In today's search for oil, industry has become increasingly aware of its need for information that will permit more accurate prediction of porous and permeable facies. Such information is important in exploring for both structural and stratigraphic accumulations.

To obtain the data desired, research geologists have directed their efforts to modern ocean basins and contiguous land areas where both sedimentary facies and the environments that produced them can be studied in detail. Through investigations of Recent sediments in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, it has been possible to define the major types of potential reservoir facies, including alluvial, deltaic, shoreline, shelf, and turbidite deposits in the deeper parts of modern basins. Each of these facies can be readily distinguished by a combination of features, including composition and lithology, sedimentary textures and structures, fauna and flora, lateral and vertical facies relations, and geometric form.

Knowledge of these characteristics, where applied to ancient rocks, provides information of value not only in recognizing facies but also in locating porous facies and in predicting their probable trends, shapes, and dimensions.

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