Tidal deposits, the red bar corresponds to one lunar cycle.
THE WA Branch dug to the Core with a popular and well received annual workshop which took place at the Department of Mining and Petroleum’s Core Library in Perth.
The two-day workshop, conducted on September 29-30, was presented by Robert Seggie (Woodside), Dr. Simon Lang (Chevron), Bruce Ainsworth (Chevron), Prof. Peter McCab (University of Adelaide) and Dr. Amely Allgoewe (MGPalaeo).
A total of 38 people had registered to follow the course, comprising a majority of geologists and geophysicists, and a few reservoir engineers. After an introduction on the depositional model for the Triassic and Jurassic on the NW shelf and a presentation of the wells from which the cores were acquired, the core part of the workshop really started.
Participants were shown sedimentary figures and explained their meaning in terms of sedimentary environment: In which environment were they formed, through which processes, which process was dominant, what were the implication for the geometry of the sedimentary bodies and their evolution through time.
Attendants were shown explicit examples of fluviatile dominated deposits, wave deposits, tidal deposits and paleosoils (see image).
They were explained how to describe and interpret that information and could compare different cores from the same formation acquired in different position on the shelf (some more proximal, some more distal) and see the evolution of facies through different depositional environments. A strong emphasis was put on time, the time necessary for the deposition of a sedimentary unit compared to the age range of the formation and the validity of average deposition rates was discussed.
Finally, all the attendants could see for themselves how much information can be extracted from cores, how it compares with log information and seismic profiles and how much value it brings to the reservoir model.
A survey revealed that the participants were greatly satisfied and considered the workshop highly educative. PESA is proud to have organized yet another successful workshop and would like to thank the teachers; Robert Seggie, Simon Lang, Bruce Ainsworth, Peter McCab, Dr. Amely Allgoewe for making it interesting and enjoyable and the Department of Mining and Petroleum for housing it at the Core Library, a most convenient, efficient and comfortable environment.
Finally, we would like to thank Woodside, Chevron, the University of Adelaide and MGPalaeo for allowing the teachers to take the time and present the cores. We hope to see you again for the core workshop next year.
