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Szerbiak1583 PDF
Szerbiak1583 PDF
Szerbiak1583 PDF
determined from outcrop, cores, Rucsandra M. Corbeanu received her B.Sc. degree in
geoscience from the University of Bucharest, Faculty of
Geology and Geophysics, Romania, in 1991 and is
and 3-D ground-penetrating currently working toward her Ph.D. in geology at the
University of Texas at Dallas. Rucsandras interests include
all aspects of reservoir characterization, geostatistics, and
radar: Example from the ground-penetrating radar applications.
Sandstone, east-central Utah Kristian Soegaard received his high school degree in
Denmark in 1974, his B.Sc. honors degree in geology
from the University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1980, and his Ph.D. from
Rucsandra M. Corbeanu, Kristian Soegaard, Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, in
Robert B. Szerbiak, John B. Thurmond, 1984. Kriss interests are in description and interpretation
of sedimentary systems at all scales and of all ages.
George A. McMechan, Deming Wang, Steven Snelgrove,
Craig B. Forster, and Ari Menitove Robert B. Szerbiak University of Texas at
Dallas, 2601 N. Floyd Road, Richardson, Texas, 75080
Robert Szerbiak received his B.S. degree (1971) in
geoscience at Michigan State University and an M.S.
degree (1980) in geophysics from Texas A&M University
ABSTRACT and is currently working toward his Ph.D. in geophysics at
the University of Texas at Dallas. His interests include
Ideally, characterization of hydrocarbon reservoirs requires infor- reservoir characterization and shallow geophysics, uid-
ow modeling, geostatistics, ground-penetrating radar,
mation about heterogeneity at a submeter scale in three dimensions. and effective medium theory.
Detailed geologic information and permeability data from surface
and cliff face outcrops and boreholes in the alluvial part of the Fer- John B. Thurmond Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 54-913,
ron Sandstone are integrated here with three-dimensional (3-D) Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139
ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data for analysis of a near-surface John Thurmond is currently working on his Ph.D, in
sandstone reservoir analog in uvial channel deposits. The GPR sur- carbonate sedimentology at the Massachusetts Institute of
vey covers a volume with a surface area of 40 16.5 m and a depth Technology. He received his B.S. degree in geology with
highest honors from the University of Texas at Dallas in
of 12 m. Five architectural elements are identied and described in 1997. His work currently involves 3-D mapping of
outcrop and well cores, using a sixfold hierarchy of bounding sur- carbonate stratigraphy to understand evolving
morphologies and the processes that control them.
faces. Internally, the lower four units consist of ne-grained,
parallel-laminated sandstone, and the upper unit consists of George A. McMechan University of Texas at
medium-grained, trough cross-bedded sandstone. The same sedi- Dallas, 2601 N. Floyd Road, Richardson, Texas, 75080;
mcmec@utdallas.edu
mentary architectural elements and associated bounding surfaces
George McMechan received a B.A.Sc. degree in
are distinguished in the GPR data by making use of principles de- geophysical engineering from the University of British
veloped in seismic stratigraphic analysis. Columbia in 1970 and an M.Sc. degree in geophysics
from the University of Toronto in 1971. His main research
To facilitate comparison of geologic features in the depth do- interests are waveeld imaging, 3-D seismology, reservoir
main and radar reectors in the time domain, the radar data are characterization, and ground-penetrating radar.
depth migrated. The GPR interpretation is carried out mainly on
Deming Wang University of Texas at Dallas,
migrated 100 MHz data with a vertical resolution of about 0.5 m. 2601 N. Floyd Road, Richardson, Texas, 75080
Measures of the spatial continuity and variation of the rst- and Deming Wang received a B.S. degree with honors (1986)
second-order bounding surfaces are obtained by computing 3-D ex- in exploration geophysics from Hefei Polytechnic
University, China, an M.S. degree (1993) in geophysics
perimental variograms for each architectural element (each radar from Peking University, China, and an M.S. degree (2000)
in geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas. He
has done research on prestack imaging and crosshole
Copyright 2001. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. imaging.
