--> ABSTRACT: A Combined Process- and Architecture-Based Classification for Marginal Marine Systems - Linking the Ancient and the Modern, by Ainsworth, Bruce; Vakarelov, Boyan; Nanson, Rachel; #90135 (2011)
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A Combined Process- and Architecture-Based Classification for Marginal Marine Systems - Linking the Ancient and the Modern

Ainsworth, Bruce 1; Vakarelov, Boyan 1; Nanson, Rachel 2
(1)Australian School of Petroleum, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia. (2) Geographical and Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

The interactions of wave, tide and fluvial processes at the shoreline produce complex deposits that are known as mixed-process systems. The variability of the depositional products of these process interactions are poorly understood and no classification scheme is currently available to properly describe them. A process-based classification for marginal marine systems has thus been developed to deal with the complexity exhibited by these systems. It is equally applicable across both ancient and modern shorelines. The classification scheme has 15 distinct categories that effectively handle mixed-process system variability.

Application of the process classification to ancient deposits relies on defining stratigraphic architectural units and Previous HitdeterminingNext Hit the relative process dominance within those units by calculating the proportions of sedimentary Previous HitstructuresNext Hit generated by the three processes. Application of the classification to modern deposits can be made by mapping of individual depositional elements and calculating the relative areas of elements generated by the three processes. Additionally, a scheme has also been devised to attribute planview coastal geometries to dominant depositional processes.

Stratigraphic architecture at a sub-parasequence scale controls fluid Previous HitflowNext Hit in many reservoirs. However, this scale falls below the resolution of current sequence stratigraphic techniques and as such there is no rigorous methodology or classification to describe these deposits. New concepts have been developed for the classification of stratigraphic architecture in both modern and ancient marginal marine systems. This methodology facilitates collation and cross-applicability of geometrical data from modern to ancient systems, and vice-versa. The new architectural classification system is hierarchical in Previous HitnatureTop and works on five different spatial levels. The levels correspond to different scales of observation and are required to describe properly the stratigraphic variability in the subsurface.

The process classification can be applied to the different architectural levels thus allowing a consistent and rigorous linkage to geometrical information that can be utilised in exploration-scale predictions or production-scale 3D geocellular modelling.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90135©2011 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 23-26 October 2011.