CI

Facies analysis

Conf. Dr. Relu D. Roban

Catuneanu, 2003
http://sepmstrata.org/page.aspx?&pageid=39&3
 Facies criteria
All facies:
- grain size and texture (sorting)
- vertical grain-size trendsbedding
- sedimentary structures
- trace and body fossils
- types of vertical profile (cycle)
- facies contacts (erosional, gradational)
- colour (with care - this may be a diagenetic product)
- map distribution (isopach patterns)
 Different types of “Facies”
“Facies: The observable attributes of a sedimentary rock body that
reflect the depositional processes or environments that formed it.”

Biofacies:
Lithofacies: Characterized by fossil content (body
Characterized by sedimentary attributes, such as fossils or trace fossils)
grain-size, sedimentary structures, bedding

Seismic facies:
Ichnofacies: Characterized by seismic reflection amplitude and
The assemblage of trace fossils
continuity. (Interpreted in terms of large-scale lithologic
characteristics)
 Examples of facies descriptions
(from Cant and Walker, 1976; describing a fluvial succession

• Well defined trough crossbedded facies (B): This facies is composed of

well-defined sets of trough crossbedding..., with trough depths averaging
15 to 20 cm (range 10 to 45 cm). The troughs are regularly stacked on top
of each other, but in some individual occurrences of the facies, trough
depths decrease upward... The sets are composed of well-sorted medium
sand... A few of the coarser sets have granules and pebbles concentrated
at their bases.

• Rippled sandstone and mudstone Facies (F): This facies includes cross-
laminated sandstones..., and alternating cross-laminated sandstones and
mudstones. [An example of the latter] is 1.5 m thick and consists of three
coarsening-upward sequences, which grade from basal mudstones into
trough cross-laminated fine sandstone and finally into granule sandstone.
The sandstones capping each coarsening-upward sequence have sharp,
bioturbated tops.

• See application of these “standard” facies in next slide

 The different meanings of “Facies”
as exemplified by lithofacies

Descriptive Interpretive

Crossbedded Fluvial
gravel-conglomerate conglomerate

Sadlerochit Fm., Yukon,

Similar to major reservoir at Prudhoe Bay
Examples of standardized facies classifications

Battery Point Sandstone (braided fluvial),

Cant and Walker, 1978
 Advantages and disadvantages
of a standardized facies scheme
• Advantages:
-simplifies and standardizes observations
-permits rapid logging of field sections
and drill core

• Disadvantages
-discourages observations of the rare
or unusual
-may lead to inappropriate simplifications
 Facies associations and
Facies models
• Facies Association:
-characteristic repeated association or assemblage of
a limited suite of
lithofacies and/or biofacies
-may be characterized by typical cyclic pattern or
vertical profile

• Facies Model:
-an interpretive device erected to explain
a facies assemblage, e.g., a block-diagram
paleogeographic/depositional model
The importance of the vertical profile

1. Vertical profiles are the main

form of data obtained from
drilling into the subsurface.

2. They may readily be documented

from wireline logs

3. Their analysis can make use

of Walther’s Law to interpret
depositional processes and
environments.
 Walther’s Law
and the importance of the vertical profile

Environments and processes

found side-by-side in nature
(The fluvial point-bar model) are represented in the same order
in vertical profile
Facies variations on larger scales – clastic example

If an outcrop is large enough, larger-scale depositional features may be mapped

(outcrop of Cretaceous fluvial channels and bars, Book Cliffs, Utah)
 The hierarchy
of depositional
units
“Stratigraphy” is concerned
mainly with features at the
scale of diagram (A) and larger.

“Facies analysis” is concerned

primarily with sedimentary
features at the scale of
diagrams (B) to (E).
Catuneanu (2006)
The use of log shapes to interpret
autogenic depositional processes

NOTE: variable vertical scales.

Log motifs of a low-energy fluvial system, showing both fining-upward (channel fills—CH) and coarsening-upward (crevasse
splays—CS) trends. The example comes from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Maastrichtian) in south-central Alberta, Western
Canada Sedimentary Basin.
 Facies analysis from log shapes
1. “Funnel-shaped” log

Prograding deltaic Deposits, Tertiary, Ellesmere Is.

Bayfill shale-sand succession, Carbonif., Kentucky

Facies analysis from log shapes
2. “Bell-shaped” log

Point bar,
Carboniferous,
Alabama

Fining-upward
Fluvial cycle,
Tertiary,
Ellesmere Is.
Facies analysis from log shapes
3. other shapes

Fluvial channel.
Permian,
New Mexico

Distal turbidite,
Cretaceous,
South pf France
Well logs from five different siliciclastic depositional systems, each including
a ‘blocky’ sandstone unit.
1—fluvial channel fill;
2—estuarine channel fill;
3—sharp-based shoreface deposits;
4—deep-water channel filled with turbidites;
5— beach deposits (modified from Posamentier and Allen, 1999, and
Catuneanu et al., 2003a).
Note the potentially equivocal signature of depositional systems on well logs.For this reason, the correct interpretation of paleodepositional
environments requires integration of multiple data sets, including core, rock cuttings, biostratigraphy, and seismics. Abbreviation: SP—spontaneous

.
potential
 From modern environment to facies model

Milk River, Alberta

 From vertical profile to facies model

William River,
Saskatchewan

SS

Standardized
suite of Facies model for sandy braided river.
Stratigraphic section
lithofacies Letters correspond to locations where
consisting of a uniform
for use in the standardized lithofacies
facies assemblage
logging sections are forming
Facies modeling, from Walker and
James (1992).
Note the relationship between
individual examples and their
distillation into a general model.
Note how new examples can be
compared with the model (the
“norm”), and then incorporated into
the general data base (feedback). The
model also serves as a guide for making
observations and as a predictor in new
situations.
 The attempt to define
a “typical”
submarine fan
Subdivision into
-feeder canyon
-upper fan,
-middle fan,
-lower fan,
-fan lobes
-basin plain

Classification of major facies types

Distribution of facies types within the fan
Major depositional processes

(diagram from Shanmugam and Moiola)

Walker (1992)
 Final thoughts

• Facies schemes and facies models

- serve to systematize and simplify observation and
classification
- BUT can also serve to suppress innovation
• Facies models are not available for all existing sedimentary
environments (e.g., very little study of rivers in rain-forest
environments).
• Some ancient environments are not fully replicated by
conditions anywhere on Earth today
- e.g., large Paleozoic carbonate platforms
- huge shelf seas of the Late Cretaceous
- Precambrian vegetation-free tropics
- large evaporite basins