Introduction to Interactive Learning

These interactive learning modules are designed for geoscientists, reservoir engineers, and anyone else with a need to know more about the processes and deposits of deepwater depositional systems. They provide online training in the interpretation of deepwater depositional systems, including topics in marine geology, reservoir modeling, and how to select an outcrop analog pattern.

Interactive learning is organized into three modules, which can be used for a number of purposes depending on the needs and experience of the user. They are designed to simulate the workflow in subsurface geological interpretation, specifically, when and where to apply outcrop analog data.

Dr. Mike Gardner and students examine an outcrop in the Brushy Canyon Formation.

1. Select an outcrop analog pattern

Selecting an analog pattern requires matching common attributes between a subsurface case and an outcrop example.This module teaches users how to choose an appropriate outcrop analog to address subsurface data uncertainty, support a geologic interpretation, or provide an explanation for a particular reservoir behavior. Analog selection is based on five common geologic attributes (see figure below).

2. Learn about deepwater depositional systems

This module provides tutorials about geologic attributes such as rock type, stratigraphy, sedimentology, and tectonics. Understanding the roles of these attributes may help distinguish and characterize a pattern and support its selection as an analog for a depositional system. The module is organized around five general geologic attributes that parallel the attributes of outcrop analog patterns (see figure below).

3. Model a sedimentary pattern

This module walks users through the generation of a 3D geologic model, which is upscaled and abstracted as a static petrophysical cube used in dynamic fluid flow simulations. The tutorial describes how to construct a model using five steps that parallel the geologic attributes in the patterns and deepwater systems modules (see figure below).

Geologic Attributes

The diagram below illustrates how the five topic areas in each module parallel one another in their applications to the interpretation of deepwater depositional systems. Click on a topic for more information.