Stratigraphic and Lithologic Prediction Using Global Clastic Cyclostratigraphy

Kelly Dempster, Martin D. Matthews, Martin A. Perlmutter

Stratigraphy and lithology are predicted by integrating the climatic and tectonic histories of a basin. The base climate of a region is derived from global climate and paleogeography. Short term climatic oscillations between predictable end-members are then used to analyze the water budget in relationship to lake and sea level. Environmental changes in the drainage basin, induced by the climatic cycles, affect the sediment volume, grain size, and composition, delivered through time. The tectonic style and rate of subsidence, coupled with the local climate of the depositional basin, controls facies distribution.

Wall charts demonstrate the method of analysis in frontier basins. Climatic succession is hindcast from paleogeography with regional and local modifications. Sediment cycles are determined by tracking yield through the climate cycle. Grain size and composition are inferred from provenance and climate. In continental basins, the relationship of yield to accommodation space may produce starved, equilibrium, or bypass conditions. The phase relationship between sediment yield cycles and base level fluctuations controls the timing and distribution of facies. Appropriate analogs are identified by tracking basin climates through time. A geologic model is then constructed to relate the probability of occurrence of potential source, seal, and reservoir rocks.

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