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TruncatedGaussianAlgorithm
Rocksthattransitionfromonefaciesorfaciesassociationtothenextinaspecificorderarecommon.Examples
include:
Glacialdeposition
From:SignificanceoftransitionbetweenTalchirFormationandKarharbariFormationinLowerGondwana
basinevolutionAstudyinWestBokaroCoalbasin,Jharkhand,India,byHNBhattacharya,Abhijit
Chakraborty,andBiplabBhattacharya,inJ.EarthSyst.Sci.114,No.3,June2005,pp.275286.
ProgradationalParasequencySets
From:USCSequenceStratigraphyWeb(http://strata.geol.sc.edu/logstacking.html)
Reefs
BuildingmodelsthatreplicatethisorderlyfaciestransitionhasbeendifficultinPetrel.Analgorithmcalled
TruncatedGaussiansimulationallowstheseorderedtransitionstobemodeledeasily.Thediscussionbelow
demonstratestheuseofthisalgorithmontheAfricantrainingdatasetandondatarepresentingapinnaclereef.
TheauthorshaveusedTruncatedGaussiansimulationonacoupleprojectsandfounditsimplertousethanthe
TruncatedGaussianwithtrendsalgorigthm(availableinpreviousreleasesandstillavailable)andthatit
producedbetterresultsthantheotherforthatdata.Becauseofthelimitednumberofprojectstheyhave
workedusingthistool,theauthorsarenotexperts,butfeltatipsandtricksarticlewasimportanttomakeall
awareofthenewtool.
TruncatedGaussiansimulationTheAlgorithm
TruncatedGaussiansimulationisastochasticalgorithm.Thismeansthatitusesaseedand,iftheseedis
allowedtovary,willproduceadifferentresultuponreexecution.
Primaryinputinclude:
Faciesdataasapropertymodelupscaledfromafacieslog
Thefaciestobemodeled
Theorderthefaciesaretooccur(adjacencyinthemodel)
Onevariogram(usedforallfacies)
Theglobalfractionofeachfacies(tendstobedominatedbyTrendsiftheyareused)
Optionalinputdatainclude:
VerticalfaciesproportionsfromtheDataAnalysisprocess.
Trend(3D,2D,or1D)foreachfacies
Smoothingandwhetherdataarehonoredduringsmoothing
Figure:ParametersavailableontheTruncatedGaussiansimulationdialog.
Thealgorithmbasicallymodelstheprobabilityofthefaciesinnormalscorespaceandthenconvertsthat
modeledprobabilitybacktoafaciescode.Althoughtheauthorsdontunderstandexactlyhowthealgoirthm
works,wehavebeenabletopickupenoughfromthedocumentationtoeffectivelyusethetool.Our
interpretationofthemodelingprocessgoessomethinglikethis(seefiguresbelow).GivenWells1and2and
threestacksofcellsinbetweenthem,theprogram:
1. Checkstheprobabilityofeachfaciesandbuildsacumulativeprobabilityfunctionthattotals100%(0
10=green,10.01to40=red,and40.01to100=yellow).Actuallynormalscorevaluesof0to1are
usedbutpercentsareusedinthisexample.
2. Assignstoeachfaciesthepercentatthecenterofitsportionoftheprobabilityfunctionandtheseare
thevaluesthatareusedtomodelthatfacies(5forgreen,25forred,and70foryellow).
3. Buildsacontinuousmodelfromtheinputdata(probablyusingSGS).
4. Convertsthemodeledprobabilityvaluesbacktofaciesspacebycomparingthevalueinthecellto
theprobabilityrangeandassigningtothatcellthefacieswhoseprobabilityrangeitlieswithin.
Figure:Wellswithmidpointprobabilityvalues(displayedas%)thatarepassedtothemodelingprocess.Stacks
ofcells(,,andofwaybetweenwells)withcontinuousprobabilityvaluesmodeled(displayedas%).The
probabilityvaluesareconvertedtofacies(color)basedonwhichfaciesprobabilityrangeitsvaluefallsin.
Thisexampleisbasedononlyoneprobabilitynumberforeachfacies,thatis,notrendsorverticalproportions
wereused.Theprocessgetsmorecomplexastrendsetc.areaddedbutthegeneralapproachissimilar.
AfricanModel
TheAfricandataset,commonlyusedfortraining,showshowthealgorithmworks.Themodelisfirstbuiltusing
SequentialIndicatorsimulationandthenusingtheTruncatedGaussiansimulation.
