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Application of Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering for electrofacies

prediction: a case study from the Horn River Shale, British Columbia, Canada

Article in Geosciences Journal · April 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s12303-019-0046-3

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 GJ
Article
Vol. 24, No. 5, p. 507−518, October 2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-019-0046-3
pISSN 1226-4806 eISSN 1598-7477 Geosciences Journal

Application of Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering

for electrofacies prediction: a case study from the Horn
River Shale, British Columbia, Canada
Juhwan Woo1,2, Chul Woo Rhee1*, Taek Ju Jeoung3, and Seonghyung Jang2
1
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea
2
Marine and Petroleum Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon 34132, Republic of Korea
3
Korea Gas Corporation, Daegue 41062, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT: The Horn River Basin is a major shale gas play in British Columbia, Canada. An important component for identifying
productive zones is to determine lithofacies. Quantitative core-based lithofacies classifications distinguish reservoirs and non-reservoir
quality zones. In this study, Elemental capture spectroscopy (ECS) log data, XRD, and TOC data were integrated with core-description
data to define the shale gas development interval in the Horn River Shale. Six lithofacies were determined and used as a training data
for the supervised electrofacies classification. The Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering method (MRGC) was useful for predic-
tion of electrofacies. The MRGC facilitated estimation of the electrofacies from the well logs of the non-coring wells based on our cur-
rent construction model. We constructed a supervised MRGC model from well A. The probability scores of the electrofacies were 83%.
This method was applied to non-coring wells B and C. Lateral variations in the facies were inferred using an electrofacies correlation
or seismic-scale spatial model. Stochastic methods were applied to build a 3D facies model due to the insufficient electrofacies data.
To increase the accuracy and applicability we used seismically derived-trend data (density and P-wave sonic inversion, envelope attri-
butes) for sequential indicator simulation (SIS) modeling. After constructing a facies model, the faintly laminated siliceous mudstone
(FLSM) and homogeneous siliceous mudstone (HSM) facies were shown to be dominantly distributed throughout the Evie Member
and Muskwa Formation. These facies contain high silica compared to clay and higher TOC contents which are generally the main tar-
gets of a shale gas play. Therefore, the FLSM and HSM facies of the Muskwa Formation and Evie Member are potentially productive
facies for shale gas development in the Horn River Shale.
Key words: Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering, Horn River Shale, pattern recognition, electrofacies, shale gas

