The Slopes Project

Stratigraphic development of large-scale turbidite slope systems: rules for reservoir modeling and prediction

Project Summary:

The Slopes Project is examining multiple deepwater slope systems to develop a set of general geologic rules that can be used to predict and model stratigraphic architectures in deepwater clastic systems. Research utilizes a combination of outcrop data, seismic data, and advanced numerical modeling techniques to predict reservoir properties in deepwater deposits across a range of scales, focusing on large-scale slope systems. Rules will be generated through observation, parameter correlation, and verification using a family of deterministic outcrop and seismic datasets. The intention is to develop generic rules that can be applied to different slope systems with appropriate input changes.

Research is being conducted on the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene El Rosario Formation in Baja, Mexico, and the Carboniferous Guandacól and Jejenes Formations of Argentina’s Paganzo Basin. Research by the SBC is focusing on slope conglomerate channels and related thin-bedded levee deposits of the El Rosario Formation.

This multi-institutional collaborative effort consists of research conducted by the Turbidites Research Group at University of Aberdeen, the Continental Slopes Research Consortium at the University of California-Santa Barbara and Colorado School of Mines, and the Slope and Basin Consortium (SBC) at Montana State University. The project is administered through the University of Aberdeen.

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Deliverables:

This research will produce a set of geologic rules presented in the context of:

Fully documented three-dimensional architectures of examples of the elements of deepwater slope systems crucial to the development of such rules;
Sequence stratigraphic frameworks for the various datasets;
A detailed understanding of transport and depositional processes, which will aid in the generalization and export of rules based on particular analog systems, and;
A set of tested input parameters that are key to the architectural development of slope systems.

Digital output will be delivered in three-dimensional graphical and quantitative forms in a searchable format suitable for integration into project sponsors’ intranets. Project results will also be distributed annually through field conferences, guidebooks, CD-ROMs, and online updates on the consortium Web site.