SPEAKER: Jon Rotzien

TOPIC: Stratigraphic analysis of sediment gravity flow deposits and implications

LOCATION: Petroleum Club 8620 N New Braunfels Ave # 700

San Antonio, TX 78217

TIME: 11:30 AM, Wednesday, October 9, 2019

COST: $25.00 for members with reservations

RESERVATIONS: Register AND pre-pay online at www.STGS.org

Abstract

Modern outcrops and subsurface data sets provide a mapping opportunity to characterize deep-water depositional systems from shelf edge to basin plain. This includes observations of the grain- to basin-scale framework and key stratigraphic surfaces that subdivide the basin-fill. Analysis from recent mapping campaigns (2009-2019) from over 20 stratigraphic intervals in the Americas, Europe, Asia and New Zealand yields the following insights: (1) The range and variability in deep-water siliciclastic conventional petroleum reservoirs includes deposits resulting from transport and deposition via fluid turbulence, matrix strength and a combination of those two mechanisms. (2) Sediment distribution patterns in the deep sea are controlled by several key factors including various aspects of grain size and sediment volume, gradient, accommodation and overall basin type. (3) Sub-bed-scale, semi-quantitative analysis of sedimentary fabric ratios commonly gleaned from core and image logs reveals critical information on bulk rock volume, net gross and porosity to help determine stock tank original oil in place (STOOIP). (4) Sedimentary provenance and source-to-sink routing systems are intimately linked to overall reservoir presence and reservoir quality in fine-grained turbidite reservoirs. (5) Downslope sediment gravity flow behavior can be used to calibrate and understand the predictive attributes in deep-water reservoir type from canyon head to basin plain.

The results of these mapping campaigns reveal new observations on sediment gravity flows, their processes of transport and sedimentation, and their bearing on oil and gas exploration and development in deep-water depositional systems. This presentation incorporates observations from passive margins including faulted slopes and ponded mini-basins, and active margins including foreland, forearc, back-arc, strike-slip, intracratonic and hybrid basins.

Biography

Jon R. Rotzien is President of Basin Dynamics, a U.S.-based consulting company providing innovative geoscience and reservoir characterization solutions. He has published peer-reviewed research papers and scientific conference proceedings pertaining to petroleum geology, reservoir quality, reservoir characterization, sequence stratigraphy, process sedimentology, basin analysis and geophysics, and he teaches petroleum reservoir courses in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and New Zealand. He is a Distinguished Service Award winner of GCSSEPM (2018), associate editor of the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology and co-founder of the Houston Explorers Club. Mr. Rotzien received a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Stanford University and a B.A. degree in Geology from Colorado College.