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In this paper, geological prior information is incorporated in the classification of reservoir lithologies after the adoption of Markov random fields (MRFs). The prediction of hidden lithologies is based on measured observations, such as seismic inversion results, which are associated with the latent categorical variables, based on the assumption of Gaussian distributions. Compared with other statistical methods, such as the Gaussian mixture model or $k$ -Means, which do not take spatial relationships into account, the hidden MRFs approach can connect the same or similar lithologies horizontally while ensuring a geologically reasonable vertical ordering. It is, therefore, able to exclude randomly appearing lithologies caused by errors in the inversion. The prior information consists of a Gibbs distribution function and transition probability matrices. The Gibbs distribution connects the same or similar lithologies internally, which does not need a geological definition from the outside. The transition matrices provide preferential transitions between different lithologies, and an estimation of them implicitly depends on the depositional environments and juxtaposition rules between different lithologies. Analog cross sections from the subsurface or outcrop studies can contribute to the construction of these matrices by a simple counting procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) have been applied to predict reservoir lithologies using seismic inversion results as inputs. This approach takes into account the conditional probabilities between different lithologies, i.e. the vertical transitions in sedimentary sequences. These properties are used as prior geological information. In order to relate the seismic inversion results to the true well-log data, HMMs need to be trained based on the Expectation-Maximization theory. Application of the resulting model on a synthetic example from the Book Cliffs (Utah, USA) showed that most lithologies are classified correctly, even for some thin layers. A comparison with point-wise methods in which data samples are treated independently from each other, such as k -means and fuzzy logic classifiers, leads to the conclusion that the spatial correlation in HMMs allows better lithological predictions because the prior information accounts for the geological depositional processes. A real case study with data from the Vienna Basin (Austria) is performed, in which lithologies in a 3D cube are obtained based on properties from seismic inversions, via trained HMMs. While the vertical sequences are shown to be reasonably well predicted, the horizontal continuities are not. This indicates that the future research should focus on the lateral geological relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The sea floor of intraslope minibasins on passive continental margins plays a significant role in controlling turbidity current pathways and the resulting sediment distribution. To address this, laboratory analogue modelling of intraslope minibasin formation is combined with numerical flow simulations of multi-event turbidity currents. This approach permits an improved understanding of evolving flow-bathymetry-deposit interactions and the resulting internal stacking patterns of the infills of such minibasins. The bathymetry includes a shelf to slope channel followed by an upper minibasin, which are separated by a confining ridge from two lower minibasins that compares well with analogous bathymetries reported from natural settings. From a wider range of numerical flow experiments, a series of 100 consecutive flows is reported in detail. The turbidity currents are released into the channel and upon reaching the upper minibasin follow a series of stages from short initial ponding, 'filling and spilling' and an extended transition to long retrogradational ponding. Upon reaching the upper minibasin floor, the currents undergo a hydraulic jump and therefore much sediment is deposited in the central part of the minibasin and the counterslope. This modifies the bathymetry such that in the fill and spill stage, flow stripping and grain-size partitioning cause some finer sediment to be transported across the confining ridge into the lower minibasins. Throughout the basin infill process, the sequences retrograde upstream, accompanied by lateral switching into locally formed depressions in the upper minibasin. After the fill and spill stage, significant deposition occurs in the channel where retrograding cyclic steps with wavelengths of 1 to 2 km develop as a function of pulsating flow criticality. These results are at variance with conventional schemes that emphasize sequential downstream minibasin filling through ponding dominated by vertical aggradation. Comparison of these results with published field and experimental examples provides support for the main conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A better understanding of the interplay between rift basin evolution and sediment transport paths can improve the success rate of locating hydrocarbon reservoirs at passive rift margins. This paper reviews the current knowledge and suggests future research directions. Relay ramps at extensional basin margins can form drainage entry points if tectonic activity exceeds sedimentation and incision rates, leading to a diversion of sedimentary flow paths towards the ramp. During base level lowstands, channels and