Explorer Geophysical Corner

Intriguing seismic examples are being developed in multi-component seismic research at the Bureau of Economic Geology, specifically examples documenting which one of the S-wave seismic modes images a key geologic feature better than does the P-wave mode -- the only seismic mode many explorationists have ever used.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Division Column DEG

Every so often it is good to review and evaluate DEG’s mission and goals. This year AAPG is preparing a five-year tactical business plan, and as an AAPG Division, DEG also is preparing one.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Vertical seismic profile (VSP) has been around for some time as a tool to provide time-to-depth for seismic well-ties.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Widely available and ever-popular seismic technologies are great for detecting subsurface structures and identifying potential reservoirs.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Installation of a permanently placed seismic cable system to acquire time lapse, or 4-D, seismic at the BP-operated Valhall Field in Norway in August 2003 created a goodly bit of buzz -- particularly in the geophysical community. An experimental array had been installed in 1995 by Shell and BP at Foinhaven, but Valhall was the first such system to be financed and purchased by a business unit.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Article

In and around the Gulf of Mexico one can expect to find an unruly mix of jazz, heartache, gumbo, prolific petroleum reserves and, if a new study is to be believed, volcanic ash.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Geophysical Corner

In last month’s Geophysical Corner we showed that fracture orientation across fractured-reservoir intervals can be determined by azimuth-based analyses of S-wave velocities and reflection amplitudes.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Division Column EMD

The success of technological plays such as the Barnett Shale and other shales has proven the potential of shale-gas resources -- and if the recent number of technical sessions, short courses and workshops on gas shales is any indication of its significance, gas shales will be an important component of the world gas supply in the future.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

When Chevron in September announced a flow test of 6,000 barrels of oil per day from its Jack 2 well -- which tapped the Lower Tertiary age deposits in the Walker Ridge area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico -- and simultaneously noted potential reserves as high as 15 billion barrels for the region, the mainstream media hype machine kicked into high gear.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Explorer Emphasis Article

Southwestern Energy Co. of Houston pioneered the Fayetteville shale play on the Arkansas side of the Arkoma Basin.

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)
Short Course
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Thursday, 20 February 2025, 7:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

This introduction to methane monitoring, measurement, and quantification is for all those who would like to understand the requirements and regulations regarding methane emissions and to be able to design a measurement and monitoring solution, complete with the appropriate types of technologies, techniques, and safety protocols.

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)
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

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

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)

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