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Abstract

R. Sorkhabi and Y. Tsuji, 2005, Faults, fluid flow, and petroleum traps: AAPG Memoir 85, p. 79-93.

DOI:10.1306/1033717M853132

Copyright copy2005 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Extensional Fault System Evolution and Reservoir Connectivity

Darrell W. Sims,1 Alan P. Morris,2 David A. Ferrill,3 Rasoul Sorkhabi4

1Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA), Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.
2Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.
3Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA), Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.
4Technology Research Center, Japan National Oil Corporation, Chiba, Japan; Present address: Energy amp Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the Japan National Oil Corporation (presently Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation) for financial support of this work. Michael Ferguson assisted with preparing, running, and disassembling of model 10SEP99. Larry McKague, Wes Patrick, Nancye Dawers, Gloria Eisenstadt, and John Wickham greatly improved the chapter by their constructive reviews of the manuscript. Nick Davatzes georeferenced the Volcanic Tableland SLAR image, and Katherine Murphy, Rebecca Emmot, and Sharon Odam assisted with figure and manuscript preparation.

ABSTRACT

Sandbox analog modeling experiments provide new insights into the effects of fault geometry on reservoir connectivity. During progressive distributed extension, three phases of fault system evolution are apparent. In Phase I, geometrically simple faults nucleate rapidly at a large number of sites throughout the deforming region. This is followed by Phase II, in which faults link and increase in trace length. Phase III is characterized by a quasi-steady-state nucleation and linkage of faults. Reservoir connectivity has many components; here, we focus on fault-controlled connectivity, which can be viewed from two complementary perspectives: rock mass connectivity (continuity of rock between and around faults) and fault network connectivity. Which of these perspectives is adopted depends on whether faults cutting the reservoir act as barriers to flow (e.g., in highly porous sandstone reservoirs) or conduits for flow (e.g., in fractured carbonate reservoirs). We use two measures of fault-controlled connectivity: (1) a fault density measure derived from the number of intersections between faults and potential flow paths and (2) the ratio of the number of fault tips to the number of faults. Taken together, these characteristics convey both the transmissivity characteristics and the ultimate leakiness of the reservoir.

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