Quantifying the effects of sediment deposition, compaction and pore fluid on rock properties and seismic signature

Supervisors: Tor Arne Johansen with Leiv-J. Gelius (UiO)

Project funding: Norwegian Research Council, Statoil and UiB (2007-2011)

This project is part of a cross-field collaboration between Stanford University, Colorado School of Mines, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and the universities of Oslo and Bergen. The aim of the collaboration is to increase our understanding of the relationships between mechanical and chemical sediment diagenesis (compaction, grain dissolution, cementation), physical properties of rocks and their seismic responses, and to improve predictions of lithology and fluid content from seismic data. The focus of the present PhD project is on: (1) the use of laboratory measurements to model effects of fluid saturation and clay mineralogy on the petrophysical properties of porous clays; and (2) the development of inversion strategies for the estimation of porosity, lithology and pore fluid (PLF) from petrophysical properties. Attempts will be made to integrate electromagnetic measurements with seismic data in the procedure of PLF estimation.