Fluvial-deltaic and shallow-marine seismic geomorphology of the West Natuna Basin : implications for reservoir architecture and basin evolution

Date
2006
Authors
Flint, Jed McKay
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Abstract

Quantitative seismic geomorphology and morphometric analysis of modern and paleo-landforms are powerful tools for extracting data about geologic history, processes, and fill architecture of terrestrial and marine basins. This study of the hydrocarbon-rich West Natuna Basin of Indonesia combines 3,154 km² of high-quality 3D seismic and analysis of 15 well logs to explain how 3D reservoir shape, size, and distribution evolve and are preserved within fluvial-deltaic and shallow-marine environments. The study also addresses how these characteristics vary in response to changes in tectonic regime and base level. We made statistically robust, morphometric measurements of channel form and character using PC software, and where well logs have penetrated channels, we determined lithology and calculated sand percentages. The area has a variety of channel morphologies, ranging in sinuosity from 1 to 4.67 and varying in width from 30m to 4458m. Geometries range from single thread to wide, multithread. Crevasse splays and interdistributary creeks and lakes lie adjacent to channels. Sand percentages vary greatly between element types, and many multikilometer-scale elements show complex accretionary architectural composition. The result of combining morphometric measurements with lithologic characterization is a predictive model that strengthens the relationship between channel form and sediment content. Architectural and sedimentologic changes have been assessed in the context of the basin's tectonic, climatic, and sea-level history. Results of this study apply not only to development of the study area, but to explaining how reservoir shape, size, and distribution evolve and are preserved within fluvial-deltaic and shallow-marine environments

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