SEISMIC STRATIGRAPHY

By Prof. R. D. S. Kushwaha Department of Geophysics Banaras Hindu University VARANASI

The high amplitude event is produced by hydrocarbon accumulation (Fig. 1) that has changed the properties of host rock sufficiently to affect the amplitude of the reflection from it. Bright spots or direct hydrocarbon indicators, are now regarded as a subset of seismic stratigraphy.

Fig. 1: High- amplitude event indicating a hydrocarbon accumulation.

Stratigraphic Pattern in Seismic Data

Fig. 2: Section showing out-building of a delta (AA), unconformities (BB, DD, and elsewhere) and stratigraphic features.

 Among the more obvious stratigraphic features are structural pattern as shown in Figs. 2-11. Fig. 2 shows generally flat-lying reflections but a belt of dipping events forms a progradational pattern across its centre (AA); this is interpreted as indicating original depositional dip in the out building of delta. Above this can be seen an unconformity BB, shown by the transgressive onlap of seismic reflections from the left. Still higher in the section (at about CC), there is a strong change in reflection character. The reflections above CC are higher frequency, have less continuity, and are more wobbly than those below; the interpretation is that those above CC represent nonmarine deposition, those below represent marine

Fig. 3 shows a present-day continental shelf edge. A number of former shelf edges can be seen in the reflections at greater depths. The pattern is so dramatic that it is easy to pick periods of mainly outbuilding, periods of mainly up-building, and periods of uplift when the tops of patterns were being eroded.

Fig. 3: Continental slope-shelf break in present sea floor and ancestral shelf edges in the deeper reflections.

Transgression on to an unconformity is the obvious feature of Fig. 4. There is some thinning to the right of the onlapping units, indicating slight subsidence and tilt to the left during their deposition.

Fig. 4: Reflection onlap onto an erosional surface (AA), indicative of a transgression.

Fig. 5 is a migrated section of a tight fold. Some of the intervals between reflections maintain constant thickness through the fold; these are the competent units. Other units thin and thicken; these are the shales. Observations of the response of rocks to stress gives information about the nature of the rocks.

Fig. 5: Portion of a migrated section over a tight fold. The shale unit varies in thickness through the fold whereas the competent beds do not vary below. U indicates an unconformity.

Another set of fairly obvious pattern is shown in Fig. 6. The overall pattern is of horizontal reflectors but the zones AA shows not only appreciable relief on its top but several distinctly different reflection patterns within it. The no-reflection zone in the centre is the Horseshoe Atoll reef, with back-reef facies to the right and fore-reef facies to the left.

Fig. 6: Section across horseshoe Atoll in West Texas. R denotes the portion of the section that contains the reef (just left of center). The back-reef area of flat-lying, strong, continuous reflections is to the right. The fore-reef showing an entirely different progradational reflection pattern is to the left.

Fig. 7: Phase section showing several stratigraphic patterns. B is a unit that thickens to the left (onlap at its base); A shows progradation from a source to the right; C thins onto the structure; D is fill in an ancient erosional channel; and U is an unconformity within a mainly carbonate section.

Fig. 7 shows several patterns with stratigraphic significance: a progradational unit (A) showing the sigmoidal pattern; a wedge of sediments (C) that is missing from the top of the structure, indicating that the structure was positive and probably growing at the time of their deposition; and an erosional channel (D), possibly the result of the channeling around the positive feature to the left. Much of the growth history can be worked out from seismic patterns, and in this instance the history is critical with respect to hydrocarbon accumulation. The structure, incidentally, shows a bright spot and produces gas from carbonate porosity.

The unit AA in Fig. 8 involves higher velocity rocks on the right third than on the thicker section to the left, where the unit consists of clastic sands and shales. This change creates change in the waveshape, and the changes are emphasized by a polarity display.

Fig. 8: The lithology of the unit AA changes at the shelf edge, over a reef (R).This is a phase display. There is a gas production from the pinchout of sands at the top of unit A, which show an oblique pattern. Unit B shows a sigmoidal pattern and its sediments are generally fine grained. C, D, and E are unconformities, as well as the top and base of units A and B.

Fig. 9 is a portion of phase display across a turbidite build-up. Phase emphasizes relatively weak reflections such as those from turbidities. The flat event at A is probably a flat spot from a gas-water contact; flat spots are one of the best hydrocarbon indicators.

Fig. 9: Phase section across a turbidite build up. The event at A is a flat-spot reflection from a gas/water contact. The anticlinal reversal (~2.4 s) below the turbidites must be real because velocity variation due to the turbidites could not be great enough to produce a fictitious anomaly of this magnitude.

Seismic Stratigraphy Subdivisions Seismic sections can often be subdivided into units that have common characteristic but that differ from adjacent units. The separation of seismic data into such units is the branch of seismic stratigraphy called seismic sequence analysis; and these separate units itself are almost naturally subdivided as shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10: Change in reflection pattern allows the seismic section to be separated into seismic sequence units that differ in reflection character.

The belt of oblique reflection pattern across the center of Fig. 11 separates regular, fairly smooth reflection events above the belt from very irregular reflections below. The velocity of sediments that constitute the oblique portion varies appreciably, and the variable travel time through this unit creates undulations and other irregularities in the deeper reflections. Higher velocity distinguishes the portions of oblique reflection that are predominantly carbonated.

Fig. 11: The belt of oblique reflections (P) has produced velocity anomalies in the deeper section.