Depositional Settings of the Cretaceous Jinju Formation, Korea Using PLAYMAKER, a Knowledge-Based Expert System

Dae-Kyo Cheong, Jong Hwa Chun, Gyesung Lee, Gautam Biswas, Christopher G. ST. C. Kendall

Depositional settings of the Cretaceous Jinju Formation of the Gyeongsang Supergroup, Korea are interpreted in two different ways--classical sedimentary facies analysis and expert system analysis. Main items of input data collected from outcrops and published papers are sediment type, regional geometry, fauna type, bedding thickness, regional lithologic feature, bedding character, paleomaker, sedimentary character, vertical and lateral sediment variation, bedding shape, sediment updip and downdip association, etc.

Sedimentary facies analysis reveals that depositional settings of the Jinju Formation are distributary channels, interdistributary mud flats, and marshes of fluvial and lacustrine environments. Expert system analysis suggests that lacustrine, fluvial, and submarine fan environments are the three highly ranked hypotheses. Two results shows reasonable agreement each other. However, there are some differences between two interpretations, and the knowledge base of the expert system, PLAYMAKER, should be further refined.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995