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Fouad, K., L. F. Brown Jr., W. A. Ambrose, D. Dunlap, M. Aranda-Garcia, and U. Hernandez-Romano, 2009, Genetic facies analysis using seismic geomorphology and seismic attributes in the continental shelf of eastern Mexico, in C. Bartolini and J. R. Roman Ramos, eds., Petroleum Previous HitsystemsNext Hit in the southern Gulf of Mexico: AAPG Memoir 90, p. 471476.

DOI:10.1306/13191098M903340

Copyright copy2009 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Reprinted from Extended Abstracts of the AAPG International Conference, October 24–27, 2004, Cancun, Mexico.

Genetic Facies Analysis Using Seismic Geomorphology and Seismic Attributes in the Continental Shelf of Eastern Mexico

Khaled Fouad,1 L. Frank Brown Jr.,2 William A. Ambrose,3 Dallas Dunlap,4 Mario Aranda-Garcia,5 Ulises Hernandez-Romano6

1Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
2Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
3Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
4Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
5PEMEX Exploracion y Produccion, Mexico
6PEMEX Exploracion y Produccion, Mexico

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank PEMEX for support of this research and for permission to publish these data. We also acknowledge support of this research by Landmark Graphics Corporation via the Landmark University Grant Program. We thank Eric Potter and Luis Sanchez-Barreda for reviewing the manuscript. Finally, we thank Susie Doenges for editing the manuscript. Publication was authorized by the Director, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin.

ABSTRACT

Methods for generating seismic facies maps have developed significantly in the last decade. These methods include facies mapping based on seismic geomorphology and sequence attribute extractions (Posamentier and Kolla, 2003). The results of these methods are used to define depositional Previous HitsystemsNext Hit, erosion, paleotopography, and inferred lithology estimation.

The seismic geomorphology technique is similar to back-stripping of a geologic sequence that represents a certain time-stratigraphic surface. We analyze depositional features from timeslices and windowed attribute extractions in a flattened volume within a stratigraphic sequence. Facies can be inferred from the resulting interpreted maps, which basically confine the variation in seismic reflections. Such variation, caused by geology change within seismic sequences and Previous HitsystemsNext Hit Previous HittractsTop, is expressed by change in reflection pattern, amplitude, and frequency (i.e., chaotic, hummocky, continuous). This technique produces quick and efficient results that capture the lateral changes in reflection pattern geometries.

In this article, we demonstrate how we deployed seismic geomorphology and attribute extraction to build out the facies in a third-order sequence. We show an example in the Laguna Madre area, a 3-D cube that extends over 2000 km2 southeast of the Tuxpan Platform. This research is part of a study done by the Bureau of Economic Geology to investigate Neogene hydrocarbon plays in the Tuxpan area.

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