Analysis of a Channel-Fan Complex in San Joaquin Basin, California, with Aid of an Interactive Workstation and Lithologic Modeling

John Sherwood, Jack Keyes

As part of a basinwide evaluation of a stratigraphic potential, we performed a stratigraphic analysis of a channel fan complex in the San Joaquin basin in California. Integration of biostratigraphic information and seismic data helped define sequence boundaries, which formed the basis of more detailed correlation of the seismic data. Well-log data were then brought into play to determine the depositional environment within the channel fan complex. Within each of the paleogeographic sections of the complex, seismic facies patterns could be recognized, and with the aid of an interactive workstation, characteristic seismic attributes (amplitude, phase, and frequency) of the important units within the vertical sequence of the channel fan were examined at each well. With displ ys and maps of these attributes, we could then project the depositional environment away from the borehole. Lateral predictions of environment then followed, with control provided by seismic lithological modeling, a method for estimating details of thin bedding. Finally, the seismic attributes and displays of amplitude-preserved data provided information for refining the model of the channel fan complex.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91038©1987 AAPG Annual Convention, Los Angeles, California, June 7-10, 1987.