Figure:ThesamedatamodeledwithSequentialIndicatorsimulation(left)andTruncatedGaussiansimulation
(right).Thevariogramsweremadeasalikeaspossible(sphericalleftandgaussianright).
Notethehaloofyellowfaciesaroundtheredfacies.TheorderthefacieswereinputtotheTruncatedGaussian
simulationalgorithmwasGrey,Yellow,andRedandthisistheorderthefacieshadtostayinwhenmodeled
becauseofhowthealgorithmworks.Becauseitisastochasticalgorithm,youwillstillgetanumberoffacies
bodiesthatareunsupportedbydatabutthedatawillbehonoredinallcases.
Figure:parametersusedtobuildtheAfricanmodelwithTruncatedGaussiansimulation.
Thelargerthenuggetthemorefuzzyistheboundarybetweenthefacies.
Figure:Modelbuiltwithnugget=.001(left)andnugget=.1(right).
PinnacleReef
InthepastithasoftenbeensaidthatPetrelisnotfriendlytomodelerstryingtobuildcarbonatemodels.Forthis
reason,wehavebuiltaPinnaclereefmodelsimilarinstyletopinnaclesseenintheMichiganBasin.Sincewe
didnthavedataforPinnaclereefswestudiedtheliteratureandmanufacturedourown.
StructuralFrameworkandtheMentalGeologicModel
Thehorizonsmodeledfromtopdownaresummarizedinthetablebelow.Belowarecrosssectionand3Dviews
showingthehorizongeometry,pinnacleform,andlayeringusedinthemodel.Normallythereis40%to60%
compactioninthecarbonates(littleornoneintheevaporates)whichcreatesadrapingeffectoverthe
pinnacles.Wedidnottakethetimetobuildthiscompactionformintothemodelasitwasnotthegoalofthis
study,althoughthedrapewouldhavecreatedamoreelegantandaccuratefaciesmodelatboundariesbetween
reefandevaporite.LayeringwasmadeproportionalintheA2CarbonateandLowerNiagaraandmadeto
followthetopintheotherzones.
Theshapeofthehorizons,thelayering,andtheapproachusedtomodelfacieswerealldictatedbyourmental
imageofhowthereefshouldlookandthedistributionoftherocksinthatmentalimage.Thementalmodel
usedtoguidethisworkwasderivedfromworkdonebyK.J.Mesolella,K.D.Robinson,L.M.McCormick,andA.R.
Ormiston,1974,CyclicdepositionofSiluriancarbonatesandevaporatesinMichiganbasin:AAPGBulletin,v.58,
P.3462.Modelnumber3fromthispublicationwasused(twoperiodsofgrowthseparatedbyevaporate
deposition.
Figure:Section(left)throughthehorizonsmodeledforthePinnaclereefstudy.ReefisfoundintheNiagaraand
A1Carbonatezones.A3DviewofthetopNiagarawiththecrosssectioncuttingitisshownintherightview.
Figure:Sectionshowingthelayeringusedtoguidethecorrelationsineachzone.
Table:Listofhorizonsmodeledanddescriptionofrocklyingbeloweachhorizon.
Horizon
A2Carbonate
A2Evaporite
A1Carbonate
A1Evaporite
Niagara
TopLowerNiagara
BaseLowerNiagara
(topClinton)
Zonerockdescription
Coarsegrained,densecarbonate,unfossiliferous.
Halitewithoccasionalthindolomitebedscappedby
fewfeetofdenseanhydrite
Densefinegrained,unfossiliferous,argillaceous,
thinbeddedcarbonates.
Clear,coarselycrystallinehalitethinlyinterbedded
withanhydriteanddolomite,commonlycapped
withafootortwoofanhydrite.
Denseargillaceous,micriticcarbonate,rangingfrom
massivetandolomitetograymicriticcrinoidal
limestonetolightgraynodularlimestone.
SameastheNiagarabutwithouthavinganyreef
development(zoneaddedtoseparatethelower
nonreefNiagarafromtheupperreefbearing
Niagara.
Baseofmodelsonorocksmodeledbeneath.
FaciesModeling
Thefaciesmodeledarelistedinthefigurebelow.Notallfacieswerefoundineachzone.Infactitwasnecessary
tomodeleachzoneseparatelysothatfaciesfromonezonewouldnotblurintoazonetheydidnotbelongin.
