until 2000. In late 2000, he joined the Bureau of Economic Geology, where he developed the application of ground-based LIDAR technology for outcrop studies within the Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory.
William M. Fitchen is currently the chief reservoir geologist for Occidental of Oman, Inc., in Muscat, Oman. From 2001 to 2004, he was a geological advisor with Occidental Permian, Inc., in Houston, Texas. From 1995 to 2000, he was a senior research geologist with Exxon Production Research, Co. From 1988 to 1995 and in 2000, he worked as a research assistant and associate at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Bill holds a B.Sc. degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an M.A. degree and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin.
The Lower Permian outcrops of Victorio Canyon, in the Sierra Diablo Mountains in west Texas, show undisturbed stratigraphy of carbonate toe-of-slope and basinal deposits. These rocks consist of a vertical stack of carbonate debris-flow deposits and hyperconcentrated density-flow deposits, thick skeletal-ooid grainstone deposited as basin-floor fans, various reworked muddy carbonate deposits, and fine siliciclastic siltstones. This succession was deposited within five sequences that include the upper Hueco Formation (late Wolfcampian) through the Bone Spring Formation (middle Leonardian). Using a ground-based light detecting and ranging-generated high-resolution digital outcrop model (DOM) aged as a template, we mapped and digitized the stratigraphy of the toe-of-slope and basinal deposits on the 5-cm (2-in.) precision DOM. On the basis of the digitized stratigraphic contacts, several regional surfaces were constructed, and a 3-D geocellular model was built. Facies information within this model is extrapolated from measured section data using both a kriging algorithm and stochastic simulations. Using impedance values extracted from a subsurface analog, a 3-D impedance model was created for both the kriged and the stochastic models. Both models incorporate fine-scale stratigraphic architecture. In addition, the stochastic impedance model incorporates spatially correlated noise, resulting in more realistic synthetic seismograms. Three-dimensional synthetic seismograms were calculated at 20, 40, and 80 Hz. The reservoir-prone facies is skeletal-ooid grainstone deposited as a 1.5-km x 750-m (0.93-mi x 2460-ft) basin-floor fan up to 15 m (49 ft) thick. This basin-floor fan is subtly imaged in vertical seismic section at a frequency below 80 Hz. It is, however, better recognized on time slices with peak frequency as low as 20 Hz and even better delineated on horizon slices that parallel the stratigraphy.
Copyright © 2008 by American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
