--> ABSTRACT: High-Resolution Seismic Stratigraphic Framework Of Pliocene-Pleistocene Successions, A Case Study Of The Amber Complex, South Marsh Island, Gulf Of Mexico, Offshore Louisiana, by Abdulrahman M. I. Alissa and Christopher G. St. C. Kendall; #90906(2001)

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Abdulrahman M. I. Alissa1, Christopher G. St. C. Kendall2

(1) University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
(2) Dept. Geology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

ABSTRACT: High-Resolution Seismic Stratigraphic Framework Of Pliocene-Pleistocene Successions, A Case Study Of The Amber Complex, South Marsh Island, Gulf Of Mexico, Offshore Louisiana

A 3D high-resolution seismic-sequence stratigraphic model has been developed for the Pliocene-Pleistocene successions within the Amber Complex, in the southern part of OCS 310/SMI 3D survey, South Marsh Island, offshore Louisiana. This model was constructed using the analysis of an integrated data set of multifold 3D seismic profiles (40km NW-SE x 13 km SW-NE), wireline logs (130 wells) and high-resolution biostratigraphic data (30 wells). The objective of this study was to establish the systematic and predictable partitioning of the sedimentary facies associated with the different Pliocene-Pleistocene depositional settings of the study area, so providing the means to predict reservoir facies.

Chronostratigraphic cross-sections and detailed multi-seismic attributes and isopach maps of several Pliocene-Pleistocene chronostratigraphic key surfaces revealed the complexity of the Pliocene-Pleistocene distributary channels systems and their associated reservoir facies. The resulting 3D high-resolution seismic-sequence stratigraphic model illustrates the effects of sea level fluctuations, regional and local tectonic movement and variations in sediment supply. It explains the complex distribution of the Pliocene-Pleistocene depositional facies and their consequent geometries and the continuity of the associated reservoir facies within the Amber Complex area. Where cores are not available, the model has enabled the discrimination and differentiation between different reservoir sand bodies deposited within the Pliocene-Pleistocene successions. The model was used to address many production problems related the reservoir facies within the study area including an explanation of why some of the time equivalent reservoir facies within the same depositional setting are producing and the others are not.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado