Abstract: Use of Sequence Stratigraphy in Hydrocarbon Prospecting--Green Canyon, Offshore Louisiana Example

Abu N. Chowdhury, David L. Risch, Andrew E. Hannan

The sequence stratigraphy methodology is well suited to correlating stratigraphic units as thin as 100 m or less and delineating reservoir rock fairways through the integration of biostratigraphic, well log, and seismic data. Stratigraphic sequences are subdivided into depositional systems tracts, resulting in many interpreted horizons. These numerous horizons are not only correlated areawide based on seismic and well log character, but also interpreted with careful attention to balancing the depositional thicknesses across faults and structures. Thickness and structural maps constructed from this detailed method of interpretation provide the basis for establishing depositional fairways.

In the Green Canyon area, sediments were deposited in lowstand systems tracts as turbidites and hemipelagic muds. At least three productive deep-water sand fairways exist within the 1.4 to 5.5 Ma rock section in this basin. Some of the productive sands were found in two thin slope fan intervals (less than 100 ms) of a stacked condensed section deposited during a period of low sedimentation (1.4-2.4 Ma). These thin intervals could have been regionally miscorrelated or even overlooked without a sequence stratigraphic analysis. Sequence-stratigraphic analysis within the Green Canyon area enabled recognition and delineation of these thin, yet productive, reservoir rock intervals and additional reservoir rock trends.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90983©1994 GCAGS and Gulf Coast SEPM 44th Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas, October 6-7, 1994