Impact of Local Accommodation on the Architecture and Stacking Patterns of Three Capistrano Formation Slope Channel Outcrops: San Clemente, Dana Point Harbor and Point Fermin, California

Renaud Bouroullec¹, David, R. Pyles², Daniel, E. Schwartz³, David, C. Jennette⁴, and Florence Bonnaffé¹. (1) Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, University Station, Box X, Austin, TX 78713-8924, phone: 512-471-4971, Renaud.Bouroullec@beg.utexas.edu, (2) Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, (3) Shell International Exploration & Production Inc, P.O. Box 576, Houston, TX 77001-0576, (4) E&P Technology, Apache Corporation, 2000 Post Oak Blvd, Houston, TX 77056

The stratigraphy of deep-water reservoirs is partially related to local accommodation at the time of deposition. Three outcrops of the upper Miocene-Pliocene Capistrano Formation allow to document contrasting channelized slope depositional systems and the effects of local accommodation on slope channel architecture and stacking pattern. Stratigraphic columns, paleocurrent, photomosaic and lidar data were collected to address the stratigraphy and evolution of each depositional system.

The three slope channel systems studied incised into slope mudstone of the middle to upper Miocene Monterey Formation. They contain similar lithofacies that vary in their proportions and distribution. The architectural elements are also similar at each exposure but vary in their dimensions, geometries and stacking patterns. The San Clemente exposure shows a 20 m thick, 500 m wide, laterally accreting meandering slope channel complex composed of ten non-amalgamated and amalgamated channels. The amount of confinement and stacking patterns indicate a low accommodation at the time of deposition. The Dana Point Harbor exposure shows a 30 m thick, 900 m wide, channel complex set formed by three laterally accreting and two vertically stacking channel complexes. The accommodation is low to moderate and is locally impacted by large sand volcanoes formed at the base of the early channel complex cut. The Point Fermin exposure shows a 45 m thick, 500 m wide syn-depositional half graben filled with Capistrano deposits. The strata vary, both upward and laterally toward the steep side of the half-graben, from MTC-dominated to channel-dominated. This architecture reflects high differential accommodation that varies laterally. These detailed tectono-stratigraphic outcrop analog studies allow better prediction of the heterogeneity, geometry and connectivity of deep-water channelized petroleum reservoirs.

Understanding Slope Processes I (SEPM)
2007 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition (April 1 - 4, 2007) Technical Program