Manuscript received October 27, 1999; revised manuscript received September 14, 2000; nal acceptance
November 9, 2000.
sequences (SC4, SC5) are considered aggradational, deposition of parasequence set 3 is more north-south
with sea level slowly rising and balanced by sediment oriented (approximately 345 azimuth) than that of
input. The nal two sequences (SC6, SC7) are retro- the underlying and overlying parasequence sets (Gar-
gradational with relative sea level rising at an increasing rison et al., 1997). The channels at Coyote basin are
rate (Gardner, 1995). generally straight or of low sinuosity (Garrison et al.,
Each sequence or stratigraphic cycle is capped by 1997).
a major coal bed or coal zone. Recent work of Garrison
et al. (1997) identied at least 12 parasequence sets
that appear to form four high-frequency, fourth-order FIELD DATA
depositional sequences (FS1 to FS4) within the upper
part of the Ferron Sandstone clastic wedge (Figure 2). The Coyote basin site contains a surface area of 40
The uvial channel complex at Coyote basin is located 16.5 m on the mesa top (Figure 3) and 45 12 m
at the top of stratigraphic cycle SC3 of Gardner (1995) vertical exposure at the adjacent cliff face. The data
or parasequence set 3, in the FS2 sequence of Garrison consist of detailed sedimentologic, stratigraphic, and
et al. (1997) (Figure 2). SC3 is capped by coal zone C petrophysical data and 3-D GPR data. A leveling sur-
and is represented at Coyote basin by nonmarine facies vey provided accurate topographic corrections and a
associations composed of large distributary channel reference datum for all data sets. For reference, the
belts (Garrison et al., 1997). The paleoshoreline during volume extent of the survey is roughly equal to the size
Figure 2. Generalized cross section of upper part of the Ferron Sandstone clastic wedge (modied from Garrison et al., 1997). Stratigraphic location of survey site at Coyote
basin is illustrated. See Figure 1 for location of cross section. Letters A to M identify marker coal horizons; SB1 to SB5 are sequence boundaries; FS1 to FS4 are fourth-order
sequences; 1a to 8b are parasequence sets.
1587
Figure 3. Surface geology of the GPR survey site at Coyote basin. Heavy black lines represent conjugate fracture set oriented
northwest-southeast and northeast-southwest, and the cliff face. CB1 through CB5 are locations of measured stratigraphic sections at
the cliff face. A through D are locations of boreholes from which cores were extracted. The map shows the location of the cliff face
(Figure 4), trough cross-bed outcrop (Figure 12), the 3-D grid, and a 200 MHz GPR crossline at x 31.5 m (Figure 13). The origin
(x,y) (0,0) is at the southeast corner of the GPR grid; the total grid size is (x,y) (40.0,16.5) m.
SOUTH NORTH
Ferron Sandstone Internal Architecture
200
300
100
800
400
600
200
200
300
100
400
600
300
100
800
800
400
600
300
200
100
800
400
600
200
F
300
100
800
400
600
UNIT 5
E
UNIT 4
D
UNIT 3
C
UNIT 2
B
UNIT 1
A
300
150
0
800
600
400
Massive & Parallel-Laminated Fine-Grained Sandstone
Mudstone-Intraclast Conglomerate
Mudstone
Figure 4. Sedimentary facies map of the cliff face at Coyote basin. Higher-order bounding surfaces (A through E, in red) outline major architectural elements (units 1 through
5). Surface F is the topographic surface. Less-signicant, lower-order bounding surfaces are in black. Exposed surfaces are shown as solid lines; dashed lines are inferred where
outcrop is covered. Also shown are ve measured stratigraphic sections (CB1 through CB5) in which primary sedimentary structures, textural information, permeability, and
gamma-ray data were recorded. The position of the outcrop relative to the 3-D GPR grid is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 5. Paleocurrent mea-
surements for the upper surface
of the uvial sandstone. The
paleocurrent rose diagrams are
exclusively for the uppermost
unit, unit 5, of the channel
complex and represent ow di-
rection inferred from medium-
scaled trough cross-beds. The
general progradation direction
of the parasequence set 3, in
the upper part of FS2 sequence
of the upper Ferron Sandstone
delta complex (Garrison et al.,
1997) is illustrated using the
heavy arrow. The orientation of
the 211 cross-beds in relation
to parasequence set 3 paleo-
geography is explained as a lo-
cal phenomenon of the radial
sediment dispersal pattern in
delta systems. The trough cross-
bedded sandstone in unit 5 is
interpreted as a channel bar.