canyons may incise into the relay ramp and provide flow paths from the basin margin into the basin. Their orientation and geometry mainly develops as a response to faulting and fracturing, and their activity is influenced by base level fluctuations. Flow constraints such as channels parallel to the ramp axis direct flows to the foot of the relay ramp where sediment accumulates in response to the basin topography. In subaqueous settings, however, turbidity currents are likely to spill at least partly over channel levees and flow down the fault slope into the basin, depositing its load adjacent to the en-echelon boundary faults. Channels and canyons with oblique and perpendicular orientations to the boundary faults can funnel flows down the hanging wall fault onto the basin floor, by-passing the relay ramp. The prevalent basinward tilt of relay ramps can direct unconstrained subaqueous gravity flows also directly into the basin. In subaerial settings, the duration of channel activity in relation to relay ramp evolution strongly depends on the ratio between flow incision rates and tectonic uplift. Drainage direction on the footwall may revert if footwall uplift exceeds incision rates, and the feeding of former depocentres terminates. In the course of rift margin development relay ramp bounding faults may link, causing the breaching of relay ramps and eventually their burial. The effect of continued rifting on ramp remnants and associated syn-rift deposits, however, is not sufficiently known and needs further investigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A high-resolution chronostratigraphic record established by [W.E. Paulissen, S.M. Luthi, P. Grunert, S. Ćorić, M. Harzhauser, Geol. Carp. (2011)] that takes into account variations in sedimentation rates and temporal gaps caused by unconformities and faulting in a research borehole in the Vienna Basin was used to investigate the possible presence of orbital, millennial and centennial periodicities. The sedimentary sequence covers Middle to Late Miocene shallow marine, fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine shales, silt- and sandstones deposited during the transition from a pull-apart basin to the final infill in a compressional regime. Spectral analysis was performed on gamma ray logs and high-resolution electrical borehole images using three different analytical methods over six suitable intervals where continuous and constant sedimentation was identified. The significant periods were found to closely match the orbital cycles of precession, obliquity and short eccentricity, providing a solid basis for the analysis of potential sub-Milankovitch cycles. The significant frequencies encountered at the millennial- to centennial-scale fell for 75% within a relatively narrow time period of 0.25 to 5kyr, with a concentration of peaks between 1 and 2kyr (29%) and 500 to 800years (17%). These periodicities relate closely to the millennial- (Dansgaard–Oeschger and Bond cycles) and centennial-scale climate cycles documented from the Quaternary. It is suggested that the high-frequency cycles observed in the Miocene of the Vienna Basin represent differences in grain size related to cyclic variations in regional precipitation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The dryland anabranching river Río Capilla is characterized by nonvegetated and vegetated reaches with prominent channel morphology. To identify the morphodynamics of such dryland anabranching systems and their controls, we investigated the Río Capilla of the southern Altiplano Plateau using high-resolution satellite imagery and field measurements. Comparison of high-resolution satellite data reveals that erosion exceeds deposition for the main channel, accompanied by changes in channel planform, such as meander and channel morphology. On-site surveys combined with high-precision GPS and high-resolution satellite imagery show that channels are characterized by shallowness and poor development of levees. The study area of the Río Capilla is divided into two zones of different slopes: zone 1 with a high slope and zone 2 with a low slope. Zone 1 has a relatively straight main channel with few anabranches and grass-covered banks that are stable despite the high gradient; whereas zone 2 is typified by more anabranches with nonvegetated banks, and the main channel experiences prominent bank accretion and erosion. Excavations show that point-bar deposits are fine-sand-dominated in two reaches and that river banks primarily consist of silt and clay. The limited vegetation cover and abundance of desiccation cracks and macropores make the river bank more erodible leading to pronounced lateral migration in this low-gradient dryland river system. Shallow channels and poor development of levees in combination with in-channel accretionary benches result in frequent overbank flooding, which results in a high density of crevasse splays over unconsolidated river banks and accretionary benches. Connection of headcuts and crevasse channels together with lateral migration and chute channels and reactivation of partially abandoned meanders produces an anabranching pattern in such dryland river systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A regional multi-scale fracture network is prominently exposed in the Cambro-Ordovician sedimentary succession in south-western Jordan. This succession consists of marine deposits, overlain by heterogeneous deltaic sediments, culminating in 500 m