Abstract: The Migration Pathways of Basinal Fluids as an Exploration Tool

Roy Howell

Porous sands on topographic highs are often wet. Possibly, productivity is a function of basinal fluid migration as well as trapping efficiency. This is, a sand will be wet if there is nothing to trap. Maps of estimated subsurface flow as vector fields are possible tools in modeling the trapping mechanism. A computer program which can produce such maps is presented.

The 3D migration pathways of basinal fluid is controlled in part by the permeability tensor, the over-pressure gradient and the porosity gradient. Estimates of the orientation and value of the permeability tensor, and for the other variables, as functions of position on time lines, can be made from structural, sedimentological and seismic data. The productivity of structural and stratigraphic traps depends on the position in time and space with regard to total flow through the trap. A 3D flow map can be made by mapping flow on sequential surfaces.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90960©1995 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Dallas, Texas