The GPR survey site is located
in an upstream position on the
bar. A possible areal extent of
the barform (the stippled re-
gion) and the corresponding
cross sectional geometry and
internal reectors (cross-bed
cosets), illustrated below, are
schematically extended from
outcrop facies maps.
strong decay of the amplitude down a radar trace due where h is the separation distance between two data
to radar signal attenuation, and also by changes in radar points (the lag), N(h) is the number of pairs of data
facies both vertically and laterally (Rea and Knight, points separated by h, xi is the data value at one of the
1998). To compensate for radar signal attenuation an points of the ith pair, and yi is the corresponding data
automatic gain control (AGC) with a window length value at the second point. Equation 1 can be applied
of 2.5 m was applied to each GPR trace after migra- to 1-D, 2-D, or 3-D data sets. For 3-D data, the sep-
tion. Between proles, the GPR amplitudes were nor- aration vector h is specied together with its direction
malized relative to the maximum amplitude value in dened by three angles, azimuth, dip, and plunge
the survey. To account for changes in radar facies, the (Deutsch and Journel, 1998).
migrated GPR volume was subdivided into four units In most geologic data sets, the data values along
(referred to as units 2 to 5) dened by specic radar certain directions are more coherent than along others.
facies, prior to the variogram computations. The direction with best continuity represents the max-
The experimental variograms were computed for imum correlation direction of the data set. The
the 3-D GPR relative amplitude data within each GPR minimum correlation direction is perpendicular to the
facies using the equation (Deutsch and Journel, 1998) maximum correlation direction. The ratio between
minimum and maximum correlation lengths is the
anisotropy factor (Isaaks and Srivastava, 1989). Com-
(xi yi)2 monly, variograms are presented as 1-D curves along
c(h) (1)
2N(h) a particular direction. A more global view of the
Figure 6. Input and output of the synthetic radargram modeling at well A. Panel (A) shows details 1 m from the core emphasizing
the correlation between lithology and permeability. Panel (B) shows the lithofacies model and the permeability prole on which the
synthetic radargram was built, together with the interval velocity prole resulting from the radargram modeling. Panel (C) contains
the synthetic radargram for well A (in the middle) and ve traces from the 3-D GPR volume adjacent to well A (on either side). E and
A/B are two major bounding surfaces interpreted in outcrop and boreholes and identied using GPR reections in time proles. These
two surfaces provide ties that control the average velocity facies from which velocity correlation functions were obtained.
Depth (m) 4 4
6 6
Depth (m)
8 8
10 10
12 12 6.66
14 14
16 16
4 Unit 5 4
E -6.66
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
6 6
Unit 4
8 D 8
10 Unit 3 10
C
12 Unit 2 12
A/B B
14 14 -13.1
A x 1000
16 16
10 meters
Figure 7. Uninterpreted (upper panel) and interpreted (lower panel) GPR proles from the migrated 3-D 100 MHz volume, connecting wells A, C, D, and B. Lithologic columns
and permeability proles from each well are shown for correlation with the GPR reectors. Colored lines in the lower panel show the interpreted bounding surfaces (A/B to E);
red arrows below interpreted surfaces C to E show the truncation of the GPR reections against the third- and fourth-order erosional surfaces. The dashed rectangle in the lower
right corner shows the location of the area analyzed using instantaneous frequency in Figure 9. The dashed red line marks the continuous, strong GPR event tracked from wells
A, C, and D, which correlates with the top of unit 1 (surface B) and obscures below the reection corresponding to the upper bounding surface of the ood-plain mudstone
(surface A). The black arrow in the upper panel marks the reduced amplitude reection correlated with surface A.