Manuscript received July 13, 2019; Manuscript accepted November 11, 2019

1. INTRODUCTION
Finding on the spatial distribution of rock properties within a
formation are essential to the efficient exploration and exploitation
of shale resources. Lithofacies are the important parameters of a
reservoir and each lithofacies represents a stratigraphic unit that
possesses a distinct range of porosities and permeabilities (Kadhim
et al., 2015). Therefore, lithofacies classification is key role to
reservoir characterization (Avanzini et al., 2016). Lithofacies are
*Corresponding author:
Chul Woo Rhee
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National
University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea
Tel: +82-10-5577-1514, Fax: +82-43-276-9645,
E-mail: gloryees@chungbuk.ac.kr
©The Association of Korean Geoscience Societies and Springer 2020
defined by three different scales: core, well log, and seismic.
Core-based lithofacies reveal precise information on sedimentary
processes, but core data are generally limited due to the high
acquisition cost. In contrast, well log data are commonly acquired
at boreholes. So, these data may show lateral facies changes after
construction of the electrofacies and correlation of the well logs.
A combination of core descriptions and conventional well log
data is often used to improve lithofacies characterization. Well
log data provide petrophysical parameters, which relate to the
geological information captured by the core data (Jarvie et al.,
2007; Loucks and Ruppel, 2007; Dong et al., 2015). Properties-
related lithofacies form the basic building blocks of 3D facies
modeling. It uses seismic data to map these lithofacies in a regional
sense and enables the simulation of reservoir flow (Yang and
Aplin, 2010). 3D facies modeling is used to improve the detection,
characterization, and development strategy for shale resources.
508 Juhwan Woo, Chul Woo Rhee, Taek Ju Jeoung, and Seonghyung Jang
The main purpose of this study was to quantify and describe the
vertical and lateral variability of the Horn River Shale lithofacies
at the well-log scale. The results can be used to discover productive
facies for shale gas development.
The effectiveness of the pattern recognition method for the
integration of wireline log and core data has been demonstrated
(Bishop, 1995; Lim and Kim, 2004; Wang, 2012; Bhattacharya et
al., 2016; Schlanser et al., 2016). In this case the well logs represent
various rock properties that are associated with the core data for
geological interpretation (Rider and Kennedy, 2011). Gamma ray
(GR), density (RHOZ), sonic (DT), neutron (NPHI), and
photoelectric index (PE) logs are commonly used to characterize
subsurface lithologies (Davis et al., 1997; Qing and Nimegeers,
2008). These are routinely employed for electrofacies analysis
and stratigraphic correlations. A more reliable electrofacies prediction
requires training data, which enables integration of the core
description and quantitative mineral composition of the core
samples with advanced log data. Advanced log types, such as
elemental capture spectroscopy (ECS) and pulsed neutron
spectroscopy, clarify the mineral composition of the rocks. After
establishing the optimized supervised cluster analysis method
using the training data, the model could be established using
another borehole wireline log data without the training data. A
statistical approach to wireline log analysis enables this electrofacies
Fig. 1. Location map of study area in Horn River Basin. Right: time structure map is top of Keg-River Formation.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-019-0046-3
correlation. It provides a more representative mechanism to
upscale the input parameters for reservoir characterization (Serra
and Abbott, 1982; Elek, 1990; Bucheb and Evans, 1994; Gonzalez
et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2014).
Several statistical algorithms have been used to classify electrofacies,
including support vector machines (Vapnik et al., 1997; Smola
and Schölkopf, 2004), artificial neural networks (ANNs) (Liu et
al., 1992; Dubois et al., 2007), and multi-resolution graph-based
clustering (MRGC). MRGC is a pattern recognition algorithm
created by Ye and Rabiller (2000), which solves the problem of
dimensionality and provides valuable information on the geological
facies based on the structure of the data. It is also an appropriate
method for supervised and unsupervised clustering. In this
study we analyzed well log data to differentiate the measured strata
into several electrofacies representing the important physical,
chemical, and biological characteristics of the deposits in the
Horn River Shale.
2. GEOLOGICAL SETTING
The Horn River Basin is a large natural gas play located in the
northeastern British Columbia. It is north of Fort Nelson and
south of the Northwest Territories border, Canada (Ross and
Bustin, 2008) (Fig. 1). The Middle and Upper Devonian strata
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 Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering for electrofacies prediction
Fig. 2. Middle and Upper Devonian stratigraphy of the Liard Basin,
Horn River Basin, and Cordova Embayment (modified from Ferri et
al., 2011).
of the Horn River Basin contain unconventional shale gas. The
shales of the Horn River Formation have been sub-divided into
the Evie, Otter Park members, and Muskwa Formation in
ascending order (Ferri et al., 2011) (Fig. 2). The Horn River
Shale is underlain by limestone and dolomites from the Lower
Keg River Formation, and is overlain by younger shales of the
Fort Simpson Formation. The Evie Member is a dark gray,
organic-rich, variably calcareous mudstone that overlies the shallow
marine carbonates of the Lower Keg River Formation (McPhail
et al., 2008; Hulsy, 2011). The Otter Park Member is a gray, pyritic,
and non-calcareous to calcareous mudstone. It is much thicker
than the underlying Evie Member and overlying Muskwa Formation,
being as much as 270 m thick in the southeastern Horn River
Basin (McPhail et al., 2008). The Otter Park shale generally has a
lower organic content than the Evie and Muskwa shales. The
Muskwa shale is a gray to black siliceous, pyritic, and organic-
rich shale that overlies the Otter Park Member. Organic carbon
enrichment in the Muskwa Formation is higher than that in the
Otter Park Member but lower than that in the Evie Member.
3. METHODOLOGY
The pattern recognition system for the Horn River Shale
lithofacies classification consists of three steps: building the
training data from core, preparation of well log data, and the use
of model construction for predicting electrofacies (Fig. 3). The
number of well logs and core datasets determines the stability of
the pattern recognition performance. This initial step is critical
because co-located wireline log and core datasets are generally
limited due to expensive drilling costs. Then, we conducted feature
selection and identified the wireline log data that are sensitive to
the core facies; this facilitated the electrofacies classification.
The model construction process, optimized by statistical and
neural network algorithms, links the log data to the appropriate
core facies to establish a reflected geological relationship. We
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509
Fig. 3. Workflow for prediction of the electrofacies applied MRGC
method.
selected the MRGC method for classification of the electrofacies.
The electrofacies from the conventional logs (GR, RHOZ, NPHI,
DT, and PE) were then prescribed to their associated core facies
according to the MRGC model. The pattern recognition system
was completed after evaluation of the similar electrofacies between
from the trained model and from the classified core lithofacies.
We used the Facimage module in Geolog 7.4 for cluster analysis
to generate electrofacies. The Facimage module in Geolog 7.4
was used to enhance self-organizing maps (SOMs) (Kohonen,
1990), with the neuron spilt method (Ye and Rabiller, 2000)
employed for the cluster analysis. A high-resolution electrofacies
model was constructed using a set of suitable pre-conditioned
parameters. MRGC is capable of recognizing natural partitions
of log data that may reveal the organization of geological facies
(Ye and Rabiller, 2000). It is possible to adjust the parameters of
each step to improve the accuracy of predicted electrofacies
calibrated core lithofacies. The method was derived from the
non-parametric method of Gan (1994), which combines the K-
Nearest-Neighbors (KNN) method with a graph-based method.
The KNN method fixes the number of neighbors without limiting
the area. The probability density function (PDF) is then predicted
from one point relative to its KNN (Cover and Hart, 1967). The
graph-based method produces a connected graph where the
PDFs from each of the data points are linked by arcs according
to their proximity relationship (Zahn, 1971). Graph-based clustering
is easily eliminates inconsistent arcs by the heuristic rules governing
this proximity relationship. It allows the graph to be broken into
several connected sub-graphs that are defined as clusters. This
method is simple, but defining the heuristic rules is nontrivial
when there are more than three dimensions. However, it is relatively
straightforward to classify small datasets that are composed of
only a few dimensions (Ye and Rabiller, 2000).
The optimal number of electrofacies and clusters of similar
points was determined by statistical KNN and the kernel
representative index. The Neighboring Index (NI) quantifies
mutual neighborhood relationships using rank order, whereas
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510 Juhwan Woo, Chul Woo Rhee, Taek Ju Jeoung, and Seonghyung Jang

