Outcrop Characterization, 3D Geological Modeling, ”Reservoir” Simulation and Upscaling of Jackfork Group Turbidites in Hollywood Quarry, Arkansas

Camilo Goyeneche
The University of Oklahoma, School of Geology and Geophysics
Norman, Oklahoma
[email protected]

This research is designed to build a 3D geological model of a 3D outcrop for “reservoir” flow simulation that will address the effects of small-scale (‘subseismic’) interwell heterogeneities on potential production problems in analog oil and gas reservoirs.
Hollywood Quarry is 1160x730x150ft. It exposes the upper Jackfork Group turbidites, which are often used as an outcrop analog for deepwater reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere. A variety of pebbly and sandy turbidite facies are cut by faults and separated by laterally continuous shales.

Techniques used to characterize the quarry have included: behind-outcrop coring, outcrop gamma-ray logging, measured stratigraphic sections, sequential photography of quarry walls, Digital Orthophoto-Quadrangle mapping (DOQ), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Global Positioning System (GPS), and GPS laser gun positioning of geologic features in 3D space.

The west wall has been quarried back within three feet of the first inline of a previous 3D GPR survey. The strata imaged along inline #1 are now exposed at the quarry wall. Core and photomosaic descriptions superimposed on inline #1 show 100% bed correlations, and reveal small scale faults.

Outcrop walls, faults, measured sections, GR logs, and photomosaic locations have been georeferenced with GPS and GPS laser gun to create a GoCad 3D geological model.

When the 3D geologic model is built to include true stratigraphic and structural features, various upscaling combinations will be employed to evaluate the constraints that a coarser-scale grid places upon the results of “reservoir” flow simulation performed using different drilling scenarios.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90033©2004 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid