Wood, AM, Paton, DA and Collier, REL (2015) The missing complexity in seismically imaged normal faults: What are the implications for geometry and production response? Geological Society Special Publications: Industrial Structural Geology: Principles, Techniques and Integration., 421. ISSN 0305-8719
Abstract
The impact of geometric uncertainty on across-fault flow behaviour at the scale of individual intra-reservoir faults is investigated in this study. A high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of a faulted outcrop is used to construct an outcrop-scale geocellular grid capturing high-resolution fault geometries (5 m scale). Seismic forward modelling of this grid allows generation of a 3D synthetic seismic cube, which reveals the corresponding seismically resolvable fault geometries (12.5 m scale). Construction of a second geocellular model, based upon the seismically resolvable fault geometries, allows comparison with the original outcrop geometries. Running fluid flow simulations across both models enables us to assess quantitatively the impact of outcrop resolution versus seismic resolution fault geometries upon across-fault flow. The results suggest that seismically resolvable fault geometries significantly underestimate the area of across-fault juxtaposition relative to realistic fault geometries. In turn this leads to overestimates in the sealing ability of faults, and inaccurate calculation of fault plane properties such as transmissibility multipliers (TMs).
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Geological Society Special Publications. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | seismic resolution; normal faults; forward modelling; fluid flow simulation |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Institute for Applied Geosciences (IAG) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 14 Oct 2015 10:45 |
Last Modified: | 05 Nov 2016 01:20 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP421.12 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Geological Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1144/SP421.12 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:90621 |