--> Abstract: From 3-D Visualization to Modeling of Windermere Deep-Water Turbidite Outcrop Analogues, Castle Creek, B.C., Canada, by E. Schwarz, S. Buckley, V. Terlaky, J. A. Howell, and R. W. Arnott; #90078 (2008)

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From 3-D Visualization to Modeling of Windermere Deep-Water Turbidite Outcrop Analogues, Castle Creek, B.C., Canada

E. Schwarz1, S. Buckley2, V. Terlaky3, J. A. Howell2, and R. W. Arnott3
1Centro de Investigaciones Geologicas, CONICET, La Plata, Argentina
2Centre for Integrated Petroleum Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
3Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Deep marine channel-fills with strongly asymmetric levee deposits have been inferred from several turbidite reservoirs (e.g., Upper Oligocene - West Africa; Upper Pliocene - Nile delta), but to-date outcrop analogues and quantitative analysis on the reservoir performance for this type of deposit remain sparse.

Digital outcrop-capture techniques were used to collect data to facilitate the building of seismic-scale, geocellular model of deep-water architectural elements from the Neoproterozoic, Windermere turbidite system in British Columbia. The Castle Creek outcrops are vertically dipping and crop-out along a recently deglaciated, gently inclined to flat topography, locally cliffs provide detail in the third dimension. Key architectural elements are clearly exposed and can be traced for 100s of meters to 2 km. Imaging the vertically dipping strata in a photo-realistic, virtual outcrop involved a number of novel techniques, including the draping of high-resolution aerial images (1:3800) on to a topographic model (DEM) and then integrating the dataset with a Ground-Based LIDAR survey of the cliffs.

The virtual outcrop model built for the Castle Creek area allows architectural elements to be mapped. Key elements include channelized and non-channelized deposits which are interpreted to represent deposition in slope and basin-floor systems respectively. Sedimentological and stratigraphic field data were added to the photo-realistic outcrop model as additional input for building the geocellular model. Preliminary results on the modeling of a single, 100 m-thick channelized architectural element, bounded on both sides by genetically-related but strongly asymmetric levee deposits, will be presented.

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas