Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.
Introduction:
The past two decades have proved the presence of commercial hydrocarbons in the basins along the Eastern Continental Margin of India, especially in the deep water sediments. These Basins include, from South to North, Cauvery, Krishna-Godavari, Mahanadi. Considering the mandate from the Government of India, presently the deepwater Andaman Basin is also being brought to the forefront of exploration efforts. Apart from these deepwater areas, onland and shallow water production has been obtained for a long time from the Cauvery, Krishna-Godavari and recently from the Bengal Basin. The reservoirs in Cauvery Basin and a major part of the Krishna-Godavari Basin have been deposited in deep water (beyond shelf) settings and by gravity driven processes.
Analogues of gravity driven processes and their product sediments in deep water are available world over, mainly in tectonically displaced terrains and are many a times logistically difficult to access. In India such analogues in tectonic terrains are available in the Higher Himalayas and are difficult to access for detailed studies. On the other hand, presence of products of gravity driven sediments, deposited in slope / basin floor settings are available in the Cauvery Basin. The pioneering work of Paranjape (2017), Paranjape et al (2015a, b &c) for the first time provided detailed sedimentological studies of these products of gravity driven processes, exposed in the Ariyalur area. Recently a field workshop for the APG India, Southern Chapter (February 2021) conducted by Kale and Paranjape (Kale & Paranjape 2021) for the first time unraveled the importance of these exposures to geoscientists of Association of Petroleum Geologists (APG India), Southern Chapter.
The Hands on familiarity with the exposures of sediments deposited by gravity driven processes, would go a long way in improving the understanding and its usage in exploration and development of deep-water reservoirs.
OBJECTIVES:
The Objectives to be achieved by the field training are multifold. However, for the sake of brevity the main objectives are listed below:
- Improve understanding of controls and sedimentation patterns in deep water gravity borne deposits.
- Controls would include concepts of sequence stratigraphy applicable to deep water sedimentation.
- Concept of scale (outcrop/core, log and seismic scales) and its applicability to integrated reservoir modeling.
- Mapping techniques for products of gravity driven processes in deep waters.
- Property distribution in deep water reservoirs, especially those deposited by gravity driven processes.