Abstract: Computer Approach to Facies Studies

F. L. Peirce, A. E. Miles

Explorationists with Exxon Co., U.S.A., use a standardized computer form for recording detailed facies and environmental information from cores and cuttings. Using alpha and numeric annotation that is tied to a dictionary, it is possible to record data quickly in a uniform fashion that subsequently can be keypunched and then manipulated by the computer. Data recorded include degree and types of porosity, rock type, color, texture and structure, fossil type and abundance, diagenetic parameters including cements, and an interpretive section where facies and depositional environment can be designated.

Data of this nature from several wells, when tied to stratigraphic horizons, can be retrieved on a selected basis and displayed as a strip log, on cross sections, or in map form. Many different maps can be made, each summarizing a different sedimentary characteristic. Carefully thought out, these maps can be helpful in searching for hydrocarbons.

Computer-generated rose diagrams are particularly useful for summarizing data on one map. For example, a single map could show distribution of sandstone, shale, grain-carbonate rock, and micrite, if each quadrant represented one of these parameters. This, or any other type of data, could be related to carbonate and sandstone porosity by reproducing two maps together--one set of rose diagrams on the right of the well position, another set on the left. Distribution of depositional facies together with carbonate and sandstone porosity provides an excellent example of this type of summary map.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90972©1976 AAPG-SEPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA