Geologic modelling (or modeling) is the applied science of creating computerized representations of portions of the Earth's crust, especially oil and gas fields and groundwater aquifers. In the oil and gas industry, realistic geologic models are required as input to reservoir simulator programs, which predict the behavior of the rocks under various hydrocarbon recovery scenarios. An actual reservoir can only be developed and produced once, and mistakes can be tragic and wasteful. Using reservoir simulation allows reservoir engineers to identify which recovery options offer the safest and most economic, efficient, and effective development plan for a particular reservoir. Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and elaion – oil or Latin oleum – oil ) or crude oil is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, or permeable mixtures of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) (see also groundwater). ... Hydrocarbons are refined at oil refineries and processed at chemical plants In chemistry, a hydrocarbon is any chemical compound that consists only of the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). ...

Geologic modelling is a relatively recent subdiscipline of geology which integrates structural geology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, paleoclimatology, and diagenesis. A geologic formation is generally represented using a 3-dimensional array of relatively small subdivisions, or cells. The creation of geologic models is computationally intense, so this discipline has only existed since the development of high-speed digital processors. The Blue Marble: The famous photo of the Earth taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17s Harrison Schmitt on December 7, 1972. ... Structural geology is the study of deformation of rock including breaking (fracturing and faulting) and bending or folding. ... Sedimentology is the branch of geology primarily concerned with understanding the characteristics of sediments, sedimentary processes and sedimentary rocks originally deposited in sedimentary basins. ... Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, is basically the study of rock layers and layering (stratification). ... Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of the Earth. ... In geology, diagenesis refers to all the chemical, physical, and biological changes undergone by a sediment after its initial deposition and during and after its lithification, exclusive of surface alteration (weathering). ... A geologic formation is a formally named rock stratum or geological unit. ... Microprocessors, including an Intel 80486DX2 and an Intel 80386 A microprocessor (abbreviated as µP or uP) is an electronic computer central processing unit (CPU) made from miniaturized transistors and other circuit elements on a single semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) (aka microchip or just chip). ...

Geologic modelling components

Structural framework

Incorporating the spatial positions of the major boundaries of the formations, including the effects of faulting, folding, and erosion (unconformities). The major stratigraphic divisions are further subdivided into layers of cells with differing geometries with relation to the bounding surfaces (parallel to top, parallel to base, proportional). Maximum cell dimensions are dictated by the minimum sizes of the features to be resolved (everyday example: On a digital map of a city, the location of a city park might be adequately resolved by one big green pixel, but to define the locations of the basketball court, the baseball field, and the pool, much smaller pixels - higher resolution - need to be used). Old fault exposed by roadcut near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ... A fold in Slichowice nature reserve in Kielce (Variscan orogeny) The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of plastic (i. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion s the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of wind, water or ice, by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of... There is a billion year gap in the geologic record where this 500 million year old dolomite lies on 1. ...

Rock type

Each cell in the model is assigned a rock type. In a coastal clastic environment, these might be beach sand, high water energy marine upper shoreface sand, intermediate water energy marine lower shoreface sand, and deeper low energy marine silt and shale. The distribution of these rock types within the model is controlled by several methods, including map boundary polygons, rock type probability maps, or statistically emplaced based on sufficiently closely spaced well data. In geology, the term clastic refers to sediments formed from fragments of pre-existing rock. ... Upper Shoreface refers to the portion of the seafloor that is shallow enough to be agitated by everyday wave action (wave base). ... Lower Shoreface refers to the portion of the seafloor that lies below everyday wave base (see also upper shoreface). ... Silt refers to soil or rock particles of a certain very small size range (see grain size). ... Shale Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. ...

Reservoir quality

Reservoir quality parameters almost always include porosity and permeability, but may include measures of clay content, cementation factors, and other factors that affect the storage and deliverability of fluids contained in the pores of those rocks. Geostatistical techniques are most often used to populate the cells with porosity and permeability values that are appropriate for the rock type of each cell. Used in geology, building science and hydrogeology, the porosity of a porous medium (such as rock or sediment) is the proportion of the non-solid volume to the total volume of material, and is defined by the ratio: where Vp is the non-solid volume (pores and liquid) and Vm... In geology, permeability is a measure of the ability of a material (typically, a rock) to transmit fluids through it. ... A pore, in general, is some form of opening, usually very small. ... Geostatistics applies the theories of stochastic processes and statistical inference to geographic phenomena. ...

Fluid saturation

Most rock is completely saturated with groundwater. Sometimes, under the right conditions, some of the pore space in the rock is occupied by other liquids or gases. In the energy industry, oil and natural gas are the fluids most commonly being modelled. The preferred methods for calculating hydrocarbon saturations in a geologic model incorporate an estimate of pore throat size, the densities of the fluids, and the height of the cell above the water contact, since these factors exert the strongest influence on capillary action, which ultimately controls fluid saturations. An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, or permeable mixtures of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) (see also groundwater). ... Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of geologic formations. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and elaion – oil or Latin oleum – oil ) or crude oil is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... Many stoves use natural gas. ... A pore, in general, is some form of opening, usually very small. ... Density (symbol: ρ - Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. ... Water contact is a term used in the hydrocarbon industry to describe the elevation above which fluids other than water can be found in the pores of a rock. ... Capillary action or capillarity (also known as capillary motion) is the ability of a narrow tube to draw a liquid upwards against the force of gravity. ...