ASEG-PESA Young Professional Speaker Night

Vincent Crombez from CSIRO and Tasman Gilfeather-Clark from UWA will present to other young professional members of the ASEG and PESA

Crombez: From cores to stratigraphic modelling: an innovative workflow to characterize unconventional targets. Application to the Montney and Doig Formations (W. Canada)

In self-sourced reservoirs, the occurrence of hydrocarbons is linked with in-situ organic content and thermal maturity, while the effective extraction of this resource depends on the brittleness of the reservoir which is mainly controlled by the mineralogy and the rock fabric. The aim of this study is to improve the understanding of sedimentary heterogeneities in shale plays, based on outcrop and well data from the Triassic Montney and Doig Formation (Fms), lab analyses and numerical modelling.

Our workflow comprises 3 stages: (1) Well correlations, based on sequence stratigraphy, providing an understanding of the 3D stratigraphic architecture of the basin. (2) Integration of Rock-Eval VI, ICP-MS/AES analysis on cores, cuttings and outcrop samples distributed along a basin-wide cross-section highlighting the controls on organic accumulation (dilution, destruction, production). (3) A process-based forward modelling of the stratigraphic evolution of the basin with DionisosFlow, providing a quantification of the controlling factors as well as 3-D distribution of reservoir heterogeneities at basin-scale.

The integration of the geochemical analysis in the stratigraphic framework showed that the organic content in the Montney and Doig Fms is controlled by different combinations of: organic production, dilution and destruction, depending on the location along the depositional profile and on the depositional sequence. The stratigraphic modelling provided the opportunity to understand this complex interaction and study the distribution of organic heterogeneities. The dynamic of dilution, destruction and production processes can thus be spatially and temporally quantified and correlated with the stratigraphic architecture and the dynamic of the basin. Lastly, stratigraphic modelling provided important feedbacks on organic matter accumulation conceptual models and geochemical proxies interpretation.

With in-situ organic content and thermal maturity, while the effective extraction of this resource depends on the brittleness of the reservoir which is mainly controlled by the mineralogy and the rock fabric.

Vincent works at CSIRO as a Post-Doctoral research fellow and he participates as a mentee in the ASEG-PESA Mentoring Program.

Gilfeather-Clark: Machine Learning for Land Classification - A SOM Case Study of Broken Hill   

Self-Organising Maps (SOM) is an unsupervised learning algorithm, used in this work to complete landmass classification analysis of the area to the North of Broken Hill. An examination of current ML landmass classification methodologies is introduced followed by a brief review of SOM. Applications of SOM for mineralisation targeting and data QC are identified in a data rich setting. The results of the study confirm the efficiency of the SOM algorithm for clustering lithological groups in land classification studies. Perhaps most notable is SOM’s ability to highlight variation in cover without needing to assign labels, which has been identified as a key aspect moving forward in Australia’s mining future, when considering the vast expanses of Australia which is composed of sub cropping rock.

Tasman completed Bsc. Geology and Geophysics in 2014 at Macquarie University. He then worked in exploration geophysics surveying with various junior exploration companies for a year doing IP, Gravity, & Magnetics Surveys around Australia. He returned to Macquarie to complete a Masters of Research under Dr Kate Selway studying the relationship between grain-size and conductivity over a shear zone near the Musgraves in central Australia. During his Masters he was co-chair of GESSS NSW conference committee and team leader of the Team Macquarie's submission to the Frank Arnott Award, where he worked with David Pratt of Tensor Research and Bruce Dixon formerly of CSIRO, on the work he's presenting tonight. He's recently moved to Perth to complete a PhD with the Center for Exploration Targeting at UWA under Prof. Eun Jung Holden of the Geo Data algorithms team.