Using high-resolution microresistivity image logs to reconstruct paleoenvironments and stratal architectures: An example from the McMurray Formation, Leismer area, northeastern Alberta, Canada

AAPG Bulletin ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 105 (8) ◽  
pp. 1563-1593
Author(s):  
Brekke Howard ◽  
Roenitz Tania
SPE Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (05) ◽  
pp. 2194-2205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siavash Nejadi ◽  
Nasser Kazemi ◽  
Jordan A. Curkan ◽  
Jean Auriol ◽  
Paul R. Durkin ◽  
...  

Summary The oil and gas industry, operating and service companies, and academia are actively searching for ways to look ahead of the drill bit while drilling to reduce the risks and costs of the operation and improve the well-placement process. Optimal drilling in challenging and highly heterogeneous reservoirs, where geological data cannot adequately constrain high-frequency variations in rock properties, requires reliable subsurface information from around and ahead of the drill bit. To provide this, we have developed a seismic-while-drilling (SWD) imaging algorithm using signal processing, drillstring modeling, and prestack wave-equation migration. To extend the visibility ahead of the bit, we use the drill bit as a seismic source and image the changes in acoustic properties of rocks both around and ahead of the drill bit. The common practice is to build reverse vertical seismic profile (R-VSP) gathers. Here, we use a blind deconvolution algorithm to estimate the drill-bit source signature from the data directly. Alternatively, we can estimate such a signature through drillstring modeling and surface measurements (i.e., hookload and hook speed). The drillstring dynamics are modeled and analyzed using Riemann's invariants and a backstepping approach in a field-verified model. Next, we enter the estimated source signature into the prestack wave-equation depth-imaging workflow. Our simulations show that providing the drill-bit source signature to the prestack wave-equation depth migration consistently delivers reliable subsurface images around and ahead of the drill bit. The output of our workflow is a high-resolution subsurface image, which is then applied to provide vital information in oil-sands reservoirs for placement of steam-assisted-gravity-drainage (SAGD) well pairs. Compared with conventional practices, the proposed methodology images around and ahead of the drill bit enable interactive decision making and optimal well placement. The key feature of the presented methodology is that instead of cross correlating the SWD data with the pilot trace and building R-VSP gathers, we use the estimated drill-bit source signature and deliver high-resolution prestack depth-migrated images. Through numerical modeling, we tested the potential impacts, validity, and challenges of the proposed methodology in drilling horizontal wells in SAGD settings with an emphasis on the McMurray Formation. We further compared the results with the conventional drilling practice. In contrast to existing tools that have limited depth of penetration, interpreting SWD data in real time confidently maps key target features ahead of the drill bit. This imaging workflow provides sufficient time to precisely control the borehole trajectory and stay within the desired reservoir zone. Accordingly, it mitigates the risk of intersecting mudstone-filled channels and lean zones.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1627-1651 ◽  
Author(s):  
C R Stelck ◽  
F H Trollope ◽  
A W Norris ◽  
S G Pemberton

Early Cretaceous paleogeography and biostratigraphy of western Canada are reviewed in light of a reassessment of foraminiferal and microfloral data from unpublished university theses on the early Albian Loon River shales of the lower Peace River area of northern Alberta (Norris 1951; Trollope 1951). The Loon River Formation, once considered to be an obsolete term, comprises numerous “zones” of foraminifera, radiolarian, and algal cysts, in ascending order Rectobolivina sp., lower Radiolarian zone, lower Leiosphaeridia zone, Haplophragmoides yukonensis, upper Radiolarian zone, upper Leiosphaeridia zone, Trochammina mcmurrayensis, Valvulineria loetterlei, Haplophragmoides topagorukensis, Marginulinopsis collinsi, and Haplophragmoides gigas minor. The upper part of the Loon River Formation, from the upper Radiolarian zone onwards, correlates with the McMurray, Wabiskaw, and Clearwater formations of the Fort McMurray area of northeastern Alberta. Molluscan data from various localities in western Canada indicates that the entire Loon River succession occurred within the early Albian. The presence of Inoceramus dowlingi and Cleoniceras sp. with the Marginulinopsis collinsi microfauna permits correlation of the type Clearwater Formation and type McMurray Formation with the Moosebar Formation of northeastern Bristish Columbia. An anomalous thick sequence of Leiosphaeridia (algal cysts) beds, bounded above and below by radiolarian-bearing strata, occurs in the mid part of the Loon River shales outcropping ~40 km along the lower Peace River. The Trochammina mcmurrayensis microfauna occurs 2–3 m below Inoceramus dowlingi and 30 m above Cleoniceras sp., and above the upper Leiosphaeridia zone. The radiolarian and Leiosphaeridia beds are considered to be the offshore neritic homotaxial equivalent of deltaic strata in the upper part of the McMurray Formation. The mid and lower Loon River shales are potential oil sources for the tar of the McMurray Formation, and this is supported by recent radiometric dating of the tar by Rhenium–Osmium isotopic analysis.


