Developments in Sedimentary Basin Analysis for Hydrocarbon Assessment: From Anticlinal Theory to Quantitative Basin Analysis

Betty M. Miller

The study of sedimentary basins has advanced significantly since the late 1800s when exploring for petroleum seemed to require only the "anticlinal theory" and a sedimentary basin. The real world is immensely complex, however, particularly in identifying the intricate interactive natural systems that are essential for the occurrence of petroleum or other energy resources within large sedimentary basins.

During the last century of petroleum exploration, the concepts and methods for conducting basin studies have changed from fairly simplistic geologic studies, employing primarily qualitative and semiquantitative techniques, to those of ever-increasing complexity, employing quantitative evaluations for total basin systems. Enormous amounts of multivariate data are necessary to quantify the geological, geophysical, geochemical, and hydrological processes within complex sedimentary basins. A systematic approach to quantitative basin analysis is discussed that will enable the geologist to understand and reconstruct the geologic evolution of a sedimentary basin and aid in the diagnosis of favorable conditions for the generation, migration, and accumulation of petroleum resources within thes basins.

Developing an integrated system for the analysis of sedimentary basins is a difficult task to complete without data-processing assistance but can be accomplished by using sophisticated and high-speed computers. Techniques have been developed that incorporate computer technology adapted from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Artificial Intelligence; these techniques include expert systems and knowledge-acquisition methods that permit a three-dimensional approach to analysis of sedimentary basins. Work is in progress on a prototype expert system that will capture the logic used to define the geologic concepts for a basin analysis and the reasoning required to better understand and reconstruct the geologic evolution of a sedimentary basin. This system is designed to analyze the tr ditional concepts of "source, reservoir, and trapping mechanism," which aid in the diagnosis of favorable conditions for the occurrence of petroleum or other energy resources.

This project's basic strategy calls for (1) designing an experimental expert system that produces a basin analysis, emphasizing those geologic concepts that are critical to the evolution of a sedimentary basin, and (2) applying GIS technology to the analysis of multivariate data, facilitating the use and display of both two and three-dimensional multivariate spatial data sets for characterizing a sedimentary basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.