PDF format - Bureau of Economic Geology

Quantitative
Clastics Laboratory
IA Newsletter
______________________________________________________________________________
QCL IA Newsletter, Spring 2009
This trip was a good opportunity to examine
some of the units that will be the focus of Darrin
Burton’s doctoral work over the next 3-4 years.
There are incredible exposures of hummocky
cross-stratified units that we believe to be a distal
equivalent to the more tidal shelfal sand
reservoirs of the Toctio Sandstone located in
more western areas of the basin, forming some of
the largest oil field in the SJB.
In This Issue
REPORT FROM 2008 ANNUAL MEETING
2009 FALL ANNUAL MEETING PLANS
SUBMARINE MASS FAILURES CONF.
SANDatabase UPDATE
• New Data, Reading Shelf
VISITING WITH QCL MEMBERS
COMPLETED 2008 RESEARCH
NEW RESEARCH PLANS 2009-2012
NEW DATA SETS IN DEEP WATER
UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS
THE SUMMER
Contact Information
REPORT FROM 2008 ANNUAL MEETING
to the San Juan Basin, Northwest New Mexcio
“Timing is everything.” Houston being hit by a
hurricane less than one week prior to our annual
meeting was not something we had planned on.
Although this forced many members to make
some hard decisions to cancel, family and other
issues clearly took precedent. Nevertheless,
several member from “low hurricane areas” such
as Calgary, Canada ☺ were able to attend and we
had a really great time both in reviewing
materials, examining core from the El Vado
Sandstone and examining the shelf sands of the
El Vado and Tocito sandstones in northwest
New Mexico, as well as several stops led by Bill
Ambrose to examine the more wave-dominated
nature of the Picture Cliffs Sandstones, a coal
gas reservoir in southern Colorado.
Extremely large hummocky beds characterize
the more distal Tocito interval in the San
Juan Basin. The size of these bedforms, which
produce gas in the subsurface, imply
extremely large storms impinging on the
seaway during Cretaceous time.
Although many of our member companies were
unable to send representatives to the meeting in
September, we were able to provide a “make up”
review in the BEG Core Facility Houston offices
in October which made attending much more
feasible. So we hope everyone is on the same
page.
THE QCLIA 2009 ANNUAL MEETING:
AUSTIN, TEXAS
The QCLIA 2009 Annual Meeting will be held
Thursday November 5th and Friday November 6th
at the Bureau of Economic Geology conference
center on the Pickle Research Campus in Austin,
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Texas. This meeting will include 1.5 days of
presentation and discussion of 2009 research
program results and discussions of the ongoing
research directions, and we will demonstrate the
new additions to the SANDatabase. We look for
ward to presentations by Peter Flaig and Dolores
van der Kolk regarding their ongoing research on
the North Slope of Alaska. The last half of
Friday will be spent in a ½ day course to
demonstrate the process through which the
research team integrates seismically-derived
attribute images with ArcGIS and ERMAPPER
to produce morphometric databases for
exploration and development of various types of
basin systems. Computers and software will be
provided. A preliminary list of presentation
includes:
For Thursday:
• The QCLIA 2009 Research Program with an
update on staff, resources, science direction
• How do channels flow and interact
stratigraphically? Lessons from a study in
offshore Indonesia
• Utilizing Lidar as a tool for collecting
sedimentologic and petrographic data from
core and outcrop.
• Preliminary studies in reservoir architecture
of tidal sand deposits, Sego Sandstone,
Tocito Sandstone, distal Tocito shelf sands,
northwest New Mexico.
• Quantifying reservoir architecture in the
fluvial/coastal plain deposits of the Prince
Creek,, North Slope Alaska,
• Nature and origin of the Pebble Shale, North
Slope Alaska.
• Shelf sand analogs in offshore North Coast
Trinidad - from an integrated seismic and
sedimentologic analysis
• Architectural response of shelf margin deltas
to syn-depositional tectonics
• Nature of deltas re-visited – time to
reexamine our models and paradigms
Friday morning:
• Nature of and regional influences on
Cretaceous age fluvial-deltaic and deep
water sands in the northern GOM margin.
