Workshop: Deep water reservoir architecture - a virtual field trip from around the World?

Deep water sedimentary systems form major hydrocarbon reservoirs and potential CO2 stores around the World. They commonly occur in areas where drilling is expensive and subsequent well data are sparse. Depositional architecture, controlled by a variety of factors such as basin topography and position within the deep water system, is the fundamental control on reservoir performance. Given that many of the heterogeneities that impact flow occur at scales that are below the resolution of the available seismic data, the proficient use of outcrop analogues becomes critical to understand reservoir architecture. Virtual Outcrops are 3D representations of cliffs sections with significant geology. They can be used to produce virtual fieldtrips which allow the user/audience to visit multiple outcrop sections from around the world, sampling the best example of the variety of sedimentology in an easy and efficient manner.

This half day virtual fieldtrip will visit over 20 different outcrop locations, following a transect down an idealised  deep water depositional system. From canyon deposits in Spain and Mexico, through slope systems in the Pyrenees and New Zealand to basin floor deposits in South Africa and Ireland. We will compare confined systems from the Maritime Alps, look at the effects of salt topography in Basque Cantabria and at the role of drift processes in reworking turbidite deposits.

The Virtual Fieldtrip will be instructor led but participants will be invited to follow along on their own computers if they want.

An earlier version of this VFT can be found at: Force VFS4 DeepMarine.

Delivered by:

Professor John Howell, Chair of Virtual Geoscience, University of Aberdeen.

Please note this workshop is only open for registered attendees for the Deepwater Sandstones Conference.