1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 45-46
Author(s):  
Carl Heiles

High-resolution 21-cm line observations in a region aroundlII= 120°,b11= +15°, have revealed four types of structure in the interstellar hydrogen: a smooth background, large sheets of density 2 atoms cm-3, clouds occurring mostly in groups, and ‘Cloudlets’ of a few solar masses and a few parsecs in size; the velocity dispersion in the Cloudlets is only 1 km/sec. Strong temperature variations in the gas are in evidence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Alfredo Blakeley-Ruiz ◽  
Carlee S. McClintock ◽  
Ralph Lydic ◽  
Helen A. Baghdoyan ◽  
James J. Choo ◽  
...  

Abstract The Hooks et al. review of microbiota-gut-brain (MGB) literature provides a constructive criticism of the general approaches encompassing MGB research. This commentary extends their review by: (a) highlighting capabilities of advanced systems-biology “-omics” techniques for microbiome research and (b) recommending that combining these high-resolution techniques with intervention-based experimental design may be the path forward for future MGB research.


1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 593-596
Author(s):  
O. Bouchard ◽  
S. Koutchmy ◽  
L. November ◽  
J.-C. Vial ◽  
J. B. Zirker

AbstractWe present the results of the analysis of a movie taken over a small field of view in the intermediate corona at a spatial resolution of 0.5“, a temporal resolution of 1 s and a spectral passband of 7 nm. These CCD observations were made at the prime focus of the 3.6 m aperture CFHT telescope during the 1991 total solar eclipse.


1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 541-547
Author(s):  
J. Sýkora ◽  
J. Rybák ◽  
P. Ambrož

AbstractHigh resolution images, obtained during July 11, 1991 total solar eclipse, allowed us to estimate the degree of solar corona polarization in the light of FeXIV 530.3 nm emission line and in the white light, as well. Very preliminary analysis reveals remarkable differences in the degree of polarization for both sets of data, particularly as for level of polarization and its distribution around the Sun’s limb.


1988 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
E. Silver ◽  
C. Hailey ◽  
S. Labov ◽  
N. Madden ◽  
D. Landis ◽  
...  

The merits of microcalorimetry below 1°K for high resolution spectroscopy has become widely recognized on theoretical grounds. By combining the high efficiency, broadband spectral sensitivity of traditional photoelectric detectors with the high resolution capabilities characteristic of dispersive spectrometers, the microcalorimeter could potentially revolutionize spectroscopic measurements of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. In actuality, however, the performance of prototype instruments has fallen short of theoretical predictions and practical detectors are still unavailable for use as laboratory and space-based instruments. These issues are currently being addressed by the new collaborative initiative between LLNL, LBL, U.C.I., U.C.B., and U.C.D.. Microcalorimeters of various types are being developed and tested at temperatures of 1.4, 0.3, and 0.1°K. These include monolithic devices made from NTD Germanium and composite configurations using sapphire substrates with temperature sensors fabricated from NTD Germanium, evaporative films of Germanium-Gold alloy, or material with superconducting transition edges. A new approache to low noise pulse counting electronics has been developed that allows the ultimate speed of the device to be determined solely by the detector thermal response and geometry. Our laboratory studies of the thermal and resistive properties of these and other candidate materials should enable us to characterize the pulse shape and subsequently predict the ultimate performance. We are building a compact adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator for conveniently reaching 0.1°K in the laboratory and for use in future satellite-borne missions. A description of this instrument together with results from our most recent experiments will be presented.


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