• Mass transport deposits – continued
literature analysis and high resolution
observations on MTC architecture
• Fill, “strip” and spill models of minibasin
filling, distal Sigsbee Salt escarpment, GOM
• MTC geometries and pressure conditions in
distal GOM settings and their influence on
structure and stratigraphy
•
Quantitative seismic geomorphology of
early Pleistocene basin floor fans and leveed
channels in abyssal plain settings, GOM
2009 Research Plans.
We will forward logistics information as soon as
we have it available. Keep an eye out. We look
forward to seeing you all in Austin!
SUBMARINE
MASS
FAILURES
CONFERENCE to follow 2009 QCL Meeting
The QCLIA Fall 2009 Annual Meeting will be
held immediately preceding the 4th International
Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and
Their Consequences (conference webpage:
http://www.beg.utexas.edu/indassoc/dm2/Confer
ence2009/home.htm) to be held Saturday
November 7th through Wednesday November
12th on the UT Pickle Research Campus. A field
trip led by Dr. Pete Rose on the Geology of the
Texas Wine Country will beheld on Saturday
November 7th, followed by the opening
ceremonies for the conference. Subsequent three
days will be filled with over 90 oral and poster
presentations regarding the deposits and
processes of mass transport/ shelf margin
failures. The conference will include large flume
model demonstrations, a core workshop and a
digital field trip through seismically-imaged
margins around the world. Dr. Lorena
Moscardelli is the Chairman of this international
conference. Early registration is open.
SAND DATABASE
A great deal of quantitative data has been
added to the SANDatabase. We have designed
a new structure to search for analogs by setting
and continue to add summary sheets, research
reports, slide presentations, posters as well as
mapped horizons, grids and maps of important
interpretations. Some of the large inclusions of
data recently added include:
•
Atoka channels morphometric, including
calculated process parameters, mapped
horizons and completed maps, core images
and descriptions
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Ghana deep water tertiary age channel
and levee morphometrics
Summary work on rift basins in the Sunda
Shelf of Indonesia
El Vado unconventional gas shelf sand
data on sedimentology, core description,
logs and correlations, thickness maps,
measured section, thin section descriptions.
Abundant quantitative data on deep water
sand correlation lengths
Searchable access database on deep water
architecture,
sedimentology
and
morphometrics
New spreadsheets on the nature of deltaic
architecture
Finally, on the front page of the SAND link you
will find something called “What is on the QCL
Reading List?” This is intended to be a monthly
location for interesting papers that we are
reading, and that we think might be of key
interest to our member geoscientists. Some will
be old and some will be new, but we think you
will find all of them worth a read.
In addition, to new data, we have added a new
format for locating data that is depositional
setting based, keyed to a continental margin
profile. Check it out and let us know what you
think.
Tarant #1 Core through the Atoka. These
data form the basis for analysis of channel
form versus flow processes in Atoka Channels
of the Fort Worth Basin. All of these research
results are in the SANDatabase for download
Screen dump from the in progress Access
Database of Deep water Architectures,
designed and populated by Glenn Fiedler.
Available
for
download
from
the
SANDatabase.
VISTING WITH QCL IA MEMBERS
We enjoyed another productive month in October 2008 following our annual meeting with ENI_AGIP
Geoscientist Dr. Daniel Minisini. During his visit we focused on the process of moving the images that had
been extracted from 3D seismic data in the Adriatic into ArcGIS and the analyses of those images using
ArcGIS tools. Graduate Researcher Brian Kiel and Sean Sullivan were very helpful in conveying the
processes that they and others had developed to Dr. Minisini. Some of this material will form the basis for
the Fall Short Course to be held during the 2009 annual meeting.
In addition, to hosting Dr. Minisini in an Industry Sabbatical, we enjoyed productive visits from Shell
geoscientists to plan the research program in shelf delta analysis, and hope to host the StatoilHydro
geoscientists before the end of April as well as another review meeting with Shell. In addition, Dr. Wood
will present a talk at the 2009 Noble Energy Technology Conference in mid-April, and we will send a
summary poster to Talisman Energy for presentation at their annual internal technology conference in
April as well. If any of you have similar internal conferences that you desire our involvement in, please
don’t hesitate to ask.
