• AAMIR ALI

Articles written in Journal of Earth System Science

• Spatio-temporal variations of b-value in and around north Pakistan

The seismotectonic structure of north Pakistan has been formed by ongoing collision between the Eurasian and Indian plates. North Pakistan and the adjoining areas experienced many large earthquakes in the past, which resulted in considerable damages and loss of life. A magnitude-homogenous earth-quake catalogue for north Pakistan and its surrounding areas for the instrumental period from 1964 to 2007 is used for analysis. We presented seismicity picture of the Hindukush–Pamir–Karakoram (HPK), Kohistan Island Arc (KIA) and Hazara–Kashmir–Himalayas (HKH) using various histograms and time series plots of the dataset. The b-value for each accreted domain is derived separately and investigated through a process of mutual correlation. Our computed temporal variation of b-value in Hazara region shows a significant decrease prior to 2005 Kashmir earthquake.

• Bayesian inversion of synthetic AVO data to assess fluid and shale content in sand-shale media

Reservoir characterization of sand-shale sequences has always challenged geoscientists due to the presence of anisotropy in the form of shale lenses or shale layers. Water saturation and volume of shale are among the fundamental reservoir properties of interest for sand-shale intervals, and relate to the amount of fluid content and accumulating potentials of such media. This paper suggests an integrated workflow using synthetic data for the characterization of shaley-sand media based on anisotropic rock physics (T-matrix approximation) and seismic reflectivity modelling. A Bayesian inversion scheme for estimating reservoir parameters from amplitude vs. offset (AVO) data was used to obtain the information about uncertainties as well as their most likely values. The results from our workflow give reliable estimates of water saturation from AVO data at small uncertainties, provided background sand porosity values and isotropic overburden properties are known. For volume of shale, the proposed workflow provides reasonable estimates even when larger uncertainties are present in AVO data.

• Application of model based post-stack inversion in the characterization of reservoir sands containing porous, tight and mixed facies: A case study from the Central Indus Basin, Pakistan

Porosity is a key parameter for reservoir evaluation. Inferring the porosity from seismic data is often challenging and prone to uncertainties due to number of factors. The main aim of this paper is to show the applicability of seismic inversion on old vintage seismic data to map spatial porosity at reservoir level. 3D-seismic and wireline log data are used to map the reservoir properties of the Lower Goru productive sands in the Gambat Latif block, Central Indus Basin, Pakistan. The Lower Goru formation was interpreted with the help of seismic and well data. Interpreted horizons are thus further used in model-based seismic inversion techniques to map the spatial distribution of porosity. Well-log data are used in the construction of low acoustic impedance models. Calibration of reservoir porosity with inverted acoustic impedance is achieved through well-log data. The results from model-based inversion reasonably estimate the porosity distribution within the C-sand interval of the Lower Goru Member. After post-stack inversion, the porosity values at wells Tajjal-01, Tajjal-02 and Tajjal-03 are 10%, 8% and 12%, respectively. Porosity values calculated from post-stack inversion at the corresponding well locations are in good agreement with the borehole-derived porosity.

$\bf{Highlights}$

$\bullet$ Cross-plots of acoustic impedance and effective porosity can differentiate between tight porous and mixed sand facies.

$\bullet$ Model-based seismic inversion can delineate tight sands.

$\bullet$ The spatial distribution of porosity can be reasonably estimated with the help of inverse linear relationships between impedance and porosity.

• # Journal of Earth System Science

Volume 131, 2022
All articles
Continuous Article Publishing mode

• # Editorial Note on Continuous Article Publication

Posted on July 25, 2019