Explorer Geophysical Corner

Recent developments in pattern recognition-based seismic facies classification (clustering) provide a means to analyze multiple seismic attributes in a single volume.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer President’s Column

One of the most gratifying functions I have had the honor to perform as AAPG president is the interaction with those selected to receive awards from AAPG.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

The AAPG European Regional Conference, “Hydrocarbons in the Mediterranean: revisiting mature plays and understanding new and emerging ideas,” will be held Jan. 18-19 in Larnaca, Cyprus.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Technological innovations are the life-blood that keeps the oil and gas industry not just alive, but growing, albeit sometimes at a snail’s pace. The current improved, yet still-struggling industry is testament to what technology can accomplish.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

Significant advances in the technology surrounding 3-D seismic data through the years no doubt have encouraged many observers to view this major component of E&P to be just a routine piece of doing business. It’s a highly complex routine, both at sea and on land.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Raw seismic data are almost always found to be contaminated with coherent or incoherent noise. Concerted efforts are directed at elimination of such noise during processing of the seismic data, so that its interpretation can be carried out accurately.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

Geometric attributes such as coherence and curvature are commonly used for mapping faults, joints and large fractures, or fault damage zones.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Researchers from the University of Calgary found just what they weren’t looking for when they monitored microseismic signals from an unconventional resource unit in the Hoadley field in central Alberta.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

In the “less is more” department, researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland are developing a device that could potentially revolutionize the field of gravity sensing.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

It’s been just over a year and a half since the AAPG House of Delegates approved the formation of SIGs and TIGs, and the new classification structure is steadily catching on.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Workshop
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tuesday, 18 February Wednesday, 19 February 2025, 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Join us for AAPG Orphan, Abandoned, Idle and Marginal Wells Conference 2025. This workshop will focus on orphan, abandoned, idle, and marginal wells and the business opportunities and technology associated with plugging and repurposing wells, reducing methane emissions, protecting water supplies, and extending the lives of marginal wells.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Field Seminar
Houston, Texas
Saturday, 1 February 2025, 8:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Everyone in Houston lives within a few miles of a bayou. Some people think of them as permanent, but the bayous are constantly changing, especially during high water events like Hurricane Harvey. This trip is a 2.5 mile walk down a section of Buffalo Bayou where we will look at the archives of past storms and discuss what to do for future storms.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
VG Abstract

In comparison with the known boundary conditions that promote salt deformation and flow in sedimentary basins, the processes involved with the mobilization of clay-rich detrital sediments are far less well established. This talk will use seismic examples in different tectonic settings to document the variety of shale geometries that can be formed under brittle and ductile deformations.

Request a visit from Juan I. Soto!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) seismic-reflection surveys provide one of the most important data types for understanding subsurface depositional systems. Quantitative analysis is commonly restricted to geophysical interpretation of elastic properties of rocks in the subsurface. Wide availability of 3D seismic-reflection data and integration provide opportunities for quantitative analysis of subsurface stratigraphic sequences. Here, we integrate traditional seismic-stratigraphic interpretation with quantitative geomorphologic analysis and numerical modeling to explore new insights into submarine-channel evolution.

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Request a visit from Jacob Covault!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Around 170 million years ago, the Gulf of Mexico basin flooded catastrophically, and the pre-existing landscape, which had been a very rugged, arid, semi-desert world, was drowned beneath an inland sea of salt water. The drowned landscape was then buried under kilometers of salt, perfectly preserving the older topography. Now, with high-quality 3D seismic data, the salt appears as a transparent layer, and the details of the drowned world can be seen in exquisite detail, providing a unique snapshot of the world on the eve of the flooding event. We can map out hills and valleys, and a system of river gullies and a large, meandering river system. These rivers in turn fed into a deep central lake, whose surface was about 750m below global sea level. This new knowledge also reveals how the Louann Salt was deposited. In contrast to published models, the salt was deposited in a deep water, hypersaline sea. We can estimate the rate of deposition, and it was very fast; we believe that the entire thickness of several kilometers of salt was laid down in a few tens of thousands of years, making it possibly the fastest sustained deposition seen so far in the geological record.

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Request a visit from Frank Peel!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
DL Abstract

Physics is an essential component of geophysics but there is much that physics cannot know or address. 

Request a visit from John Castagna!

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

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