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The Spring is an opportunity to visit many companies. January involved a trip to StatoilHydro in
Bergen, Norway to present research results and talk about future plans. February was a chance to visit with
Anadarko in Houston and early March involved a visit by Wood and Moscardelli to IMP’s offices in
Mexico City to spend several days visiting about research and its applicability to issues of exploration and
development in the southern GOM. We are happy to make all efforts to visit company offices in the U.S.
and abroad. Please let us know if we can arrange a trip to spend some time with your geoscientists, or if
you would like to spend some time in Austin working with our research group.
ENI_Agip Geoscientist Dr. Daniel Minisini
spent several weeks with QCL researchers
looking at methods for interpreting seismic
images in ArcGIS.
Seismic image from offshore Trinidad
showing the complex surface geometry of an
offlapping clinoform. Image by LMoscardelli.
COMPLETED 2008 RESEARCH
ATOKA CHANNEL RESEARCH
BARBADOS TERTIARY-AGE DEEP
WATER DEPOSITS RESEARCH
Vishal Maharaj completed a significant master’s
research project in the Atoka Formation of
northern Fort Worth Basin. Vishal’s research
involved integration of seismic mapping, core
description and log analysis toward an
understanding of the morphometrics, processes
and nature of the deposits that comprise the
Atoka Lower, Middle and Upper intervals in the
Fort Worth Basin of northern Texas. These data
are available for download and use in exploration
and development modeling in these important
hydrocarbon intervals.
Nysha Chaderton has completed four years
of field, subsurface and seismic based research
into the sedimentology, facies, depositional
elements and character of coarse grained deep
water deposits of the Scotland and Oceanic
Formations in the forearc basin setting of the
Tertiary-age Barbados Accretionary Prism. Her
research was supported by a grant from
BHPBilliton. Her study included difficult to
access measured outcrop sections, tied into an
overall depositional framework for the Scotland,
as well as petrographic studies on the
composition and diagenetic history of the
Scotland sandstones. These data led to a better
understanding of the evolution of the Tobago
and Barbados basins, as well as the island of
Barbados itself. Nysha has taken a position with
ExxonMobil in Houston.
Image to the left shows quantitative data on
channel point bar sizes from the Atoka
Lower, Middle and Upper units. Size matters!
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SEDIMENTOLOGY AND REGIONAL
TRENDS IN THE EL VADO TIGHT GAS
SANDS, SAN JUAN BASIN, NEW MEXICO
Tiffany Hedayati completed her master’s
degree in December following a two year study
of the tight gas sands of the El Vado Sandstone
of eastern San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Her
work involved examination of the stratigraphy,
sedimentology and petrography of both northern
and southern exposures of the El Vado, as well
as a regional correlation and subsequent net sand
and isopach maps of these units. These data led
to observations on the regional relationships
between the El Vado , the Dalton and the Tocito
sandstones, and on the variables controlling
reservoir thickness trends. Tiffany has taken a
full time position with ExxonMobil in Houston.
TRINIDAD RESERVOIR ARCHITECTURE
OF FLUVIAL DELTAIC SYSTEMS
Tricia Alvarez has completed 2.5 years of
work on an extremely large 3D seismic database
used to evaluate the seismic geomorphologic
character of the most recent lowstand sequences
of the Trinidad eastern shelf. She has mapped
several surfaces in the upper 1 million years of
strata, whose extents are throughout the entire
Columbus Basin. Tricia is continuing at UT for
her PhD.
MORPHOLOGY AND PROSPECTIVITY
OF RIFT BASINS, SUNDA SHELF
INDONESIA
Darrin Burton has completed a 1.5 year master’s
degree examining the reservoir and seal
character and morphology in the rift basins that
characterize the West Natuna Basin of offshore
Indonesia. Darrin’s work involved 3D seismic
analysis, integrated with available logs and
regional analogs to interpret the paleogeomorphology of these stratigraphically deep,
structurally complex intervals. His work
included observations on the plays and
prospectivity of these settings. Darrin is
continuing for a PhD, currently involved in an
outcrop study of the reservoir architecture of the
Sego and Tocito Sandstones.
