Lecture Presentation

Fundamentals of Well Logging

Natural Gamma-Ray Logs and

their Interpretation
Carlos Torres-Verdn, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering

The University of Texas at Austin

Objectives:
1. To understand the physical principles behind the
operation of spontaneous gamma-ray logging tools,
2. To learn how to interpret gamma-ray logs in terms
of clastic lithology, shale content, grain size, and
some other petrophysical properties,
3. To conceptually understand when and when not
gamma-ray logs are indicative of shale/clay
concentration,
4. To introduce the concept of spectral gamma-ray
logs, and
5. To understand what environmental corrections are
customarily applied to gamma-ray logs.

IMPORTANT REMARKS:
1. Clay/shale can substantially affect petrophysical
properties of rocks such as porosity, irreducible
water saturation, capillary pressure, relative
permeability, absolute permeability, and
permeability anisotropy.
2. It is necessary to diagnose the specific
distribution of clay/shale in the pore space, the
type of clay, and the volumetric concentration of
clay/shale in order to quantify the petrophysical
properties of rock formations.
3. Presence of clay/shale affects practically ALL
well-log measurements.
4. Presence of clay/shale can cause electrical,
permeability, and elastic anisotropic behavior.

Examples of Turbidites:
Bouma Sequences

Where are the Shales?

Relationship between Grain Size Distribution,

Pore Size Distribution, Throat Size Distribution,
and Tortuosity: Influence on Permeability and
Capillary Pressure

Turbidite Deposits / Submarine Fans

Geological/Depositional Model

Analogous Example: Offshore

Nigeria, Niger Delta Slope
From Pirmez et al., 2000

Dr. Galloways model

Geological/Depositional Model

Shale, Silt, and Clay

FACTS:
1. Clays are naturally radioactive (they
spontaneously release gamma rays).
2. Most clays contain Th, U, and K. Clay/shale
concentration increases with [Th, U, K]
concentration.
3. In siliciclastic rocks, grain size often correlates
with presence of clay/shale.
4. Warning I: there are some rocks which have no
clay/shale but do exhibit abnormal
concentrations of [Th, U, and/or K].
5. Warning II: Drilling mud can contain K.

RADIOACTIVITY: THE BASICS

NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY OF ROCKS,

NATURAL GAMMA RAY ACTIVITY

GAMMA RADIATION

DEFINITION OF HALF LIFE

QUESTION:

Why are shales/clays

naturally radioactive?

Natural Element Abundance in the Earths Crust

(After Darwin Ellis)

What do clay and silt (shale) have to do

with natural gamma ray activity?

What is a clay?
Example of Clay-Coated Sand Grains

What is a clay?
Example: Chlorite

What is a clay?
Example: Pore-Filling Kaolinite

What is a clay?
Example: Pore-Bridging Illite

Smectite

Kaolinite

Chlorite

Illite

Glauconite

Where are the Shales?

Examples of Turbidites:
Bouma Sequences

Thick-bedded turbidite sands

Thick-bedded turbidite sand with discontinuous shale-clast horizons

Where are the Shales?

Where are the Shales?

Where are the Shales?:

The case of naturally radioactive sands

Where are the Shales?

Warning!

Some Evaporites are Naturally Radioactive

Where are the Shales?

Sequence Boundary

Dolostone Bed

Cycle Top

nic c
Bento
Li m es

g
E lon

ate

lays

tone

u
nod
t
r
e
d ch

les

cat
(sili

es)

Where are the Shales?

Calibration of
Gamma Ray
Detectors

SCINTILLATION COUNTERS

Logging Tools
RESISTIVITY

LATEROLOG

40 cm

NEUTRON
RADIOACTIVITY

GAMMA RAY
DENSITY

ACOUSTIC

SONIC
MICRO RESISTIVITY

RESISTIVITY

MICROLOG
DIPMETER

250 cm

200

150

100

80 cm

50

30 cm
20 cm

RESOLUTION

80 cm

INDUCTION LOG

60 cm
5 cm
2 cm
0 cm
0 cm

DEPTH OF INVESTIGATION

TYPICAL GAMMA RAY RESPONSES

SPECTRA FOR K, Th, and U

TYPES OF MEASUREMENTS

INTEGRAL GAMMA-RAY
MEASUREMENT

GAMMA-RAY API VALUES OF MINERALS

GAMMA RAY LOG EXAMPLE

SPECTRAL GAMMA RAY LOG

Bed-Boundary Effects

DEFINITION OF VOLUME OF SHALE

Rock = Liquids and Gases + Solids (Matrix)