of massive to cross-bedded fluvial sandstones. A data set acquired from high-resolution satellite imagery and field measurements enables the quantification of the geometry and spatial characteristics of the fracture network in three dimensions. Five directional fracture sets are identified from the satellite data with mean strikes of 000°, 040°, 065°, 120°, and 145°. Large fracture zones (longer than 600 m), composed of tightly spaced joints confined in fracture swarms, exhibit a log-normal trace-length distribution and the fracture swarms are regularly spaced. The trace-length distribution of intermediate fractures (40–600 m long) exhibits power-law characteristics and the fractures are clustered, reflecting different fracture system styles and stratigraphic controls as a function of scale. The small-scale fracture network is strongly dependent on the distribution of bedding plane discontinuities throughout different parts of the succession. The multi-scale fracture network is categorized in a three-tier hierarchical fracture model that reflects underlying stratigraphic controls in the study area. This type of model can be used to improve the representation of fracture networks in fluid flow simulations of fractured reservoirs with hybrid models that combine elements of discrete fracture networks and continuum models. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The location, shape and stacking pattern of deep-marine clastic sediments on drifting stage passive continental margins are strongly influenced by the slope and basin floor topography. The tectonic control on sediment routes and dispersal patterns, however, is less understood on rift margins, particularly the impact of subaqueous transfer zones or relay ramps. In this study, an area of the Palaeocene marine syn-rift succession in the Vøring Basin is mapped in detail to unravel the relationship between fault geometries and sedimentary infill patterns. Using root-mean-square (RMS) amplitudes and deposit thicknesses interpreted from seismic data, sedimentary elements in the Fenris Graben and the Gjallar Ridge are related to the fault patterns and the overall basin geometry. Older deposits are found to be aligned parallel to the basin axis, with the greatest sediment thicknesses on the hanging walls and adjacent to rotated faults. The main sediment supply is interpreted to be sourced from the Vøring Marginal High and Greenland, presumably containing a significant proportion of coarser grained material and comprising numerous local depocentres. With continued rifting and decreased fault activity, finer grained deposition draped the previous basin infill and smoothed the basin floor topography. Deposits close to the foot of relay ramps along the Gjallar Ridge, however, suggest that the high may have acted as a local sediment source leading to local depocentres. Transfer zones played a significant role in sediment transport during the early rifting phase, and were able to maintain some influence into the late rifting and early drifting stage. Identification of early- and late-stage transfer zones may therefore help in locating coarser grained depocentres and potential hydrocarbon reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike for subaerial settings, the impact of subaqueous relay ramps on sediment dispersal is still poorly understood. A combination of analogue laboratory experiments in a sandbox with numerical flow calculations is used to simulate relay ramp topographies on rifting continental margins and to analyse the resulting turbidity current pathways and their deposits. Various scenarios are investigated, including inflow perpendicular and oblique to the relay ramp axis as well as flow constrained by an incised channel on the ramp and by a landward-directed tilt of the ramp. Without channelling, most sedimentation takes place on the basin floor because the bulk of the flow follows the steepest gradient down the fault and into the rift basin. With a channel along the relay ramp, significant flow occurs initially down the ramp axis, but channel spillover and basinward ramp tilting combine to redirect much of the sediment down the fault slope into the basin. When the relay ramp has a landward-oriented tilt, most of the current flows down the ramp and deposits its sediment load there and at the foot of the ramp. However, also here a considerable amount of the flow is shed over the hanging wall fault and into the basin, forming a secondary depocentre, while ponding redistributes thin deposits over a wider area of the basin. The quantitative dependence of these results on the specific ramp geometries remains to be investigated further but may bear great importance for refined sedimentary models in subaqueous rifted settings as well as for hydrocarbon exploration therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A new rheological model with only four empirical parameters is presented. • Our rheological model explains the run-out distances of clay-rich gravity flows. • The structure parameter is a symmetric function of the strain rate and stress. • An expression for the elastic strain of the flowing structure is derived. • Our rheological model can reproduce the viscosity bifurcation of clay suspensions. Abstract A new viscoelastic constitutive model for subaqueous clay-rich gravity flows is presented. It is explained that for the materials which exhibit a minimum in their strain controlled flow curves the structure parameter must