(A)
(h)
1.60
0.2
N 1.20
0.0 (XZ)
Z
-0.2 0.80
(XY)
-0.4
3.0 N 0.40
2.0 (YZ)
1.0 0.00
4.0
0.0 3.0
Y 2.0
-1.0 1.0
0.0
-2.0 -1.0
-2.0 X
-3.0 -4.0 -3.0
(B)
Nested structure = spherical + exponential Nested structure = gaussian + exponential
1.20
1.00
0.80
(h)
0.60
0.40
Unit Facies Correlation Direction* Model Range Nugget Sill Anisotropy Factor
Unit 5 Trough cross-bed Maximum Azimuth 90 Spherical exponential 5.75 0.0 0.70
0.59
Dip 7 15.00 0.0 0.35
Minimum Azimuth 0 Gaussian exponential 3.40 0.0 0.80
0.53
Dip 0 8.00 0.0 0.30
Unit 4 Scour and ll Maximum Azimuth 90 Gaussian exponential 5.00 0.0 0.70
0.6
Dip 0 12.50 0.0 0.30
Minimum Azimuth 0 Gaussian exponential 3.00 0.0 0.65
0.8
Dip 0 10.00 0.0 0.45
Unit 3 Scour and ll Maximum Azimuth 90 Gaussian exponential 4.00 0.0 0.70
0.75
Dip 0 15.00 0.0 0.35
Minimum Azimuth 0 Gaussian exponential 3.00 0.0 0.65
0.53
Dip 0 8.00 0.0 0.32
Unit 2 Scour and ll Maximum Azimuth 90 Gaussian exponential 4.20 0.0 0.65
0.95
Dip 0 15.00 0.0 0.35
Minimum Azimuth 0 Gaussian exponential 4.00 0.0 0.80
0.67
Dip 0 10.00 0.0 0.40
*By convention the azimuth is measured clockwise from the y axis, whereas dip is measured clockwise toward the z axis (Deutsch and Journel, 1998).
GPR reection from surface A, and where unit 1 unit 1 pinches out or is thinner than the vertical reso-
pinches out against surface A and becomes thinner lution and is no longer resolved by the 100 MHz GPR
than one-quarter of the wavelength, differentiating be- data.
tween the two surfaces A and B becomes more difcult The contour map with the depths of surface A/B
because of tuning effects. Displaying radar data with (Figure 9) shows a general dip of the surface toward
other attributes, such as instantaneous frequency, clar- the northwest and an erosional depression in the north-
ies the position of the A/B surface at well B and ern part of the survey, more accentuated around well
throughout the northern part of the survey. The in- B where the scour-and-ll element 1 has its maximum
stantaneous frequency attribute is the time derivative thickness.
of the instantaneous phase and represents a measure of
the frequency of the waveform at every sample. Lateral Fine-Grained, Parallel-Laminated Sandstone Facies
heterogeneity, including pinch-outs or abrupt changes Association: Units 1 to 4
in lithofacies, tends to change the instantaneous fre-
quency more rapidly. If this is the case, then the GPR Sedimentologic Description
reection of surface A/B around well B is not a mistie Units 1 to 4 cover approximately the lower 7 m of
but the product of a composite reection due to abrupt the channel complex and consist of ne-grained len-
lateral changes in facies not resolved by the 100 MHz ticular sandstone bodies that pinch out over distances
GPR. Figure 10 shows a comparison of the instanta- of several tens of meters parallel to the cliff face (Fig-
neous frequency attribute for the GPR data in two pro- ure 4). Internally, these architectural elements consist
les, one running through well B (see also Figure 7) of low-angle, parallel-laminated, ne-grained sand-
and the other located farther eastward, nearer the cliff stone that scour into underlying, similar parallel-
face. The dashed line in Figure 10A delineates the laminated sandstone. The base of each of unit (1 to
strong continuous GPR event B (interpreted on the 4) is erosional and commonly has mudstone intraclast
relative amplitude display in Figure 7 as corresponding conglomerate along the basal scour. Locally, the ero-
to the mudstone intraclast conglomerate at 14 m depth sional scours can have a steep cut relief of almost 1
in well B), and the attenuated reection from the top m lled with mudstone intraclast conglomerate (see
bounding surface of ood-plain mudstone is shown by Figure 4 near section CB1 at depths of 9 and 12 m)
solid line A. In Figure 10B, the two GPR events cor- resulting in abrupt lateral changes in thickness of
responding to surfaces A and B become coincident, as conglomerate layers. The upper part of units 1 to 4
Figure 9. Depth contour maps of the four surfaces (A/B to E) that bound the major architectural elements in the uvial sandstone at Coyote basin; depths are in meters, and
the depth contour increment is 0.25 m. These contours maps are generated from the 100 MHz migrated GPR data and are relative to the GPR horizontal datum. A to D are
locations of the wells inside the GPR grid. Notice the abrupt erosional depression around well B on surface A/B, the relatively at character of surfaces C and D, and the erosional
scour oriented parallel with the paleoow on surface E.