PLANNED RESEARCH 2009-2011
In Fall of 2008, two new PhD Candidates
joined the group. In the Spring of 2009 we were
pleased to put forward Vishal Maharaj and
Darrin Burton as candidates to continue on for
their PhD. In addition, we will admit Dolores
Van der Kolk to begin her PhD program in Fall
2009 and Peter Flaig will begin his 2-3 year
post-doctoral appointment. The program also
averages about 2-3 master’s students with ~ 2
year programs. This recent influx of new
scientific talent in the QCL IA will drive our
research focus for the next several years. In
addition, we will continue to entertain new
opportunities as they arise. Research plans
include:
Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of Key
Depositional Systems of the North Slope of
Alaska
• Many of you said two years ago that you
would like to see some work in the North Slope
of Alaska, so we have been working on that
program. Peter Flaig will be joining the research
program in late Fall of 2009 as a post-doctoral
researcher and Dolores van der Kolk is finishing
up her master’s work in Alaska and will continue
at UT for her doctorate. Both of these scientists
bring a strong knowledge base and experience in
study of the structure and stratigraphy of
northern Alaska to the research program. Peter
and Dolores have spent the past 4 years in the
field examining many of the Cretaceous
reservoir and source rocks that characterize the
North Slope fields. We are planning an
extensive data acquisition of digital images this
Fence diagram of basin/fold morphology in
the West Natuna Basin, done by Darrin
Burton as part of his Master’s Degree work.
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summer to compliment the field work that Peter
has already done.
As new data becomes
publically available we hope to expand the work
that Peter and others are doing in the northern
Alaska region.
•
Stefan Punette is in the first year of his
master’s degree, working with an extensive
3D data volume and shallow geotechnical
data to define the morphology and
architecture of shelf sands in offshore
northern Trinidad.
•
Dr. Lorena Moscardelli is integrating 3D
seismic and well logs data, as well as
literature analogs to improve our
understanding of the distribution of facies
within shelf edge deltas, as they interact
with different varieties of shelf edge
structure. Her work is partially funded by a
grant from Shell Nigeria.
Basin fill architecture and morphology in
complex tectonic settings (GOM Focus)
• Jessica Morgan is pursuing her master’s
research on the quantitative seismic
geomorphology of leveed channel deposits
and fans of early Pleistocene age in the Mad
Dog area of the Sigsbee Escarpment, GOM.
Dolores van der Kolk busy planning a
summer field campaign on the North Slope of
Alaska. The cliffs shown across the river
provide a near 15 km long continuous
exposure of the Prince Creek Formation.
Architecture of shelf and shoreline reservoir
systems
• Darrin Burton is digitally mapping the
detailed architecture of reservoir and seal
bodies in outcrops of the Sego Sandstone
and associated units, and of the Tocito
Sandstone near shore and distal shelf
deposits. He is currently scanning whole
core associated with these units to generate
Vshale transforms that can be used in
outcrop Lidar studies. In addition, he plans
to work newly discovered outcrops of the
distal Tocito deposits. His work should lead
to significantly more quantitative, threedimensional data on these types of reservoir
systems for modeling and development.
•
Kadira Singh (MS Candidate) is examining
the nature of a family of mass transport
deposits that characterize the abyssal plain
during Pleistocene times in the Mad Dog
area of the Sigsbee Escarpment, GOM.
•
Kurtus Woolf (PhD Candidate) is starting a
study of the controls on distribution and
nature of late Cretaceous sands (i.e., the
Gray Sand and the Tuscaloosa sands) in the
northern Gulf of Mexico. This will involve
examining the affect that older pre-Tertiary
structural frameworks have on sand
distribution, and mapping and petrographic
work in core, logs and seismic, as well as
outcrop, to examine the affect of provenance
on sandstone occurrence and character.
Figure shown to the left is of a pseudogamma log draped over the Ferron
Sandstone outcrops.
This log was
simulated by Darrin Burton using the
return intensity from Lidar data.