OneofthemostimportantaspectsofusingtheTruncatedGaussiansimulationalgorithmistousehorizonsor
someothermeanstorestrictthemodelingareastohavejustthosefaciesthatmatchthestyle(adjacencyorder)
ofthealgorithm.TheWellsectionbelowshowsthefaciesdistributionineachwellandzone.Basedonthe
distributionandrelationshipofthefacies,thefollowingalgorithmswereusedtomodeleachzone:
A2Carbonate
A2Evaporite
A1Carbonate
A1Evaporite
Niagara
LowerNiagara
TruncatedGaussiansimulation(limestoneanddolomite)
SequentialIndicatorsimulation(saltandanhydrite)
TruncatedGaussiansimulation(reefandcarbonate)
SequentialIndicatorsimulation(saltandanhydrite)
TruncatedGaussiansimulation(reefandcarbonate)
Assignvalue(Interreefmud)
TheA2CarbonatecouldhavebeenmodeledwitheitherSequentialIndicatororTruncatedGaussianequally
wellastherewereonlytwofaciesinthezone.
Figure:LinecutbytheWellsectionthroughthewells(topleft),listoftheFaciesthatarebeingmodeled(top
right),andtheWellsectionwithfacieslogdisplayed(bottom).
DataAnalysisverticalproportionswereusedonallzonestoassistindistributingtherock.2DTrendgridswere
usedtoforcefaciestobepositionedlaterallywithrespecttothereefintheproperpercents.Thesetrendswere
madetorangeinvaluefrom0to1.0.Althoughthetrendsshouldsumto1.0,noeffortwasmadetoforcethis
(someplacestheysummedto.5,someplacesto1.0otherplacesto1.5).Whenaparticularfacieswasnt
positionedcorrectly,itstrendwasadjustedtoincreaseordecreaseitsproportioninthatarea.Theauthorshave
foundthattrendsaretheprimarytoolforpositioningtherockandcreatingthedesiredgeologiceffectwhen
workingwiththisalgorithm.Inmostcases,2DGridsworkfinebutinsomecases,speciallybuilt3DGridsare
neededtocreatethedesiredeffect.
Becausethewellswerepreferentiallydrilledintothereefthepercentofeachfaciesinazonedidnotmatchthe
modeledpercent.Thiswasexpected1)becausethemodelcoveredbothreefandnonreefareas,2)vertical
proportionswereusedwhichsometimesforcethedistributionstovaryabitfromthewells,and3)trendswere
Petrel is a mark of Schlumberger
usedwhichdramaticallyimpactthepercentofeachfacies.Needlesstosay,themodelwasworkeduntilits
geologicfeatures(faciesdistributions)lookedacceptable,andmatchedthementalimageofthegeology.
Figure:DataAnalysisdialogforthetworeefzones(remember,layeringissettofollowtop).
Figure:TrendsusedtomodeltheA1Carbonate(toprow):ReefRock,ReefTalus,Dolomite,Limestoneand
Niagara(bottomrow):ReefRock,ReefTalus,andInterreefMud.
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Figure:FaciesmodelingparametersusedtomodeltheA1Carbonate.
Figure:Jindexsectionwitha1:1verticalexaggerationshowingthefinalfaciesmodel.
Figure:Iindexsection(topleft,5:1),Jindexsection(topright,5:1),Kindex(bottomleft,throughA1
Carbonate),and3Dviewofreefrockandtalus(bottomright5:1),allshowingthefinishedmodel.
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Experiments
Someexperimentsweremadetoseewhattheeffectwouldbeiftrendswerenotused,iftheSequential
Indicatorsimulationalgorithmwasusedwiththesametrends,andifthereefsandtheintermediateevaporate
wereallmodeledasonezone.Thefiguresbelowshowthesescenarioscomparedtothebestcasemodel.It
wasfoundthatforthisdata,SISandTGScouldbothbeusedtoproduceacceptableresultsbutthatthetrends
weremorerigorouslyfollowedwithTGS.
Figure:ModelsbuiltwithTruncatedGaussiansimulation:withouttrends(left)andwithtrends(right).
Figure:Modelsbuiltwithtrends:SequentialIndicatorsimulation(left)andTruncatedGaussiansimulation
(right).TrendstendtobehonoredmorerigorouslywithTruncatedGaussiansimulationbutbothproduce
acceptableformswiththisdata.
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