Deep-water Delaware
The featured photo shows a road cut in the Permian (Guadalupian) Brushy Canyon Formation off US Highway 62/180 in the foreground. The west-facing exposure, with the Delaware Mountains in the…
Geology & Geophysics
Is Multi-Point Statistics the future of reservoir modelling?
In our quest to build more realistic reservoir models, we stumble upon the challenge of how to fill up the blanks between well data. Many robust algorithms are widely used…
Translating and expansional McMurray point bars
In the captivating world of sedimentary geology, point bars offer a window into the dynamic processes sculpting fluvial and near-coastal landscapes. The classical model of (expansional) point bars is best…
What can resistivity tell you about your prospect?
Over the last few years, significant advancements have been made in the field of seismic quality, fundamentally transforming the landscape of geological exploration. The increase in bandwidth coupled with improved…
Strike-slip kinematics for pop-ups and pull-aparts
Pop-ups and pull-aparts, releasing- and restraining-bends, positive- and negative-flower structures. These are the various names given to the little, and big, structures that develop along strike-slip faults. They often form…
Oman – beneath the surface
Much has been written, including in this magazine, about the fantastic outcrop geology of Oman, the wonderful exposure, the preservation of salt at surface in the arid climate, and the…
Uncertainty – the most important result of basin modelling
I have long wanted to write about uncertainties in basin modelling. Despite their general acknowledgement, they are commonly underestimated due to various biases and psychological pressures. Explorationists sometimes live in…
The cream of the outcrop
This panorama shows an Upper Miocene succession, la Rambla de Lanujar, in the Betic Cordillera, featuring in one of our field trips to Tabernas, Almería, Spain. Apart from being a…
Peat: So hot right now
“The offshore wind sector is still very much a geotechnical exercise”, I was told recently by someone with knowledge on the matter. “But that model is due an update.” Despite…
The geological record of a highly eruptive part of North Sea history
The Kveikje discovery in the Norwegian North Sea was proven with a play-opening well in 2022, discovering a significant hydrocarbon accumulation in shallow Eocene-aged remobilised sands and injectites. These strata…
Riedel shears as kinematic indicators
In the previous article in this series, we discussed that Riedel shears are commonly the first set of subsidiary faults we see prior to the breakthrough of a master fault.…
The rise of production geology
Before anything, let’s clear the water: Production geology is not a cross-over between the cinema industry and our good ol’ geology. Production geology refers to unravelling the geological intricacies in…