the classical KNN methods estimate the PDFs using the radius
from a point to its KNN. The NI substitutes the distance parameter
(Pabakhsh et al., 2012) and is defined as
NI ( X ) = ∑ nN–=11exp ( –m N, a ) ,
where m is the neighbor ranking and a is the resolution
parameter. Here, two data points that are close to each other
can be easily separated if they have a high NI value. Unlike
other hierarchical methods, the user can designate the number
of facies because NI only depends on the facies pattern. However,
forming clusters via NI can sometimes be difficult or inconclusive.
Ye and Rabiller (2000) proposed the Kernel Representative Index
(KRI), which yields a solution for forming consistent clusters
and a surface that envelops the optimal number of clusters, as
follows:
KRI = NI ( x ) ⋅ M ( x, y ) ⋅ D ( x, y ) ,
which is shaped by the combination of NI, the number of
neighbors, M, and the distance, D. NI only serves as a local indicator
here, even if it is an important factor for KRI. The two other factors,
M and D, provide a sound balance between the size and volume of
clusters. Therefore this generates consistent results.
3.1. Building the Training Data from Cores
This step classifies the lithofacies from the cores and advanced
logs. Detailed core and well log analysis captures many variables
(1)
that characterize the gas play, including total organic carbon
(TOC), mineralogy, lithology, paleontology, and rock mechanical
properties. However, integration of these diverse datasets requires
quantification of the lithology and mineral composition of the
shale. Based on the core description and geochemical data, six
lithofacies were identified and interpreted of cores from the
2307–2470 m depth interval: faintly laminated siliceous mudstone
(FLSM), homogeneous siliceous mudstone (HSM), laminated
siliceous mudstone (LSM), laminated mixed mudstone (LMM),
argillaceous mudstone (AM), and calcareous mudstone (CM).
These lithofacies were defined on the basis of texture, rock fabric
(bedding style), color, and composition. X-ray diffraction analysis
(2)
(XRD), TOC, and ECS log data were also used to quantify the
proportions of different minerals within each lithofacies (Table 1).
Each facies possesses a distinct bedding style that is classified on
the basis of the detailed core descriptions. FLSM and HSM were
characterized by their dark gray color. They possess higher QFM
(sum of quartz, feldspar, and mica contents) and TOC contents

