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White, Christopher D.; Willis, Brian J.

doi:10.1023/a:1007510615051

Cited by 43 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Several studies have investigated shale lengths in different environments (Zeito, 1965;Arnott, 2001; Figure 1 in Burton and Wood, 2011). However, only a few studies have paid attention to details such as geometry, size range, and how the intrashoreface shales are distributed within shallow-marine sedimentary systems (White and Willis, 2000;Burton and Wood, 2011). Such parameters are hard to collect using traditional field techniques, though helicopter-mounted LIDAR-scanning (Buckley et al, 2008a;Rittersbacher et al, 2013) allows for systematic collection of large volumes of spatially constrained data.…”

Section: A T a S H A R E 5mentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits: Star Point Sandstone and Blackhawk Formation, Eastern Utah

Eide¹,

Howell²,

Buckley³

2014

Bulletin

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A B S T R A C TDeposits of wave-dominated shorelines are typically considered to act as relatively simple hydrocarbon reservoirs and are commonly modeled as "tanks of sand." However, important heterogeneities that can act as barriers to fluid flow occur at the parasequence, bedset, and bed scales, especially in viscous oil or low-permeability oil fields. Heterogeneities at the parasequence and bedset scales have been well studied, but discontinuous mudstone beds occurring within the shoreface have received little attention. The Book Cliffs and Wasatch Plateau are among the best-exposed and best-studied deposits of wave-dominated shallow-marine systems in the world. Two parasequences within these outcrops have been studied in detail to investigate the distributions of intrashoreface shales and to propose models for the controls on their distribution. A data set consisting of 30 km (18.6 mi) of virtual outcrops derived from oblique helicoptermounted light detection and ranging (LIDAR) scanning with supporting stratigraphic sections makes it possible to collect a large quantity of accurate geometric data of depositional elements from inaccessible cliffs.Nine-hundred and twenty-one discontinuous mudstone beds were measured. These occur as ellipses with long axes oriented normal to the paleoshoreline. Lengths and widths of these mudstone beds exhibit a lognormal distribution, with means of 21.9 and 13.8 m (71.9 and 45.3 ft), respectively. Within the shoreface

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Section: A T a S H A R E 5mentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits: Star Point Sandstone and Blackhawk Formation, Eastern Utah

Eide¹,

Howell²,

Buckley³

2014

Bulletin

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“…There are few outcrop data sets that quantify the extent or geometry of such barriers along clinoforms (e.g., White and Willis, 2000;Lee et al, 2007;Eide et al, 2014;Hampson et al, 2014). Sensitivity tests indicate that ellipses are suitable objects to represent these barriers for modeling and flow simulation purposes, because they can be described using simple mathematical functions and their abundance and overlap control barrier coverage along clinoforms, provided ellipse dimensions are small relative to the area of the clinoform .…”

Section: Modeling Heterogeneity Along Clinoformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-dimensional modeling of clinoforms in shallow-marine reservoirs: Part 2. Impact on fluid flow and hydrocarbon recovery in fluvial-dominated deltaic reservoirs

Graham¹,

Jackson²,

Hampson³

2015

Bulletin

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A B S T R A C TPermeability contrasts associated with clinoforms have been identified as an important control on fluid flow and hydrocarbon recovery in fluvial-dominated deltaic parasequences. However, they are typically neglected in subsurface reservoir models or considered in isolation in reservoir simulation experiments because clinoforms are difficult to capture using current modeling tools. A suite of three-dimensional reservoir models constructed with a novel, stochastic, surface-based clinoform-modeling algorithm and outcrop analog data (Upper Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member, Utah) have been used here to quantify the impact of clinoforms on fluid flow in the context of (1) uncertainties in reservoir characterization, such as the presence of channelized fluvial sandbodies and the impact of bed-scale heterogeneity on vertical permeability, and (2) reservoir engineering decisions, including oil production rate.The proportion and distribution of barriers to flow along clinoforms exert the greatest influence on hydrocarbon recovery; equivalent models that neglect these barriers overpredict recovery by up to 35%. Continuity of channelized sandbodies that cut across clinoform tops and vertical permeability within distal delta-front facies influence sweep within clinothems bounded by barriers. Sweep efficiency is reduced when producing at higher rates over shorter periods, because oil is bypassed at the toe of each clinothem. Clinoforms are difficult to detect using

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“…At the tail and head of  cross-transition probabilities is known to be strongly determined by the variance in the length of facies types (Ritzi, 2000). Facies length distributions, when fully characterized without sample bias, are typically Erlangian with a coefficient of variation of the order of unity, which gives rise to asymptotic and exponential-like transition probability structures (White and Willis, 2000;Ritzi, 2000). Accordingly, in the various field studies cited above, including at the Borden site, the sample cross-transition probability structures indeed had asymptotic exponential-like shapes.…”

Section: Practical Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often these exposures are of limited extent and the resulting bias in facies lengths must be accounted for. Bias in length imparted by incomplete exposures can be reduced in some cases by accounting for transition frequencies (White and Willis, 2000;. A corollary is that permeability semivariograms, if determined traditionally, directly from spatially distributed permeability data, will not be representative unless the sample locations also allow an adequate determination of the cross-transition probability structure (e.g.…”

Section: Practical Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

What have we learned from deterministic geostatistics at highly resolved field sites, as relevant to mass transport processes in sedimentary aquifers?

Ritzi

Soltanian

2015

Journal of Hydrology

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In the method of deterministic geostatistics (sensu Issaks and Srivastava, 1988), highlyresolved data sets are used to compute sample spatial-bivariate statistics within a deterministic framework. The general goal is to observe what real, highly resolved, sample spatial-bivariate correlation looks like when it is well-quantified in naturally-occurring sedimentary aquifers.Furthermore, it is to understand how this correlation structure, (i.e. shape and correlation range) is related to independent and physically quantifiable attributes of the sedimentary architecture.The approach has evolved among work by Rubin for sample statistics have been developed which allow tracking the facies types at the heads and tails of lag vectors. The goal is to observe and thereby understand how aspects of the sedimentary architecture affect the well-supported sample statistics. The approach has been used to study heterogeneity at a number of sites, representing a variety of depositional environments, with highly resolved data sets. What have we learned?We offer and support an opinion that the single most important insight derived from these studies is that the structure of spatial-bivariate correlation is essentially the cross-transition probability structure, determined by the sedimentary architecture. More than one scale of hierarchical sedimentary architecture has been represented in these studies, and a hierarchy of cross-transition probability structures was found to define the correlation structure in all cases. This insight allows decomposing contributions from different scales of the sedimentary architecture, and has led to a more fundamental understanding of mass transport processes including mechanical dispersion of solutes within aquifers, and the time-dependent retardation of reactive solutes.These processes can now be described in terms of quantifiable physical attributes of the sedimentary architecture. In addition to discussing the benefits to basic scientific understanding, we also discuss some of the practical benefits derived from this insight.

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Cited by 43 publications

References 11 publications

Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits: Star Point Sandstone and Blackhawk Formation, Eastern Utah

Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits: Star Point Sandstone and Blackhawk Formation, Eastern Utah

Three-dimensional modeling of clinoforms in shallow-marine reservoirs: Part 2. Impact on fluid flow and hydrocarbon recovery in fluvial-dominated deltaic reservoirs

What have we learned from deterministic geostatistics at highly resolved field sites, as relevant to mass transport processes in sedimentary aquifers?

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