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•
Vishal Maharaj’s PhD research is reexamining the manner in which mini-basin’s
fill, geometry of the fill packages, seismic
character and morphology of facies and
elements that characterize the fills and what
the basin stratigraphy tells us about controls
on basin deposition and distribution of
lithology within these settings.
•
Wie Ruan (PhD Candidate, Chinese
Scholar) is finishing up a study on the
character and morphology of mass transport
deposits within a mini-basin setting in the
Mad Dog area. He is attempting to predict
the lithology and causal mechanisms of
these deposits through their character.
•
Jie Huang (PhD Candidate, Chinese
Scholar) is finishing up a significant body of
work involving detailed seismic and log
study of mini-basin facies, geomorphology
and processes in the Mad Dog area of the
Sigsbee Escarpment, GOM. An interesting
model of fill, “strip” and spill will be
presented at the annual QCL meeting.
RMS Amplitude map from the early
Pleistocene of the Mad Dog area showing nwto-se trending deep marine channel and fan
deposits.
Morocco
Data courtesy of Vanco,
Inc.
NEW DATA SETS IN DEEP WATER
Gulf of Mexico
Courtesy of bp and
We have received several new deep water data
sets for study including one from Plains Energy
in the Taranaki Basin of New Zealand (above)
and more recently one from ConocoPhillips in
the Heidrun area of the North Sea (below).
Comparison of salt front architecture and the
role it plays in sediment bypass to the abyssal
plain is a focus of the deep water research
program. Mini-basin architecture developing
immediately proximal of the salt wall is a
topic of Jie Huang, Wie Raun and Vishal
Maharaj’s research.
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2009 AAPG PRESENTATIONS IN DENVER, COLORADO JUNE 2009
The QCL IA researchers are planning the following activities at the annual AAPG meeting in early
June in Denver, Colorado. As always the materials will be available for download on the
Members Only Website prior to the meeting.
PRESENTER
TOPIC
Wood, L.J.
Deltas and Turbidites in
Martian Lake Settings:
Implications for the
Occurrence of Organic
Matter, Water Body
Distribution and Sediment
Dispersal
Wood, L.J.
Session Co-Chair with Henry
Posamentier "3-D Seismic
Geomodeling"
Singh, K.,
and Wood,
L.J.
Morgan, J.
and Wood,
L.J.
Shew, R.,
Studlick, J.
and Wood, L.
Maharaj, V.
and Wood,
L.J.
Huang, J.,
Wood, L. and
Ruan, W.
Ruan, W.,
Wood, L. and
Huang, J.
Dunlap, D.,
Moscardelli,
L.,
Hornbach,M.
Wood, L.
Geometry and nature of
modern and ancient mass
transport deposits
Quantitative Seismic
Geomorphologic analysis of
early Pliocene-age fans
outboard of the Sigsbee
Escarpment, Mad Dog Area,
northern Gulf of Mexico
THEME
Oral
Theme X: Energy
Minerals in the
Solar System Resources for
the 21st Century X
Theme XIV ORAL: 3-D
Seismic
X
Geomodeling
Theme XV: SEPM
Student
Academic
Research
Theme V: 3-D
Interaction of
Tectonics and
Sedimentation I
Stratigraphy and
Sedimentation
Potential Casual
Mechanisin for MTC
generation of the
Northwest African Shelf
Theme X - The
impacts of
Impacts
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X
Exhibition Hall
Tues June 9th
8:30 - 12:00
RM 205/207
Tuesday
06/09/2009 8:00
AM
X
Exhibition Hall
Tuesday 8:30 12:00
RM 605/607, 10:55
AM 11:15 AM
X
3-D Interaction of
Tectonics and
Sedimentation
Room/Day/Time
Tuesday
06/09/2009 8:00
AM, 108/110/112
X
Theme I: Deep
water core and
outcrop analogs
- Comparison
with Subsurface
and Reservoir
Deep-Water Architectures
and Statistics
Prediction
Theme III:
Siliciclastic
Sedimentology
A Quantitative Paleoand Sequence
Geomorphic Study of the
Analysis for
Fluvio-Deltaic Reservoirs in
Improved
the Atoka Interval, Fort Worth Reservoir
Basin, Texas, U.S.A.