Table 1. Mineral compositions and TOC contents for lithofacies of the Horn River Basin
QFM (avg wt%) Carbonate (avg wt%) Clay (avg wt%) TOC (avg wt%)
Faintly Laminated Siliceous Mudstone (FLSM) 64.5 4.2 31.4 3.35
Homogeneous Siliceous Mudstone (HSM) 60.0 11.0 29.1 4.12
Laminated Siliceous Mudstone (LSM) 72.2 6.6 21.3 2.69
Laminated Mixed Mudstone (LMM) 43.1 22.1 34.8 1.45
Argillaceous Mudstone (AM) 42.7 4.0 53.3 1.94
Calcareous Mudstone (CM) 22.5 72.0 5.5 4.42

Table 2. Summary of the Horn River Basin lithofacies, including their characteristics and log data (GR = gamma ray, RHOZ = bulk density, NPHI
= neutron, DT = sonic, PE = photo electronic factor)
Core Analysis Characteris- Log Data (Mean values are provided in parentheses)
Lithofacies tics (wt%) GR (API) RHOZ (g/m3) NPHI (%) DT (m/s) PE
Dark gray
Faintly Laminated 53–231 2.41–2.78 0.05–0.23 54.43–88.19 3.14–5.48
Qz rich
Siliceous Mudstone (FLSM) (134.9) (2.60) (0.13) (78) (4.19)
Avg. TOC: 3.35
Dark gray
Homogeneous Siliceous 67–435 2.38–2.8 0.01–0.21 59.66–85.30 2.95–5.57
Qz rich
Mudstone (HSM) (133.6) (2.56) (0.10) (72.99) (4.24)
Avg. TOC: 4.12
Light gray
Laminated Siliceous 89–383 2.41–2.63 0.05–0.22 68.55–78.47 2.91–5.34
Thick laminae
Mudstone (LSM) (152) (2.52) (0.09) (72.71) (4.34)
Avg. TOC: 2.69
Light gray
Laminated 31–383 2.43–2.78 0.01–0.21 54.43–88.19 3.09–5.91
Thin laminae
Mixed Mudstone (LMM) (93.5) (2.65) (0.12) (73.24) (4.83)
Avg. TOC: 1.45
Light gray
Argillaceous Mudstone 87–122 2.68–2.78 0.12–0.22 70.10–81.93 4.59–5.61
Clay rich
(AM) (106) (2.75) (0.17) (78.17) (4.59)
Avg. TOC: 1.94
Light gray
Calcareous Mudstone 14–72 2.55–2.68 0–0.23 52.96–62.37 2.91–5.91
Carbonate rich
(CM) (39.6) (2.62) (0.02) (57.82) (4.97)
Avg. TOC: 4.42

