Stochastic Heterogeneity Mapping as a tool to quantify turbulence in reflectivity layers of thermohaline staircases in the Tyrrhenian Sea
Implementation of Digital Outcrop Models for Subsurface Extrapolation: A Pilot study in the San Jacinto Belt, Colombia
The prediction of reservoir architectures in frontier basins such as the Colombian Offshore has high uncertainty, because in these basins quantitative assessment has to be done with limited and dispersed information. The available seismic data is normally 2D, making the detailed delineation of reservoir geometries very challenging. A possible solution to this problem is the…
Read MoreMulti-scale characterization of the seismogenic Gole Larghe Fault Zone (Southern Alps, Italy): methodology and results
The Gole Larghe Fault Zone (GLFZ) in the Italian Southern Alps is characterized by the occurrence of cataclasites and pseudotachylytes (solidified frictional melts) formed along pre-existing magmatic cooling joints over a fault zone width of ca. 500 m, under ambient conditions of 9-11 km depth and 250-300C (the base of the seismogenic zone in the…
Read MoreStrain compatibility and fault linkage in relay zones on normal faults
Relay zones on normal faults are unlikely to have tabular geometries as depicted in idealised models. Rotation of a relay ramp between non-parallel and non-planar relay-bounding faults will inevitably lead to strain compatibility problems causing open gaps or overlaps within the relay zone. Linkage of relay-bounding faults does not evolve from a single branch point.…
Read MoreMapping turbidity layers using seismic oceanography methods
Geological controls on fault relay zone scaling
The overlap and separation distances of relay zones follow a power-law scaling relationship over nearly 8 orders of magnitude. Approximately one order of magnitude scatter in both separation and overlap exists at all scales. The strong power-law relationship (R2 = 0.98) suggests that the primary control on relay aspect ratio (overlap/separation) is a scale-invariant process,…
Read MoreCharacterisation of 3D Fracture Networks using Quantitative Outcrop Analogues Analysed with Lidar and Shallow Geophysics
Improving our understanding of flow of hydrocarbons and CO2 in fractured reservoirs requires detailed characterisation of three-dimensional fracture networks at seismic and sub-seismic scales. Terrestrial laser scanning (ground-based lidar) is a very rapid method to record the three-dimensional surface of outcrops, at centimetre resolution, with high spatial precision. Geological processing of the resultant lidar outcrop…
Read MoreCombining GPR and Terrestrial LiDAR to Produce 3D Virtual Outcrop Models
Terrestrial LiDAR provides high-resolution outcrop data in 2.5D to provide quantitative reservoir analogues through the interpretation of structural geometries and sedimentological architectures within the outcrop at sub-centimeter scale. The resulting interpretation is used to provide a qualitative check on the validity of reservoir models. However, without subsurface information geological surfaces and features are usually extrapolated…
Read MoreExtending digital outcrop geology into the subsurface
Digital survey methods, including terrestrial laser scanning (lidar) and differential GPS, allow geological and topographic data from outcrops to be recorded very rapidly, in 3D, at detailed resolutions and with high spatial precision. Geological interpretations of outcrop datasets (e.g., fault or bedding traces) can be extended into the subsurface using geometric, probabilistic, or deterministic methods.…
Read More