Prediction I
Fill, Strip and Spill model of
minibasin sedimentation,
Mad Dog area, Gulf of Mexico
Mass-transport deposits in
distal confined mini-basin
settings, Mad Dog area, Gulf
of Mexico
Poster
X
X
Exhibition Hall
Wednesday 8:30 12:00
Exhibition Hall
Monday 8:30 12:00
Room 108-112,
Wed 2:40
X
THE SUMMER
Summer is the best time to do field work in North America. July will find Darrin Burton (PhD Candidate)
in the field for data collection in the Sego Sandstone of eastern Utah, interspersed with a summer internship
with Newfield Energy in Denver, Colorado. In addition, a significant field program is planned in the
North Slope of Alaska deposits of the Prince Creek to be carried out by Peter Flaig (incoming Post-doc
currently with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks) and Dolores Van der Kolk (incoming PhD Candidate,
currently with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks). The extent of this program will depend on response
we receive for funding this program in LiDAR outcrop data collection for integration with detailed outcrop
studies previously carried out by this field crew.
Photo by Peter Flaig. Outcrops of the Prince Creek Formation. These same units occur in the
subsurface further north. Continuous exposure offer opportunity to examine these highly heterolithic
deposit types in outcrop, and integrate those observations with subsurface 3D seismic.
Following instructing our UT undergraduate field camp in eastern Utah during late May, Lesli Wood will
attend AAPG to be followed by a one week stint leading the 10th grade group of GeoFORCE in a field trip
across eastern Nevada and western Arizona.
Several students will be working on their research at the BEG over the summer supported by the QCL IA.
Kurtus Woolf (PhD Candidate), Thomas Brothers (PhD Candidate), Tricia Alvarez (PhD Candidate),
Vishal Maharaj (PhD Candidate), and Anmar Davila (MS 2010) will all spend their summers working on
their research programs. In addition, Stefan Punette (MS 2010) will spend time in both Trinidad and
Austin continuing his masters work. Jessica Morgan (MS 2010) and Kadira Singh (MS 2009) will be
enjoying internships in Houston.
Finally, Jie Huang and Wie Ruan (Chinese Scholars) will be finishing up two years of research with the
QCL IA (Wie Ruan also works with the RioMAR program), writing up their observations regarding deep
water sedimentation and minibasin fill processes and returning to Beijing at the end of August. We look
forward to working with them until the termination of their program. They have added an immense talent
to the research program.
Peter Flaig
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Contacting QCL IA Staff
The table below provides contact information for the primary personnel of the Quantitative
Clastics Laboratory Industrial Associates Program.
Lesli J. Wood, Researcher
Lorena Moscardelli, Researcher
Dallas Dunlap, Researcher
John Andrews, Programmer
Paula Beard, Webmaster
Email: lesli.wood@beg.utexas.edu
Email: moscardellil@mail.utexas.edu
Email: dallas.dunlap@beg.utexas.edu
Email: john.andrews@beg.utexas.edu
Email: paula.beard@beg.utexas.edu
Sean Sullivan,GRA
Email: sullivansmi@mail.utexas.edu
Vishal Maharaj, GRA
Email: maharaj.vishal@gmail.com
Tiffany Hedayati, GRA
Email: thedayati@gmail.com
Tricia Alvarez, GRA
Brian Kiel, GRA
Stefan Punette, GRA
Jessica Morgan, GRA
Darrin Burton, GRA
Anmar Davila, GRA
Kadira Singh, GRA
Jie Huang, visiting Chinese scholar
Kurtus Woolf, GRA
Thomas Brothers, GRA
Email: talvarez@mail.utexas.edu
Email: brian.a.kiel@gmail.com
Email:morganj@mail.utexas.edu
Email:darrinburton@hotmail.com
Email:Anmar.davila@mail.utexas.edu
Email: Kadira.singh@mail.utexas.edu
Email: jie.huang@mail.utexas.edu
QCL IA Website: http://www.beg.utexas.edu/indassoc/dm2/index.htm
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