See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: Fault Seals or Conduits? Insights from Hydrologic and Petroleum Systems
Abstract:
Sealing sand-on-sand contacts were commonly observed in almost every major play regardless of sand-on-sand juxtaposition. Sealing critically-stressed faults and sealing thrust faults were also commonly observed. Leaking sand-on-shale contacts, although more difficult to conclusively document, are also observed. Faults from many different basins show a common first-order linear correlation of maximum seal capacity with the shale gouge ratio, regardless of in situ stress, degree of lithification, burial depth, or burial history. Surprisingly, faults in geopressured systems seal greater across-fault-buoyancy-pressure differences than faults with the same SGR values in normally pressured systems. Not all faults trap the maximum possible pressures, however. Calculations of SGR at well-log and seismic scales fail to capture the detailed heterogeneity of actual fault zones, and probability distribution functions
See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: Fault Seals or Conduits? Insights from Hydrologic and Petroleum Systems