Seismic Sections (seismic + section)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Geophysical exploration for interlayer slip breccia gold deposits: example from Pengjiakuang gold deposit, Shandong Province, China

GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 2 2004
Z. Qingdong
ABSTRACT Interlayer slipping breccia-type gold deposit , a new type of gold deposit, defined recently in the northern margin of the Jiaolai Basin, Shandong Province, China , occurs in interlayer slip faults distributed along the basin margin. It has the features of large orebody thickness (ranging from 14 m to 46 m, with an average thickness of 30 m), shallow embedding (0,50 m thickness of cover), low tenor of gold ore (ranging from 3 g/t to 5 g/t), easy mining and ore dressing. This type of gold deposit has promising metallogenic forecasting and potential for economic exploitation. A ground gamma-ray survey in the Pengjiakuang gold-ore district indicates that the potassium/thorium ratio is closely related to the mineralization intensity, i.e. the larger the potassium/thorium ratio, the higher the mineralization. The gold mineralized alteration zone was defined by a potassium/thorium ratio of 0.35. A seismic survey confirms the location of the top and bottom boundaries and images various features within the Pengjiakuang gold mineralization belt. The gold-bearing shovel slipped belt dips to the south at an angle of 50,55° at the surface and 15,20° at depth. The seismic profile is interpreted in terms of a structural band on the seismic section characterized by a three-layered model. The upper layer is represented by weakly discontinuous reflections that represent the overlying conglomerates. A zone of stronger reflections representing the interlayer slip fault (gold-bearing mineralized zone) is imaged within the middle of the section, while the strongest reflections are in the lower part of the section and represent metamorphic rocks at depth. At the same time, the seismic reflection survey confirms the existence of a granite body at depth, indicating that ore-forming fluids may be related to the granite. A CSAMT survey showed that the gold-bearing mineralized zone is a conductive layer and contains a low-resistivity anomaly ranging from 2 ,m to 200 ,m. [source]


Geological evolution and structural style of the Palaeozoic Tafilalt sub-basin, eastern Anti-Atlas (Morocco, North Africa)

GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008
E. A. Toto
Abstract The Tafilalt is one of a number of generally unexplored sub-basins in the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco, all of which probably underwent a similar tectono-stratigraphic evolution during the Palaeozoic Era. Analysis of over 1000,km of 2-D seismic reflection profiles, with the interpretation of ten regional seismic sections and five isopach and isobath maps, suggests a multi-phase deformation history for the Palaeozoic-aged Tafilalt sub-basins. Extensional phases were probably initiated in the Cambrian, followed by uniform thermal subsidence up to at least the end of the Silurian. Major extension and subsidence did not begin prior to Middle/Upper Devonian times. Extensional movements on the major faults bounding the basin to the north and to the south took place in synchronisation with Upper Devonian sedimentation, which provides the thickest part of the sedimentary sequence in the basin. The onset of the compressional phase in Carboniferous times is indicated by reflectors in the Carboniferous sequence progressively onlapping onto the Upper Devonian sequence. This period of compression developed folds and faults in the Upper Palaeozoic-aged strata, producing a structural style characteristic of thin-skinned fold and thrust belts. The Late Palaeozoic units are detached over a regional décollement with a northward tectonic vergence. The folds have been formed by the process of fault-propagation folding related to the thrust imbricates that ramp up-section from the décollement. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


POTENTIAL STRUCTURAL TRAPS ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER CARBONIFEROUS SALT IN THE NORTHERN TARIM BASIN, NW CHINA

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2004
Jiangyu Zhou
In the Aixieke-Santamu area of the northern Tarim Basin (NW China), 45 relatively low amplitude structures related to the plastic flow of Lower Carboniferous salt have been discovered in the Lower Carboniferous Kalashayi Formation and the Middle-Upper Triassic Akekule and Halahatan Formations. Three small hydrocarbon accumulations have so far been located at the margins of a Lower Carboniferous salt body (measuring about 55km x 75km and 115,225m thick, controlled by wells and 2D and 3D seismic sections). In this paper, we consider the development of this salt body and discuss possible reasons why vertical diapirs are absent from the study area. We attempt to develop a model of salt flow and we investigate the relationship between salt flow and the occurrence of oil and gas traps. Using recently-acquired high-resolution 2D and 3D seismic profiles, we show that the Lower Carboniferous salt has undergone three separate phases of plastic flow. At the end of the Early Permian, the salt flowed southwards by 2.0,2.8 km; then, during the Late Triassic,Early Jurassic, it flowed in the same direction by 1.0,1.8 km; and finally at the end of the Tertiary, it flowed northwards by 0.6,1.5 km. These movements resulted in the formation of various types of structural trap in the Kalashayi, Akekule and Halahatan Formations including salt ridge anticlines, domes and marginal troughs. Salt ridge and salt edge low-amplitude anticlines are probably the most important targets for future hydrocarbon exploration. [source]


Impactites as a random medium,Using variations in physical properties to assess heterogeneity within the Bosumtwi meteorite impact crater

METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 4-5 2007
Elizabeth L'HEUREUX
The damage induced by impact results in extensive fracturing and mixing of target materials. We discuss here a means of using sonic velocity and density logs from two boreholes through the Bosumtwi crater fill and basement to estimate the degree of heterogeneity and fracturing within the impacted target, in order to understand the discrepancy between the large impedances derived from the log data and the nonreflective zone of impactites observed in seismic sections. Based on an analysis of the stochastic fluctuations in the log data, the Bosumtwi impactites are characterized by vertical scale lengths of 2,3 m. From the resolution of the seismic data over the crater, horizontal scale lengths are estimated at <12 m. The impactites therefore fall within the quasi-homogeneous scattering regime, i.e., seismic energy will propagate through the medium with little disruption. Scale lengths as small as these are observed in the fractured basement rocks of impact structures, whereas non-impact related crystalline environments are characterized by scale lengths an order of magnitude larger. Assuming that the high-frequency fluctuations observed in the log data are more sensitive to fracture distribution than petrology, this suggests that the small scale lengths observed within impact structures are characteristic of impact-induced damage, and could be used to estimate the extent of fracturing undergone by the rocks at any depth below an impact structure. [source]


Clinoform migration patterns of a Late Miocene delta complex in the Danish Central Graben; implications for relative sea-level changes

BASIN RESEARCH, Issue 5 2009
L. K. Mřller
ABSTRACT A Late Miocene delta complex is located in the Danish Central Graben. The delta complex provides the opportunity to study the spatial development of a wave-fluvial dominated delta complex in three dimensions. Based on 3D seismic data (seismic sections and amplitude maps) and well data the complex has been investigated. The delta was developed during an initial rise and then a significant fall (approximately 90 m) in relative sea-level. The prograding clinoformal package of the delta complex has clinoform dips of 2,3° and a thickness of maximum 115 m. The sediments are deposited in five elongated depositional units with the long axis parallel to the delta slope, and progradation occurred in a south-westerly direction. The grain size of the units vary from muddy to coarse-grained sand. Incised canyons running parallel to the depositional direction tend to be straight or have low sinuosity and incise approximately 90 m into the top of the delta. The delta complex has been subdivided into two systems tracts based on a study of clinoform migration patterns: (1) Rising trajectory in Unit 1,4 of the complex, the sea-level was rising as documents a highstand systems tract (HST). (2) Descending trajectory in Unit 5 documenting a forced regression wedge systems tract (FRWST) as the sea-level was falling, creating incised canyons. [source]