Abstract: Use of Interactive Graphics Workstation Applications and Borehole Imaging Data in Geologic Studies

Darrell L. Eubanks, Doug Seiler

Geologists in the early days of this profession only had outcrop data available for study. As technology developed, seismic and conventional wireline logs became an integral part of geologic analyses. Today, with new technology in downhole data acquisition systems and graphics computers, geologists are using borehole imaging in geologic studies.

Electric and ultrasonic borehole imaging tools record vast amounts of high-resolution data around the borehole wall. With the use of a graphics workstation, this data can be processed into images of the borehole wall, creating a synthetic core-like image. This ability allows the geologist to describe in detail geologic features that are essential for stratigraphic and structural analyses and improved reservoir characterizations.

This study presents examples of borehole images from various formations around the globe that have been interpreted with assistance of a graphics workstation. These examples show how the user can interactively measure planar and linear features, such as strike and dip of bedding, fractures, faults, unconformities, and laminae within individual cross-bed sets with confidence. Examples of borehole images compared to cores illustrate how imaging data can be used to identify rock texture and other sedimentary features needed for detailed stratigraphic analysis and reservoir characterization.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994