Bureau of Economic Geology

November 24, 2009

Areas of Focus
DM²-GIS ArcView Database	Shale Tectonics and Mud Volcanoes
Tectonic Evolution of Basins	Gas Hydrate Studies
Deep Marine Margin Architecture

DM²-GIS ArcView Database

The database contains abundant previously published information, as well as new observations and interpretations in a user friendly format.

Click on all images to enlarge

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.

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.

Tectonic Evolution of Basins

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.

Deep Marine Margin Architecture

Shelf-to-slope image of the seafloor bathymetry in eastern offshore Trinidad from composited 3D seismic data sets.

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.

Shale Tectonics and Mud Volcanoes

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.

Numerous mud volcanos in the deep slope and basin areas of offshore eastern Trinidad show multiple and recent episodes of flow.

Gas Hydrate Studies

Bottom simulating reflector in eastern offshore Trinidad indicating the presence of frozen methane above the bright reflector and free gas below.

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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