Fast PC-Based Burial/Thermal Modeling

J. Dye, P. B. Visscher, J. H. Fang, S. Johnson, A. M. J. Davis, R. Tipping

We have developed a menu-driven IBM-PC program for complete one-dimensional burial and thermal modeling of sedimentary basins. Input data include well-log data (stratum lithologies, boundary depths, paleosurface temperatures, etc.) and material constants for each lithology (density, porosity-pressure relation, thermal conductivity, etc.), as well as an assumed heat-flux history. The program backstrips the layers and computes (1) the compaction-corrected depths and porosities, (2) the thermal history using Fourier's law of heat conduction (the heat equation), and (3) the thermal maturation indices for each stratum.

This thermal modeling has not been previously done efficiently enough for real-time display on a PC because of the numerical instability of the commonly used forward difference method for integrating the heat equation. We have developed a new method for integrating the heat equation rapidly. Our program is written in Turbo Pascal, so it is easy to modify and is compatible with most PC graphics displays.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.