BOWLES, EDWIN G., British Gas E & P, Reading, Berkshire, England, DAVE TEDRAHN, British Gas E & P, Houston, TX, and CORINE PRIETO and TIM GROW, Integrated Geophysics Corporation, Houston, TX

ABSTRACT: An Integrated Approach to Evaluating the Spatial Distribution of the Melania Formation in Southern Gabon

Seismic is of limited use in determining the presence of the Melania Formation, which is an important source rock within the presalt section of southern Gabon, because of the problems inherent to seismic imaging beneath salt. Thus, exploration efforts were concentrated on structural modeling based on gravity and magnetic data to resolve the geometry of the presalt section. An integrated interpretation of a 94-km dip profile across the Cretaceous-Holocene passive margin sequence is presented. This interpretation used a layered model of the sedimentary section down to the last reliable horizon, derived from the seismic and well data, as constrained by the gravity modeling in order to determine the approximate depth to basement. This model was then integrated, through a series of sequent al steps, into a single interpretation, which satisfied all the geological and geophysical constraints needed to explain the spatial distribution of the Melania Formation.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90990©1993 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, The Hague, Netherlands, October 17-20, 1993.