1599
(A)
S B N
7.5 7.5
10.0 10.0
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
150.00
12.5 12.5
17.5 17.5
20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0
72.00
(B) X (m)
S N
7.5 7.5
33.10
10.0 10.0
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
5.88
12.5 12.5
A/B
15.0 15.0
17.5 17.5
20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0
X (m)
Figure 10. Instantaneous frequency displays of the northern half and lower 10 m of two GPR proles. (A) The GPR prole through
well B at y 12.0 m; (B) the prole at y 7.0 m. The continuous line in (A) is the interpretation of the A/B surface revealed as
a composite reection due to the gradational character of the contact; the dashed line marks the continuous GPR reector, which is
interpreted as the top of unit 1 (see also Figure 6). In panel (B) the two continuous lines show complete coincidence as apparently
unit 1 is pinched out or thins beyond the vertical resolution of the GPR data.
are capped by mudstone layers, generally 510 cm sion about the mean value is observed in units 2 and
thick, which are also laterally discontinuous because 3 (see Figures 4, 7; Table 2).
of truncation by the overlying unit (Figure 4). Per- Units 1 to 4 are interpreted as scour-and-ll ele-
meabilities measured in units 1 to 4 are on the order ments deposited during ood events within a uvial
of tens of millidarcys with very low values (a few channel. Because units 1 to 4 are covered beyond the
millidarcys) in the mudstone and mudstone intraclast extent of the 45 m survey area, the larger-scale sedi-
conglomerate intervals. The lowest average perme- mentologic architecture is not revealed in outcrop for
ability is measured in unit 4, but the highest disper- the lower part of the channel complex.
~ 1 to 270 md
Mean ~50 md
Std ~40 md
~ 1 to 80 md
Unit 4
Mean ~20 md
Low-angle, parallel-laminated, Std ~10 md
~ 1 to 80 md
Unit 2
Mean ~30 md
Std ~15 md
GPR Interpretation structural dip, and have limited erosional relief (Fig-
GPR reections in approximately the lower 7 m of ure 9).
the data volume correlate well with second-order A cube view of the 3-D GPR data shows, on a
bounding surfaces between sandstone layers and horizontal amplitude slice cut at constant depth
mudstone or mudstone intraclast conglomerate lay- through unit 3 (Figure 11), high-amplitude zones
ers because these correspond to a signicant change correlated with mudstone and mudstone intraclast
in electrical properties between the three lithologies. conglomerate layers striking approximately north-
The irregularity in thickness and shape of these south and dipping slightly toward the east.
mudstone and conglomerate layers is evident in the The mudstone and conglomerate layers inside
GPR images as discontinuous, irregular reections units 2 to 4 could affect uid ow if these layers
(Figures 7, 11). Many layers that are signicantly are continuous. Commonly, the mudstone and con-
thinner than 0.5 m are not resolved using the 100 glomerate layers are laterally discontinuous in out-
MHz GPR data (see Figure 7 at 10.5 m depth crop, and GPR reectors display the same pattern.
around wells C and D). The GPR radar facies identied in units 2 to 4 con-
Third-order bounding surfaces C and D, inter- tain subparallel, discontinuous GPR reections (Fig-
preted in the GPR proles, are continuous surfaces ures 7, 11; Table 1). Units 2 to 4 are characterized
dened by downlap or truncation of second-order by generally similar radar facies in terms of conti-
reections above and below the third-order surfaces, nuity and conguration of reections, with more dis-
respectively (Figures 7, 11). Both surfaces C and D continuous GPR reections in units 2 and 3 related
dip gently toward the north, following the regional to higher variability in permeability values (Table 2).
