Clyde H. Moore¹

(1) Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

ABSTRACT: Carbonate Diagenesis and Porosity:State of the Art and its Future

The central focus of carbonate work in the 90's is the concept that porosity modifying diagenetic processes is driven in large part by sea level and climatic changes that can be tied to the stratigraphic record. This link has been exploited at the exploration as well as production scale worldwide and has given the geoscientist at the turn of the century a powerful algorithm that has enhanced our ability to predict porosity trends in the subsurface.

Other bright spots include: the role of the microbe in marine diagenesis; temperate water carbonates; the role of tectonically driven late fluid flow and chemical re-equilibration of early formed carbonate phases in burial diagenesis; and finally, the integration of engineering and petrophysical concepts into carbonate reservoir characterization and modeling.

However, it hasn't been all sweetness and light. We still struggle with the elusive dolomite problem. Carbonate workers persist in ignoring the most basic constraints on the technology and sadly, our porosity predictive prowess is still relatively rudimentary.

Where do we go from here? The word for the next decade will be integration. Integration of outcrop analogues, 3-D seismic modeling, good old fashioned petrography and modern petrophysics must be used in concert to better describe and quantify reservoir heterogeneity and to better model the carbonate reservoir. "There are no magic bullets in the world of carbonate reservoirs, the future lies in the rigorous application of modern science and technology" (Introduction to AAPG theme issue v.83,#11, 1999).

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