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 Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering for electrofacies prediction
(3.35 and 4.12 wt%, respectively) than the other lithofacies (Table 2).
High QFM content affects the stimulation of hydraulic fracture.
The TOC content is an important parameter for evaluating the
quality of organic shale resources because it is related to the
amount of gas (Perez Altamar and Marfurt, 2014; Yasin et al.,
2017). Therefore the FLSM and HSM shale facies tend to be
brittle and organic-rich lithofacies. The LMM and LSM shale
lithofacies contain thin and thick laminae, respectively, coupled
with low TOC contents (1.45 and 2.69 wt%, respectively). The
AM facies have the highest clay content and an average TOC
content of 1.94 wt%. The most carbonate-rich lithofacies throughout
the study interval is CM (Fig. 4), which had an average TOC
content of 4.42 wt%. The Evie Member consists mainly of HSM,
with minor LSM and FLSM intercalations. The Otter Park Member
consists of light and dark gray mudstone, AM, and LMM. The
Muskwa Formation consists mainly of dark gray FLSM facies,
with minor interbeds of the AM and HSM facies. These lithofacies
were used as the training set for the MRGC clustering.
3.2. Preparation of Well Log Data for MRGC
Pre-processing of conventional logs is an important step in
building a reliable electrofacies model. This process includes the
proper selection of well logs that are sensitive to the core lithofacies.
Fig. 4. Relative proportions of (a) QFM (quartz, feldspar, and mica), (b) carbonate, and (c) clay in each of the shale lithofacies, as derived from
the ECS logs.
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511
The wireline log data must be environmentally corrected and
normalized based on the regional geology after the appropriate
curves are chosen. For example, the density log should be corrected
for the shale compaction effect with burial depth, whereas the
sonic log should be corrected for any overburden-related
compression effects near the basin center. The neutron porosity
logs should be free from clay bound-water effects. These corrections
ensure that the generated electrofacies models are independent
of any fluid and normalization-related effects (Bhattacharya et
al., 2016). Each log curve is normalized according to its standard
deviations and a subsequent sensitivity analysis.
The depth shift of the log data with the core data is another
necessary step. The block shift method is employed for the depth
shift, which moves a portion of the well log curve up or down by
a fixed amount. The lithofacies were then shifted with the five
wireline log datasets (GR, RHOZ, NPHI, DT, and PE) to construct
an electrofacies model of the Horn River Shale. The statistical
features of the model log are shown in Figure 5.
3.3. Model Construction for Predicting Electrofacies
This step is involves finding an appropriate clustering method
for the study data. We selected the MRGC method among the
nonhierarchical algorithms. The MRGC method is a hybrid
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512 Juhwan Woo, Chul Woo Rhee, Taek Ju Jeoung, and Seonghyung Jang

Fig. 5. Statistics of the five conventional well logs. (a) Display of the five well logs, (b) sonic (DT), (c) gamma ray (GR), (d) neutron (NPHI), (e)
photoelectric index (PE), and (f) density (RHOZ). The black bars give the number of observations at each log values.

method that automatically determines the number of suitable
clusters after analysis without a priori assumptions. It generates
consistent clusters from datasets. The datasets consist of extremely
unbalanced sizes. It has the key advantage of inferring the
sedimentological information from a complex and highly contrasting
data structure (Ye and Rabiller, 2000). Thus, the MRGC method
is applicable to supervised and unsupervised clustering. The
Facimage module in Geolog 7.4 was used to enhance self-organizing
maps (SOMs) (Kohonen, 1990). The neuron spilt method was
used for the cluster analysis (Ye and Rabiller, 2000). A high-resolution
electrofacies model was constructed using a set of suitable
parameters.
To generate electrofacies, the training set consisted of core
data from one well (well A) and the conventional wireline logs
dataset consisted of GR, RHOZ, NPHI, DT, and PE from three
wells (wells A–C). The training and clustering datasets were collected
at the following depth intervals: 2312–2474 m (1013 samples) in
well A, 1403–2563 m (1055 samples) in well B, and 2424–2577 m
(1004 samples) in well C. Preparation of well log process involved
prediction of the shale lithofacies from the well logs datasets
(Table 2). Therefore, the supervised MRGC is employed in this
shale lithofacies classification at well A. This supervised classification
method is affected by the quality of the training data, the number
of sample points, and the model parameters of each method,
with the training data consisting of the core-based lithofacies
classification. The MRGC model is trained with the core-based
lithofacies from well A and constrained for each member. It
generated a high-resolution electrofacies model with 33 clusters
and these were grouped into six clusters during the evaluation
step to match the core-based facies model. We selected the
Mahalanobis metric and six initial neurons to construct coarse
to fining SOMs (CFSOMs) since the MRGC allows modification
of the model parameters (Table 3). After constructing the
supervised MRGC method, these models were propagated to
non-cored wells B and C using the neural network.