5.0
E
Relative
amplitude
Depth (m)
1.0
D N
10.0 Uni 0.5
t5
C
A/B 0.0
Un
it 4
15.0
0.0
-0.5
10.0 Uni
t3
-1.0
20.0 15.0
X (m) Unit
2
10.0
30.0
5.0 Y (m)
40.0
Figure 11. Cube display of the 3-D GPR data, made of two lines at y 1.5 m and y 10.5 m, two crosslines at x 18 m and x 40 m, and two horizontal slices at z
4 m and z 9.5 m. The x and y axes coincide with the long and short axes of the GPR grid (Figure 3). Red, blue, orange, and green labels on the left side of the cube mark
the interpreted A/B, C, D, and E bounding surfaces, respectively. Inside the vertical GPR proles, the purple arrows mark downlap, onlap, and truncation of the GPR reections
against the major bounding surfaces. The relation between high-GPR-amplitude zones on the horizontal slice and the inclined reections on the vertical proles in unit 5 is
illustrated using thin black lines portraying the climbing cross-beds in the vertical plane and their shape on the surface. In unit 5, the black arrows show paleoow direction, and
in unit 3 they show the dip direction of the mudstone and mudstone intraclast conglomerate layers.
Geostatistical Interpretation complex) consists exclusively of medium- to large-
To quantify the lateral extent of mudstone and con- scale, trough cross-bedded, medium-grained sandstone
glomerate layers, from the continuity of the corre- (Figure 4). Permeabilities in unit 5 are in the range of
sponding GPR reections, experimental variograms are few hundreds of millidarcys with high dispersion about
computed for each unit from the GPR relative ampli- the mean (Table 2).
tude data, along both maximum and minimum corre- This trough cross-bedded unit is lenticular in ge-
lation directions. The maximum correlation directions ometry with a relatively at (erosional) base and a con-
of the GPR amplitude data coincide with the long side vex upper surface (Figure 5). The base of unit 5 is de-
of the GPR grid in all units (Table 1). The data in the ned by surface E both in outcrop (Figure 4) and in
experimental variogram are tted with a nested struc- the interpreted GPR volume (Figures 7, 11). Unit 5
ture composed of two basic models: Gaussian and has been mapped outside the GPR survey area and ex-
exponential. tends about 640 m to the south in a downcurrent di-
The correlation lengths (or ranges) of the Gaussian rection before pinching out (Figures 3, 5). The up-
contribution range from 4 to 5 m in the maximum current (northward) extent of unit 5 is not determined
correlation direction and from 3 to 4 m in the mini- because of the lack of a cliff face exposure, but the unit
mum correlation direction (Table 1). These correlation is present at least 30 m outside the 3-D GPR grid,
lengths are interpreted as characterizing the lateral based on information from a 2-D GPR prole extend-
continuity of the mudstone or mudstone intraclast con- ing toward the north beyond the 3-D grid. Trough
glomerate layers with thicknesses comparable to ver- cross-beds in the upcurrent position are clearly climb-
tical resolution of the GPR (0.5 m), and enveloped ing, with rst-order coset bounding surfaces truncating
by second-order bounding surfaces, inside each unit. against the fourth-order E surface in an upcurrent di-
The anisotropy factors of these short-wavelength struc- rection (Figures 4, 5). In the downcurrent part of unit
tures are 0.95, 0.75, and 0.6, respectively, for units 2, 5, south of the survey area, trough cross-bed coset sur-
3, and 4. These anisotropies imply that mudstone and faces truncate against the lower E surface in the down-
mudstone intraclast conglomerate inside the channel current direction (Figure 5). The thickness of the
lls have more elongated shapes toward the upper part trough cross-beds in the lower half of unit 5 is 1030
of the channel (unit 4) and more isometric shapes at cm, with a signicant proportion of the cross-beds be-
the base of the channel (unit 2), but all have a maxi- ing preserved. In the upper half of unit 5, trough cross-
mum lateral extent of 5 m. These results compare fairly bed sets tend to be less than 10 cm thick (Figure 4).
