Chapter 3 Geophysical

Exploration for
Hydrocarbons

REVIEW OF GEOPHYSICAL METHODS

Geophysical methods for exploring for hydrocarbons
are usually subdivided into potential methods and
seismic methods. Potential methods measure varia-
tions in the gravity and magnetic fields and predict
the gross geologic features of a basin. Seismic meth-
ods provide detailed information on the structure
and stratigraphic features of the sedimentary layers
and in some cases can locate hydrocarbons directly.
Magnetic measurements are usually made with an
airborne magnetometer, which gives rapid coverage
of large areas and provides information on the major
features of the igneous basement underlying the
sedimentary rocks in the basins. Estimates of depth to
basement are the primary quantitative measurements
obtained from magnetic surveys; thus, the gross fea-
tures of the basin framework are established. Ground
magnetic measurements provide detail on igneous
intrusives that may trap hydrocarbons.
Gravity measurements are usually made at ground
stations and provide information about the gross fea-
tures of the sedimentary section. These measures are
very effective in delineating salt structures. In the ear-
ly days of salt dome exploration, after Spindletop,
gravity measurements successfully pinpointed domes
and led to the discovery of a number of fields. Even
now gravity contour maps are effective in locating
deep-seated salt structures that often are reflected into
the overlying sedimentary layers, and help to isolate
areas over which to conduct reflection seismic sur-

55

R. L. Sengbush, Petroleum Exploration: A Quantitative Introduction

© International Human Resources Development Corporation 1986
56 I. THE HUNT FOR HYDROCARBONS
veys. Because seismic surveys are very expensIve
compared to gravity methods, it makes economic
sense to isolate areas of potential hydrocarbon accu-
mulation.
Gravity measurements are made routinely at sea
during the course of making seismic surveys, since
they add only small increment to the survey cost, and
provide valuable information about salt and other
stratigraphic features. Airborne gravity methods are
also used for rapid reconnaissance and gross measure-
ments of the gravitational field. Gravity measure-
ments from a moving platform are affected by the
erratic motions of the platform, and the two effects
are separated by special filtering techniques that
preserve the gravity and filter out the effects due to
motion of the platform.
Gravity and magnetics are potential methods; that
is, they are passive. They depend on measurement of
the natural magnetic and gravity fields of the earth.
They are ambiguous in that an anomaly with a poten-
tial method may arise from a variety of bodies at a
variety of depths in the earth. Because the potential
methods are ambiguous, quantitative measurements
of the nature of the body causing the anomaly must
come from outside information. Such information
can come from drilling contacts, seismic results, or
reasonable geologic limitations. In spite of such ambi-
guities and lack of precision, magnetic and gravity
measures can impose very definite limits on geologic
interpretations and can thereby make specific and
useful contributions to the overall exploration pic-
ture.
Seismic methods provide detailed information on
structural and stratigraphic features and in some
cases, fluid content, by use of refractions and reflec-
tions. The earliest seismic measurements used first
arrivals that travel the least-time refraction path from
source to receiver to gain knowledge of the near-
surface layers. As the source-to-receiver distance in-
creases, the first arrivals dig deeper and deeper into
the earth, giving information on successively deeper
layers. The reflection method is now the most widely
used geophysical method and operates on the princi-
ple of recording back-scattered energy from targets,
as do radar and sonar. The targets in the reflection
method are changes in the acoustic impedance of the
subsurface, which give structural, stratigraphic, and
hydrocarbon information about the subsurface.
The seismic method is much more direct in its rela-
tion to geology than are the potential methods, be-
cause one can map reflections and directly correlate
the reflections with geologic strata, giving a relatively
accurate measure of their depth and possibly even
their stratigraphy. In some cases, however, correla-
tion with geology may be uncertain or misleading,
and in such cases, gravity and magnetics may contri-
bute by establishing bounds on possible correlations
and provide lithological information.
The seismic method is by far the most widely used
geophysical method for hydrocarbon exploration,
and it is also the most expensive. Expenditures for the
seismic method and its associated data processing
account for 95% or more of the total expenditures for
petroleum exploration geophysics, and gravity and
magnetics are relegated to the remaining 5% or less.
As a rough rule of thumb, the relative costs per unit
area of magnetic, gravity, and seismic methods stand
in the ratio of 1 to 10 to 100.
From the beginning of geophysical exploration for
hydrocarbons in the 1920s, methods using magnetic,
gravity, and seismic principles are the basis for practi-
cally all the geophysical work up to the present time.
Many other methods have been conceived and tried in
a limited way, but none has persisted to the extent that
field operations have been carried out on a scale com-
parable with that of the three primary methods. As is
true in any area as complicated and mystifying as the
hunt for hydrocarbons, many quack techniques and
procedures that have little or no scientific merit have
been proposed and tested-and sometimes even sug-
gest a measure of success. It is for this reason that geo-
physicists have earned the label of "doodlebuggers."
GRAVITY
All gravity anomalies come from horizontal varia-
tions in density of the subsurface rocks. The magni-
tude and form of the gravity anomaly depends upon
the details of the densities involved, their magnitudes,
their vertical relief, their depth, and their horizontal