Integration of Ground Penetrating Radar with Conventional Stratigraphic, and Lidar Data to Investigate the Three-Dimensional Geometry of a Tidal-Inlet Reservoir Analog, Upper Ferron Sandstone, Utah
Tidal-inlet sandstone reservoirs typically have a complex geometry and distribution of heterogeneities. A set of Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys, combined with detailed outcrop stratigraphic analysis and ground-based Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) data, was collected in the Upper Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Formation, Utah. The main objective was to delineate the submeter-scale internal structures of a tidal-inlet depositional system. The study area is 16 km2 and contains a series of five 20-m-high cliff faces in canyons that allow an excellent 3D outcrop characterization. Stratigraphic and Lidar data were used to describe the stratigraphic architecture and evolution of the tidal-inlet in detail. A set of 3D and 2D GPR surveys were carried out to better understand the 3D geometry of individual tidal bars. This GPR survey set comprises one 3D survey (12 m x 23 m) acquired using 50 MHz antennas, and fourteen 2D profiles acquired using 50 and 100 MHz antennas. The GPR reflections are obtained down to 20 m depth. Three radar facies are identified in the GPR volume and correspond to laterally imbricate tidal-inlet sandstones, thin-bedded delta-front deposits, and coal-bearing muddy sediments. The coal-bearing facies represent highstand deposits overlain by tidally influenced, low-angle, thin lowstand delta-front foreset beds that were truncated by a series of laterally migrating tidal-inlet sand bars. This integrated multi-disciplinary approach demonstrates how high-resolution geological and geophysical outcrop data can be combined to better understand complex depositional systems and to provide pertinent information for enhancing reservoir models.
Architectural Elements: Modern and Outcrop Analogs for Modeling Reservoirs I (SEPM/AAPG)
2007 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition (April 1 - 4, 2007) Technical Program