well with the facies map at the cliff face, especially the The smaller cross-bed sets are either a result of smaller
mudstone intraclast conglomerates in units 2 and 3. original bedforms on the upper bar surface or due to
Where making direct comparisons of the mudstone scouring by overlying cross-beds (Figure 4).
and mudstone intraclast conglomerate layers with the On the upper surface of the survey site, trough
GPR reections, one should consider the limitation of cross-beds are up to 1.5 m wide and extend in a down-
the 100 MHz GPR data on resolving features signi- current direction for a distance of up to 7 m (Figure
cantly thinner than about 0.5 m. Sometimes mudstone 3). Along the cliff face, similar lateral extents of several
layers are interpreted in the outcrop to be laterally con- meters are seen for individual cross-bed sets (Figures
tinuous over more than 10 m (e.g., at the base of unit 4, 12). The paleocurrent measurements from the up-
4 and the top of unit 2 in the southern part of the per surface of unit 5 (Figure 5) show a more east-
outcrop in Figure 4) but are relatively thin and irregular southeastern (115 to 150 azimuth) paleoow for the
in thickness and may not be well resolved by the GPR distributary channels at Coyote basin than the general
reections. These layers are described by longer cor- east-northeastern (075 azimuth) progradational direc-
relation lengths (the exponential model in the nested tion of delta lobes forming parasequence set 3 (Garri-
structure), but they have a smaller contribution to the son et al., 1997). This change in ow may be due to
combined model (Table 1). active bifurcation as the main distributary channels ap-
proach the coastline.
Medium-Grained Trough Cross-Bedded Sandstone Facies Unit 5 is interpreted as a channel barform. Coset
Association: Unit 5 boundaries outline the geometry of the upper surface
of the barform. The survey site at Coyote basin is in
Sedimentologic Description the upcurrent part of the barform on the northwestern
Unit 5 (the uppermost 4.55.5 m of the sandstone side of the channel bar based on dip orientations of
cross-bed cosets seen both at the outcrop and in the ure 9). The orientation of this scour is also parallel with
GPR data (Figure 5). The upward climb of cross-bed the paleoow indicators at the site (Figure 5).
cosets in the upcurrent part of the barform implies that The internal conguration of radar facies inside
sedimentation rates were high and that bar accretion unit 5 along proles is generally parallel with the
occurred both in an upcurrent and a downcurrent di- paleoow (see the GPR section between wells D and
rection. More commonly, barforms tend to experience B in Figure 7 and the north-south faces of the data
erosion in an upcurrent direction and bar growth in a cube in Figure 11) and show continuous, slightly
downcurrent direction (Bridge, 1986; Miall and oblique reections (Table 2). These reections are in-
Turner-Peterson, 1989). In these last instances, rst- terpreted as rst-order bounding surfaces inside unit
order cosets truncate against the upper surface of bar- 5. A horizontal amplitude slice cut at a constant depth
forms (i.e., fourth-order bounding surfaces) in an up- of 4 m through unit 5 (the uppermost face of the GPR
current direction. cube in Figure 11) shows high-amplitude zones cor-
relating with rst-order cross-bed cosets striking
GPR Interpretation northeast-southwest, perpendicular to the ow direc-
The base of unit 5 is a fourth-order bounding surface tion as measured from the trough cross-beds at the
(E) separating a medium-grained trough cross-bedded surface. These high-amplitude zones are a result of the
sandstone with high permeabilities (hundreds of mil- intersection between the horizontal slice and the up-
lidarcys) from underlying ne-grained, parallel- to ward climb of trough cross-bed cosets to the southeast
slightly obliquely laminated sandstone with low per- (Figure 11).
