Structural Dip Estimation from Crossbedding on Borehole Images

Structural dip is the term used in borehole image and dipmeter interpretation to indicate the "tectonic" tilting in the vicinity of the wellbore. Structural dip, by definition, is the formation dip component that is caused by tectonic deformation such as folding, faulting, uplift and others. Knowledge of the structural dip in the vicinity of the borehole is essential for several applications, including field structural modeling, well placement, geosteering of the lateral sections, and seismic data processing. Traditionally, structural dip is computed from borehole image data using laminated shale dip based on the assumption that the laminated shale was deposited out of suspension and that the lamination was originally deposited as horizontal beds. This means that any tilting observed in laminated shale with "coherent" lamination is caused by tectonic tilting; hence, it can be used to compute the structural dip. There is nearly a consensus in the industry around this assumption, and the laminated shale dip is widely used to compute structural dip. There are several geological settings under which laminated shale can form. Those are mostly subaqueous setting such as marine and lacustrine settings. Drilling through rocks deposited in such settings normally encounters sequences of laminated shale from which structural dip can be computed. However, rock formations deposited in subaerial environments often lacks settings under which laminated shale forms. Such environments are often dominated by sandstone lithologies deposited in high- energy settings this rich in sedimentary structures such as crossbedding. Due to absence of laminated shale sequences, computation of structural dip using the traditional approach is not possible. This paper explains a technique that can be used to estimate structural dip from cross bedding on borehole images. It uses the geometrical relationship between the crossbedding surfaces and the lower set boundary of the corresponding crossbedding set. The line of intersection between these two surfaces is assumed to be horizontal at the time of deposition. Measuring multiple lines of intersections, plotting them on a stereonet, and fitting a great circle to them helps estimate the structural dip within the analyzed interval. The best- fitting great circle of these lines is believed to be a reasonable estimation of the structural dip. This approach has been tested on few image log datasets with cross bedded sandstone facies and proved to be very close to the actual structural dip computation obtained from the shale facies in the same depositional sequence. This paper will illustrate some interpreted image log supporting this technique.