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 Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering for electrofacies prediction 513

Table 3. Model parameters for the MRGC method
Scheme and setup module Parameter
Normalizing Standard deviation
Scheme Mahalanobis
Maximum number of electrofacies 35
Minimum number of electrofacies 5 of silica and organic material (Table 1), which are generally the
Number of optimal models 5 main targets of a shale gas play. Therefore, the FLSM and HSM
Initial neurons for CFSOM 6 facies of the Muskwa Formation and Evie Member are the
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Three MRGC models were built from the heterogeneous
Horn River Shale. They are constrained for each member using
the trained core-based lithofacies in well A, after that applied to
wells B and C. The probability scores of each electrofacies are
displayed in a confusion matrix (Table 4) and compared with
the core-based lithofacies (Fig. 6). The five conventional logs
(NPHI, RHOZ, GR, DT, and PE) were used as inputs for the
statistical analysis and, analyzed to evaluate the prediction
variables for the lithofacies classification. The FLSM and HSM
facies showed similar distribution patterns such as high-value
gamma ray distribution (Fig. 7), whereas the LSM and LMM facies
had low gamma values and high densities (Fig. 7). The reduced
accuracy of the MRGC models with the training datasets could
be improved with more data points and parameter adjustments
from additional core-based lithofacies. These models were
propagated to non-cored wells B and C using a neural network
as illustrated in Figure 8.
The stratigraphic correlation of the electrofacies suggests that
the FLSM facies is dominant throughout the Muskwa Formation
in wells A and C, and the FLSM and HSM facies are present in
similar proportions in well B. The Otter Park Member consists
mainly of the LMM facies. It intercalated the FLSM facies in the
upper part of the member, and the FLSM and LSM facies are
present throughout the lower part of the member in wells A, B,
and C. The Evie Member shows a different facies distribution in
each of the three wells. Well A is dominated by the LMM facies
in its upper part and the FLSM facies in its lower part. Well B is
dominated by the LSM facies and Well C contains alternating
HSM and LSM facies.
The FLSM and HSM facies are dominant throughout the Evie
Member and Muskwa Formation. These possess high contents
preference facies for shale gas development.
We predicted the electrofacies of non-cored wells B and C by
the MRGC supervised model. The seismic-scale lithofacies model
for the Horn River Shale aims at predicting the electrofacies from
the wireline log data by upscaling the electrofacies using the
regional facies map constraints provided by the 3D structural
model (Wang, 2012). The upscaled electrofacies are used as
input data for allocating the lithofacies into continuous cells via
a stochastic method (Pyrcz and Deutsch, 2014). Two stochastic
approaches were considered: cell-based and object-based modeling.
Cell-based methods are known as geostatistical methods. It can
be used to geometrically represent the distribution of unclear
facies within the studied volume, whereas the object-based method
facilitates the generation of specific geometries, such as fluvial
bodies (Deustch, 2002). We used the cell-based method for 3D
facies modeling. Seismic data covers a larger area, but it has a
lower resolution than well log data. Certain seismic attributes can
be qualitatively related to the petrophysical properties; therefore
it provides descriptive evaluations of the lithofacies (Chopra and
Marfurt, 2007). The seismic data or seismic-derived attributes are
generally employed as soft data for shale lithofacies modeling.
Seismic attributes are used as trend-data for 3D facies modeling,
which combines density, P-wave sonic inversion, and envelope
attributes to refine the resultant model.
The sequential indicator simulation (SIS) algorithm is one
component of a sequential Gaussian simulation (Deutsch, 2002).
The SIS approach is better for mapping lithofacies, particularly
when there is no strong geometric pattern. The SIS algorithm
employs the trend data to build a regional-scale lithofacies model.
Here the FLSM and HSM facies were identified as the primary

