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DM2-GIS
ArcView Database |
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database contains abundant previously published information,
as well as new observations and interpretations in a user
friendly format. |
Click
on all images to enlarge
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| This
project involves using a GIS database and set of tools
within ArcInfo and Arcview for interactive interpretation
of depositional systems in the eastern offshore province
of Trinidad and eastern Venezuela. This data will be very
valuable to current and future sponsor's exploration and
development efforts. The project team is mapping numerous
Late Pleistocene to Holocene horizons and architectural
element classes from multiple, contiguous 3-D seismic
data sets, as well as high resolution hazards survey seismic
data, integrated with shallow well and drop core information.
The project team will identify and map successive sequences
and cross-slope-to-basin sediment transport axes to help
guide petroleum reservoir prediction in slope, deep basin
and sub-thrust plays. |
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| The
DM2 data structure is custom tailored for regional mapping and
analysis of stratigraphic sequences, seismic facies and depositional
element architecture. The DM2-GIS allows multiple types of data
to be stored in one data structure. A custom interface will
allow users to display maps of depositional systems, architectural
or structural elements within a specific sequence or systems
tract, display linked seismic lines and view core images or
quantitative sedimentologic data of a specific facies. This
system has been used to great success by similar UT projects
such as the Gulf Basin Depositional Systems Consortium and the
Gulf Basin Slope Consortium. The system can be used by people
who are not GIS specialists. |
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Tectonic
Evolution of Basins |
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Tectonics plays
a pivotal role in the form and fill of sedimentary basins. There
are few hydrocarbon prolific basins in the world where sediment
fill is not influenced by active tectonics. Tectonics and sediment
fill architecture, however, are often not considered in tandem during
a research project.
The current
study sits in a tectonically-active, transpressional settings. Onshore-to-offshore
mapping of active strike-slip faults, thrusts, normal faults, and
shale diapirs assist in understanding the control that regional
structure plays inepisodes of deep marine sedimentation. A regional
GIS database provides the foundation for integrating local observations
with regional structural and sedimentation patterns.
The
tectonic elements and mud diapier fields of eastern offshore Trinidad.
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Deep Marine
Margin Architecture
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| Shelf-to-slope
image of the seafloor bathymetry in eastern offshore Trinidad
from composited 3D seismic data sets. |
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Higher
resolution 3D seismic surveys enable us to look at the entire source-to-sink
systems and examine occurrence and distribution of various deep marine
architectural elements, quantify their relationship to slope, bathymetry,
structural features, etc.Our goal is to provide a quantitative database
of architectural dimensions, cumulative probability curves and larger-scale
observational relationships among various deep water elements that
comprise the shelf-to-basin system. These data will enable geoscientists
and to reduce their uncertainty in exploration and design of development
plans. |
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Shale Tectonics
and Mud Volcanoes
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| Many
hydrocarbon-bearing basins in the world are characterized by mobile
shale substrates (i.e., East Maturin, Venezuela; Caspian Sea; MacKenzie
Delta, Canada; New Zealand; Gulf of Mexico; Niger Delta; Indonesia;
Nile Delta, Egypt; onshore Reconcavo and northern offshore Brazil;
Indol-Kuban, Russia). One of the goals of DM2 research is to understand
the nature and evolution of these basins, interpretation philosophies
and best practices. This includes understanding the role that mobile
shales play in trap development, migration and development of sediment
pathways. |
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| Numerous
mud volcanos in the deep slope and basin areas of offshore eastern
Trinidad show multiple and recent episodes of flow. |
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Gas Hydrate Studies |
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| Bottom
simulating reflector in eastern offshore Trinidad indicating
the presence of frozen methane above the bright reflector and
free gas below. |
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Gas hydrate
occurrence and behavior is a critical component in understanding
the evolution and condition of any deep marine margin. The DM2 team
is mapping gas hydrate occurrence in both 3D and 2D seismic data,
examining data from wells and drop core that have sampled hydrate
and building an understanding of how to interprete and predict hydrate
behavior and impact that behavior has on margin evolution and hazards
assessment.
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