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Mapping ultra-deep karst in its geological context

Conference Paper · October 2014

DOI: 10.1190/segam2014-0746.1

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 Mapping ultra-deep karst in its geological context
Andreas Laake*, Schlumberger, Wang Zhaoming, Peng Gengxin, Zheng Duoming, and Cui Yongfu, PetroChina
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Tarim Oil Company, Zhang Hui, Schlumberger

Summary Direct extraction of karst holes from seismic depth data

Holes and cave systems in ultra-deep Ordovician karsted
limestone have been studied in their context of
paleogeography and fault and fracture zones using the
structurally sharpened visualization and analysis of seismic
data in continuous color. The seismic structural attribute
provides a method for direct extraction of karst holes as
geobodies. The structurally sharpened red-green-blue
(SRGB) color texturing of horizons and their correlation
with stratigraphy reveals geologic features that help
interpretation of seismic data for paleogeography. The
merger of karst hole heterogeneity geobodies with the
SRGB color-textured horizons confirms that karst erosion
occurred primarily in weak rocks along fracture and fault
zones. Finally, the evolution of the karst cave system and
its relation to erosive early Silurian channels could be
confirmed. The water from these channels entered the
karsted limestone through sinkholes and eroded fracture
zones. This observation indicates that the karstification
occurred in several phases during the late Ordovician and
early Silurian. The method highlights that it is important to
integrate the interpretation of structural features in a
stratigraphic and paleogeographic context to achieve a
conclusive geological interpretation of seismic data using
attributes.
The analysis in this study used seismic prestack Kirchhoff
depth migration (PSDM) data, which provide better
coherency than time migrated seismic data (Young et al.,
2009), especially for subtle and thin structured layers such
as the upper Ordovician limestone karst reservoir layers in
the Tabei Uplift. To extract the karst holes, the method of
structurally sharpened red-green-blue (SRGB)
representation of seismic data was used (Laake, 2013;
Laake and Fiduk, 2013). The method generates a seismic
structure attribute cube that is representative of
heterogeneities in the seismic amplitude cube. Karst holes
show particularly high impedance contrast and can be
extracted as geobodies using an amplitude threshold for the
magnitude of the structure attribute. Using this approach,
the highly heterogeneous karsted limestone interval can
clearly be distinguished from the non-karsted carbonates
and clastic sediments. Figure 1b shows the overlay of the
structure attribute magnitude (in cyan) on a seismic PSDM
section along with the corresponding lithology and periods
using a generalized stratigraphic column for the Tarim
Basin (Xiangchun et al., 2013). For comparison, the PSDM
section without the overlay is shown in Figure 1a.

Introduction

Hydrocarbon reservoirs have been found in the ultra-deep

karsted Ordovician carbonates of the central Tabei Uplift in
northwest China at a depth below 6,000 m. In 3D seismic
data, karst holes, which are filled with either fluids or
clastic sediments, show high impedance contrast reflections
at their top. Therefore, seismic interpretation focused
initially on bright spot detection (Zeng et al., 2011b). The
correlation with outcrops guided the interpretation towards
more complex connected cave systems (Zeng et al., 2011a).
These systems could be mapped from seismic attributes
such as seismic continuity, which have been used to detect
faults associated with the partial collapse of the karst cave
systems (Zeng et al., 2010, 2011a, and 2011b). Most of
these studies were carried out on time-domain seismic data.
The traveltime maps have subsequently been converted to
depth using well data. The focus has been on the Figure 1: (a) Seismic PSDM section from the Paleozoic interval
characterization of the karst; whereas, the geological with the corresponding lithology and stratigraphy (modified from
Xiangchun et al. (2013)), (b) Karst cave geobodies from the
evolution of the area was not considered.
structure cube overlaid on section (a). The zone of karsted
limestone is highlighted in light red.
This paper shows new ways to extract details of the karst
features and understand their geological context through The karsted limestone is located mainly in the upper
visualization of seismic data in color. Ordovician limestone and terminates sharply at the

© 2014 SEG DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2014-0746.1

SEG Denver 2014 Annual Meeting Page 2455
 Mapping ultra-deep karst in its geological context

overlaying late Ordovician and Silurian mudstones. To Mapping paleogegraphy from seismic data
extract the complete set of karst holes in 3D, the seismic
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structure attribute is rendered as a box probe with the color
set to transparent for an attribute value below a certain
threshold. The resulting high-amplitude bodies can be
extracted as geobodies and are rendered as a 3D feature
class together with the seismic amplitude data (Figure 2).
The karst holes are clustered near the top of the limestone
and appear to be arranged in patterns.
Based on the outline of the Ordovician paleogeography of
the Tarim Basin by Zhiyi et al. (1995) and the stratigraphy
by Xiangchun et al. (2013), the coherence structure of the
seismic PSDM was studied using the structurally sharpened
color of the SRGB method.

Table 1: Generalized stratigraphy and lithology based on Zhiyi et

Figure 2: Complete volume of karst holes in the upper Ordovician al. (1995) and Xiangchun et al. (2013) for the SRGB-textured
limestone extracted as geobodies from the seismic structure horizons shown in Figure 3.
attribute.

Figure 3: Paleogeography from seismic PSDM data using SRGB colors for texturing horizons, (a) sandstone 50 m above base of Silurian,
(b) mudstone 30 m below the top of the upper Ordovician Sangtamu formation O3s limestone caves, (c) 80 m below O3s, (d) 100 m below
O3s, (e) 200 m below O3s, (f) karsted limestone middle Ordovician Yijianfang O2yj.