Table 4. Confusion matrix for the MRGC method, showing the predicted lithofacies
Actual (facies)
MRGC
FLSM HSM LSM LMM AM CM
pred1 229 28 3 5
pred2 18 8 6 348 2
pred3 10 1 80 10 1
Prediction
pred4 8 132 18 2 6
pred5 2 5 1 16 39
pred6 22
Accuracy 86 75 74 92 73 100

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514 Juhwan Woo, Chul Woo Rhee, Taek Ju Jeoung, and Seonghyung Jang

Fig. 6. Similarity between corefacies and MRGC electrofacies in relatively excellent except for lower Evie Member. GR (left), core facies (2nd),
electrofacies predicted with MRGC (3rd) from well A.

Fig. 7. Electrofacies units and their wireline log distributions. The histogram plots are labeled as in Figure 4.

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 Multi-Resolution Graph-based Clustering for electrofacies prediction 515

Fig. 8. Stratigraphic correlation of three wells. A color represents electrofacies derived from the MRGC algorithm.

targets for shale gas exploration in the Horn River Shale. The
FLSM facies is broadly distributed, especially from the North to
South direction in the Muskwa Formation, but it does not extend
laterally to the northern part of the Otter Park Member. The
LMM facies is widely distributed throughout the Otter Park
Member in well A, whereas the LSM facies occurs only in the
lower part of the members. The HSM facies shows an elongate
North-South distribution and is probably more abundant than
the FLSM facies in the Evie Member of wells B and C in the
northern area (Fig. 9).
5. CONCLUSIONS
To identify the productive facies for shale gas development we
used the MRGC method for predicting electrofacies. MRGC
was the preferred quantitative method for building a relationship
between conventional well log and core-based lithofacies. For
building the training data we integrated XRD, TOC, ECS log data
with core description results and classified six dominant lithofacies.
Lithofacies classification was an important step in reservoir
characterization. The geological factors affecting hydraulic fracturing
are the geomechanical properties of the lithofacies. These factors

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516 Juhwan Woo, Chul Woo Rhee, Taek Ju Jeoung, and Seonghyung Jang

Fig. 9. 3D lithofacies model of the Horn River Shale using the SIS algorithm. Facies maps of the (a) Muskwa Formation, (b) upper Otter Park
Member, (c) lower Otter Park Member, and (d) Evie Member, and cross-sections along A–A’ (e) and B–B’ (f). The lithofacies distributions are
color-coded according to the legend. The vertical green lines mark the location of wells A, B, and C.

are related to the mineral composition of the rocks. TOC content
is an important parameter for evaluating the quality of organic
shale resources. Before the clustering analysis, we performed
pre-processing of wireline log data to construct a reliable
electrofacies. Meaningful log data were obtained by normalizing,
environment correction of wireline log data, and depth shift
with core and wireline data. We made MRGC models for each
formation of the Horn River Shale (Evie, Otter Park members
and Muskwa Formation) using the trained core-based lithofacies
in well A. then, these data were then applied to the non-cored
wells B and C. Core-based lithofacies were used as training data
for supervised clustering. Compared to the unsupervised clustering,
the supervised algorithms were improved for constructing the
relationship between core-defined lithofacies and wireline logs
data. We were built a 3D shale lithofacies model to visualize
detailing spatial variation, and combine various scale data for
identifying productive facies. The results provide geological
insight into the electrofacies variations in the Horn River Shale.
We suggest that the productive facies for shale gas development
in the Horn River shale are the FLSM and HSM facies of the
Muskwa formation and the Evie Member.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy
Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the Ministry
of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea
(No. 20142510101810, 20178510030880). Special thanks to
Schlumberger Corporation for supporting the Petrel software
and Emerson for Geolog software.
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