--> Abstract: Structural Restorations of Seismic Interpretations: An Important Approach to Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretation in Fold-Fault Terranes, by S. Wu, P. Weimer, and G. Taylor; #90982 (1994).
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Abstract: Structural Restorations of Previous HitSeismicNext Hit Interpretations: An Important Approach to Previous HitSequenceNext Hit Stratigraphic Interpretation in Fold-Fault Terranes

Schuman Wu, Paul Weimer, Gareth Taylor

The recognition and correlation of stratigraphic sequences and Previous HitsequenceNext Hit Previous HitboundariesNext Hit in complexly faulted and folded regions can be difficult tasks. Stratigraphic correlations across faults are often equivocal, and fault offsets and deformation can obscure reflection relationships critical for interpreting Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies and systems tracts. By sequentially retrodeforming a Previous HitseismicNext Hit profile, stratigraphic relationships and correlations can be revealed, along with an accurate record of the depositional and deformational events.

A multifold Previous HitseismicNext Hit profile from offshore Kushiro, Hokkaido Island, Japan was interpreted and restored to illustrate this procedure. The Previous HitseismicNext Hit profile displays Cretaceous and Cenozoic strata that have been deformed by a reverse fault. Three major unconformities are recognizable based upon erosional truncation and onlap of strata. Detailed stratigraphic correlation across the faults is problematic and Previous HitsequenceNext Hit Previous HitboundariesNext Hit are obscured in the deformed state. An initial interpretation of the Previous HitseismicNext Hit data was made and then iteratively modified and validated using geologic cross section interpretation and validation software. Two restored-state sections indicate that prior to the development of the second unconformity, none of the preexisting sequences had been folded or faulted. Immediat ly overlying the oldest unconformity, transgressive sediments onlap from northwest to southeast. Reverse faulting started shortly after the development of the second unconformity and produced two wedge-shaped piggyback basins. The youngest unconformity truncates the two older folded sequences, and the overlying Previous HitsequenceNext Hit is not deformed.

Previous HitSeismicNext Hit reflections were then traced on this validated interpretation. The traced Previous HitseismicNext Hit profile was restored to different stages in the geologic history by a flexural-slip mechanism, in which both bedlengths and unit areas are conserved. Previous HitSequenceNext Hit Previous HitboundariesNext Hit were picked from the restored-state sections rather than on the faulted and folded Previous HitseismicNext Hit section. The depositional history, Previous HitsequenceTop stratigraphy, and structural evolution are clearly revealed by this process.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90982©1994 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 21-24, 1994