© 2014 SEG DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2014-0746.1

SEG Denver 2014 Annual Meeting Page 2456
 Mapping ultra-deep karst in its geological context

For details of the SRGB method, see Laake and Fiduk water eroding the limestone preferentially along the
(2013). Table 1 gives a generalized overview of the fracture system (Figure 5c).
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paleogeography for the horizons shown in Figure 3. In

summary, the Ordovician paleogeography of the Tabei This process generates connected karst hole and karst cave
uplift starts with a shallow shelf platform that deepened systems that can serve as important hydrocarbon reservoirs.
during the early Ordovician until the study area was located The possibility to map the fracture zones directly from
close to the platform margin during the middle Ordovician. seismic data using SRGB color texturing provides a useful
Massive carbonates were deposited. During the upper tool for systematic delineation of connected karst cave
Ordovician, a regression decreased the water depth until the reservoirs.
carbonate deposition stopped. Channels started to deposit
mudstones and sandstone on top of the carbonates. Embedding the findings from the structural and lithological
Chemical erosion started to carve karst into the uppermost studies using the rendering of seismic data and their
limestone layers. heterogeneities in color space into the geological context of
stratigraphy and paleogeography allows reconstruction of
In Figure 3, a sequence of SRGB color-textured horizon complex deposition and erosion processes in ultra-deep
shows how the paleogeographic and lithologic changes are Ordovician carbonates and mudstones.
represented in the seismic data. Starting with the oldest
strata, middle Ordovician limestone shows karst holes
(Figure 3f). Different horizon slices through the late
Ordovician karst cave system reveal the base of the cave
system (Figure 3e), karst holes connected by widened
fracture zones (Figures 3c and d), and the top structure of
the karst cave system (Figure 3b). The channels also visible
on this horizon originate from later erosion into the
limestone during the late Ordovician and early Silurian.
Finally, early Silurian sandstones reveal subtle polygonal
structures (Figure 3a) that may indicate dewatering marks
from very shallow marine deposition with massive
deposition.

Results

After extracting the karst cave heterogeneities as geobodies

and the palaeogeography and structure from the SRGB
colors, the two data sets can now be merged to interpret the
karst features in their geological context. In Figure 4, the
karst holes (blue features in Figure 4b) that were extracted
from the seismic structural attribute are overlaid on an
SRGB color-textured horizon half way into the karsted late
Ordovician limestone. Karst holes are clustered along fault
and fracture zones. Big karst holes and clusters often occur
at intersections of these fault zones, which are particularly
weak and easy to erode by chemicals (see yellow arrows in
Figure 4b).

The SRGB color-textured horizons also reveal indications

about the formation of the karst. Karst holes outside the
channels indicate that a first phase of karsting had
generated a dense network of voids. The late Ordovician
and early Silurian channels eroded into the top of the
karsted limestone, providing the fluids for another phase of
chemical erosion (Figure 5a). A sinkhole, which had been
created earlier, now connects the channel level with the
karst system level (Figure 5b). It acts as the entrance for the
Figure 4: Interpretation of karst holes in their geological context,
(a) SRGB-textured horizon half way into the karst cave system
showing fractures, (b) overlay karst holes extracted from the
structure attribute from the SRGB process. Yellow arrows indicate
particularly big karst holes and clusters.

© 2014 SEG DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2014-0746.1

SEG Denver 2014 Annual Meeting Page 2457
 Mapping ultra-deep karst in its geological context
Downloaded 11/17/14 to 199.6.131.16. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; see Terms of Use at http://library.seg.org/

Figure 5: Reconstruction of karst cave formation process using SRGB-textured horizons, (a) co-rendering of channel and karst system level
horizons, (b) erosive Silurian channel disappearing through a sinkhole into the karst system horizon, (c) features at a level within the karst
interval.

Conclusions karsted limestone through sinkholes and eroded fracture

Holes and cave systems in ultra-deep Ordovician karsted
limestone were studied in their context of paleogeography
and fault and fracture zones using structural sharpened
visualization and analysis of seismic data in continuous
color. The seismic structural attribute provides a method
for direct extraction of karst holes as geobodies. The SRGB
color texturing of horizons and their correlation with
stratigraphy reveals geologic features that help with the
interpretation of seismic data for paleogeography. The
merger of karst hole heterogeneity geobodies with the
SRGB color-textured horizons confirms that karst erosion
occurred primarily in weak rocks along fracture and fault
zones. Finally, the evolution of the karst cave system and
its relation to erosive early Silurian channels could be
confirmed. The water from these channels entered the
zones. This observation indicates that the karstification
occurred in several phases during the late Ordovician and
early Silurian. The method highlights that it is important to
integrate the interpretation of structural features in a
stratigraphic and paleogeographic context to achieve a
conclusive geological interpretation of seismic data using
attributes.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks PetroChina Tarim Oil Company, and
Schlumberger for permission to publish the results and
Chung-Chi Shih, Sherman Yang, and Xiao Liu of
Schlumberger for their contributions to the geological
interpretation of the seismic data.

© 2014 SEG DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2014-0746.1

SEG Denver 2014 Annual Meeting Page 2458
 http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/segam2014-0746.1

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SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts have been copy edited so that references provided with the online metadata for
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