meabilities. Locally, discontinuous mudstone intraclast Migrated 200 MHz GPR data are useful for inter-
conglomerate lies immediately above surface E (Figure preting detailed sedimentologic structures of about 0.3
4). On GPR proles, surface E is dened by a change m thickness inside unit 5. The GPR prole transverse
of geometry from baselapping reections above to to the paleoow direction at the position x 31.5 m
truncated reections below the surface, rather than a (Figure 3) from the 200 MHz migrated GPR data
single continuous reection (Figures 7, 11). This pat- shows cross-bed cosets of medium scale interpreted in
tern in the GPR data is consistent with the truncation the lower part of unit 5 (Figure 13). Upwardly concave
relationships between bounding surfaces seen at the discontinuous reectors truncate against adjacent or
outcrop. Based on interpretation of the GPR data, the overlying reectors, thus mimicking the geometries
geometry of surface E has an erosional scour oriented seen in the nested trough cross-beds in the facies map.
approximately north-south, with a northward dip (Fig- The GPR reections in areas with thin trough cross-
W Y (m) E W Y (m) E
16.5 0.0 16.5 0.0
0
1.6
W E
Depth (m)
3.2
4.8
E
6.4
1 meter
8.0 1 meter
(B) (C)
(A)
Figure 13. Upper 7 m of the uninterpreted (A) and interpreted (B) versions of the migrated 200 MHz GPR prole, at x 31.5 m (Figure 3). Cross-bed sets and cosets can be
interpreted as upward-concave reections in the GPR data and are marked with continuous orange lines in (B). For comparison, (C) shows the cliff face map of trough cross-
beds from unit 5, perpendicular to ow as illustrated in Figure 12, for comparison. The sketch of trough cross-beds appears distorted because of a two-time vertical exaggeration
for direct comparison with the GPR proles. The dashed lines at the top of (A) and (B) represent the topographic surface.
Because of their high variability in thickness and 1998). This type of information will assist in better
lateral extent, ow barriers inside uvial reservoirs volumetric calculations and history matching for the
cannot be condently mapped in 100 MHz data sets larger, more-crude ow simulation models needed for
over large areas away from geologic control points. entire elds. In light of the efciency of GPR surveys
A quantitative description of the distribution of ow (modest costs and acquisition time), larger grids can be
barriers inside each unit is achieved by modeling employed in the future to extend the detailed inter-
3-D experimental variograms of GPR amplitude. pretation presented herein to larger volumes approach-
The assumption is that GPR amplitude is an indirect ing the scale of the interwell spacing in actual hydro-
function of changes in permeability and, ultimately, carbon reservoirs (Corbeanu et al., 2000).
of existence of ow barriers. Correlation lengths of
the nested model tted to variograms in unit 5 are
similar to dimensions of trough cross-bed sets and REFERENCES CITED
cosets measured in outcrop. The nested models in
units 2 to 4 suggest that the channel at Coyote basin Alexander, J., J. S. Bridge, M. R. Leeder, R. E. L. Collier, and R. L.
Gawthorpe, 1994, Holocene meander-belt evolution in an ac-
contains discontinuous and randomly distributed
tive extensional basin, southwestern Montana: Journal of Sed-
mudstone barriers and bafes, as is expected for imentary Research, v. B64, p. 542559.
straight distributary channels in a progradational Allen, J. R. L., 1983, Studies in uviatile sedimentation: bars, bar-
parasequence set such as SC3 in the Ferron Sand- complexes and sandstone sheets (low-sinuosity braided
streams) in the Brownstones (L. Devonian) Welsh Borders:
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a reduction in depth of penetration. First-order bound-
Engineers, paper SPE 22976, p. 277286.
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MHz data and compare well with rst-order bounding Ferron Sandstone, Utah: Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas at
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The area studied at Coyote basin represents a small Mapping the architecture of glaciouvial sediments with three
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