How seismic anisotropy changes with scale (original) (raw)
2017, By: D. Baden, P. Henry G. Saracco, L. Marie, A. Tonetto, Y. Guglielmi, S. Nakagawa, Gerard Massonat, JP Rolando, in:Proceedings, SEG 2017, 87th Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, USA, pp. 305-309.
https://doi.org/10.1190/segam2017.17587710.1
Physical properties of carbonate rocks cannot be fully captured from laboratory-sized samples. Indeed, heterogeneous facies distribution and/or diagenetic alterations may lead to significant variations in petrophysical properties within few meters. In carbonates, diagenetic transformations are tightly related to nature of fluids flowing through the formations, e.g. via fractures network. Consequently, reservoir properties may have patchy distribution, and may not be correlatable (e.g. using facies distribution or wells-logs correlations) within few meters. Our works aim at characterizing carbonates anisotropy at different scales, and are subject of two presentations at SEG's 87 th Annual Meeting. This abstract deals with the second part of our approach, that's to say characterizing impact of diagenetic alteration on reservoir properties and seismic anisotropy, from centimeter to multi-meter scale. This part of the works integrate data from centimeter-scale (mini-cores), decimeter-scale (5" cores), multi-meter (ultrasonic crosshole), and hectometer-scale (seismic), which have been measured at suitable frequency ranges (1MHz, 250kHz, 50kHz, and 1-100Hz, respectively). Although anisotropy is measureable at every scales, its origins vary according to scale. In this study, it is shown that matrix of porous samples are weakly anisotropic as a result of minerals orientation, and inter-crystalline pores. At centimeter-scale, anisotropy can also be related to: (1) patchy distribution of some physical properties, (2) local cracks distribution, and (3) thick single fractures. The lack of correlation between stiffness components from seismic-scale measurements, and laboratory to multi-meter scale ones emphasizes the fact that, when fracturing dominates, measured anisotropy is dominated by fracture/fault related anisotropy and matrix-related anisotropy may be lost. So that, scale effect must be handled carefully in anisotropy analyses, especially for carbonate formations.