ROCK

SOLIDS
LIQUIDS AND GASES

Shale
Solid Component of the Rock
Volume of Shale =

Volume of Shale
Total Rock Volume

Clay and Sandstone

After Rabaute et al. (2003)

Core Vshale: Example

EXAMPLE: Synthetic gamma-ray logs

Tide Influenced Delta

Frewins Castle Sandstone
Belle Frourche Member
Frontier Formation
Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
Tisdale Mountain Anticline, Wyoming

Photo by Rob Wellner

Definitions
Shale can be dispersed, laminated or
structural
Shale structure is not critical in
computing hydrocarbons-in-place. It is
important in determining producibility.
Shale structure can only be determined
from core or with image logs, like the
FMI.

Laminated Shale

2 feet

Shale laminae
occupy both pore
space and grain
space

e = ss - VshL ss
These laminae are at
the density resolution
limit. (sand grains not
to scale)

Dispersed Shale

2 mm

Dispersed shale
occupies only pore
space

e = ss - VshD
ss or PHIMAX is
the maximum
clean sandstone

Structural Shale

2 mm

Structural shale
occupies grain space

e = ss

EXAMPLE
40
35

Porosity (%)

30
25

STRUCTURAL

LAMINATED
DISPERSED

20
15
10
5
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Csh (%)

70

80

90

THOMAS-STIEBER PLOT

100

Example: Thin Bedded Pay

Static Normalized Images

Static - Equal Increments - Linear
64 color
X Scale = 1:4.2
Y Scale = 1:10.0

90

180

Deep water facies thin

bedded pays appear as
organized bands and have
moderate dips.

This facies makes good

reservoirs, even with a
very high Vsh and low
interval average PHIE.

They are hard to detect

due to low resistivity and
high GR

270

ESTIMATION OF SHALE CONTENT

Clean Sand Baseline

Volume of Shale (Vsh)
Computation:
Empirical Technique
Ish
1

min

max

Shale Baseline

ESTIMATION OF SHALE CONTENT (I)

ESTIMATION OF SHALE CONTENT (II)

EXAMPLE
M-10

M-Series Sands

M-20

M-30

where

M-40
M-50
M-60

Vsh = 0.083 * 23.7 I GR 1

I GR =

GR GRclean
GRsh GRclean

CLAY MINERAL IDENTIFICATION

MINERAL IDENTIFICATION

Some Review Questions (Part I):

1. Why is a rock naturally radioactive? What is the
definition of half life of a radioactive substance?
2. What is a gamma ray? Why do gamma rays come in
different (quantum) energies (frequencies)?
3. What is a clay?
4. According to well-log practitioners, what is the definition
of shale?
5. Why are precisely the gamma-ray spectral signatures of
Th, U, and K used in well logging as indicators of shale
concentration (amount of shale per unit volume)?
6. When will the gamma-ray spectral signatures of Th, U,
and K not be indicative of shale concentration?
7. Are gamma-ray logs sensitive to the solid (matrix) or to
the fluid component of a rock, or to both?
8. Are gamma ray logs sensitive to mud-filtrate invasion?

Some Review Questions (Part II):

9. What is the radial length of investigation of natural
gamma ray tools? Does it matter if the rock is denser
than normal?
10. Why are spectral gamma-ray logs often used to assess
types of lithology?
11. List at least five different geological situations that will
entail the use of spectral gamma ray logs for the
assessment of shale concentration.
12. What are typical values of gamma-ray readings in a
carbonate sequence?
13. What are the typical values of gamma-ray readings in a
siliciclastic sequence?
14. Why are tuffaceous sands naturally radioactive?
15. What are the environmental corrections that are
applied to gamma ray logs?
16. Unaccounted presence of barite in the mud, will it
cause a sand to appear shalier or cleaner? Explain
your answer.

Acknowledgements:

Baker Atlas
Schlumberger