be a symmetric function of the strain rate and the stress. Therefore, the destruction of structure within the material is modeled using the dissipation energy. An expression for the elastic strain of the flowing structure is derived. The final set of equations can reproduce the viscosity bifurcation that clay suspensions may exhibit under a given load. This is explained to be important for the prediction of the run-out distance of clay-rich gravity flows. The ability of the model to reproduce the general response of pasty materials to step stress and step shear rate tests is examined. The model requires four empirical parameters. A methodology is presented for obtaining these parameters and power law functions are given for their calculations for a limited rest time of 3000 s. The ability of the model to reproduce the rheological behavior that clay-rich suspensions exhibit under both stress and strain controlled conditions is examined using rheometry tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress distributions and deformation patterns in a medium with a pre-existing fracture set are analyzed as a function of the remote compressive stress orientation (σH) using finite element models with increasingly complex fracture configurations. Slip along the fractures causes deformation localization at the tips as wing cracks or shear zones. The deformation intensity is proportional to the amount of slip, attaining a peak value for α=45° (α: angle between the fracture strike and σH) and slip is linearly proportional with fracture length. Wing cracks develop for high deformation intensities for 30°<α<60°, whereas primary plastic shear zones develop for low deformation intensities. Additionally, two types of secondary shear zones develop for α<30° and α>60°, with constant angles of 135° and −60° with σH, respectively. Mechanical interaction between fractures in a fracture zone, quantified as change in slip compared to an isolated fracture, decreases with increasing fracture separation. Fracture underlap elongates the fracture length and therefore increases the amount of slip, while fracture overlap exhibits the opposite effect. Fracture slip decreases with an increasing amount of directly adjacent fractures. Mechanical interaction becomes negligible for fracture configurations with spacing-to-length and spacing-to-overlap ratios exceeding 0.5 and that in this case fractures are decoupled. Independent of the pre-existing fracture configuration, the development of a secondary systematic fracture set driven by a remote stress rotation is dominated by σH; development of wing cracks or shear zones is restricted to the fracture tips. Blocks with tapered geometries are present in models with a variable fracture strike, where the maximum principal stress (σ1, applying the geological convention that compressive stresses are positive) trajectories consistently deviate from σH; the presence of two systematic σ1 trajectory orientations suggests that two types of secondary features could develop in one re-activation phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Point-bar deposits exhibiting fining-upward grain-size trends are widely documented from both modern rivers and ancient preserved successions. However, in some mud-dominated sedimentary systems this common pattern may not occur; rather, alternative coarsening-upward trends can develop. We investigated point-bar deposits in the mud-dominated river terminus (median value (D 50) < 55 μm) of the meandering Río Colorado in Bolivia's southern Altiplano, a semi-arid endorheic basin. Grain-size trends were investigated using double random grain-size distribution (GSD) measurements and end-member modelling analyses (EMMA), as well as detailed mineralogical analyses (XRD and LOI). These methods revealed an upward-coarsening trend of point-bar deposits in terms of D 50 of GSD and in proportions of coarse sediment for two (C2 and C0) of three chronologically different meandering channels in the river terminus. Those of another abandoned channel (C1) were, by contrast, dominated by a fining-upward trend. The deposits in channel C2 were characterised by a lower content of organic matter and carbonate compared with those of the other two channels. A novel conceptual model for the formation of coarsening-upward point-bar deposits is proposed. The model implies the action of low-frequency, high-magnitude floods during an overall hyper-arid period when sediment supply to the river terminus is dominated by clay and fine silt. A temporal trend toward higher magnitude and longer duration flood events allows for the transport coarser-grained sediments further down system toward the river terminus where deposition occurs on the inner bend of meandering channels. Successive accretion layers within the point-bar deposits record a coarsening upward trend. Results demonstrate how a coarsening-upward succession of point-bar deposits in the muddy river terminus of a semi-arid endorheic basin can contribute to improved understanding of mechanisms of deposition in fine-grained fluvial systems. Our results contribute to an improved understanding of the varied processes and sedimentology of very fine-grained meandering river terminus systems in semi-arid or arid endorheic basins; the results additionally provide insight to enable improved interpretations of rock record examples of pre-vegetation rivers on Earth and other planetary bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]