Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gutiérrez, M. A. Articles by Nur, A. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

3-D seismic interpretation of tectonic wrenching and faulting in La Cira—Infantas

Stanford University, Stanford, California, U.S.

Corresponding author: mario@pangea.stanford.edu

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

A current problem in oil recovery is knowledge of the reservoir's external geometry and the effect of geologic heterogeneities on hydrocarbon flow. Geologic heterogeneities compartmentalize reservoirs into flow units, preventing efficient drainage and sweep of reservoirs.

Understanding 3-D geometry, spatial organization, genesis, and evolution of folds and faults is essential to providing a realistic conceptual model for flow studies. Wireline log-based structural models of mature giant oil fields, such as La Cira–Infantas, Colombia, do not provide clear delineation of production boundaries and compartments. In La Cira–Infantas, the characteristics and evolution of its structural style are not well understood. Published interpretations suggest that La Cira–Infantas is a complex combination of coeval folds, thrust faults, and frequent normal faults. The field is the westernmost expression of a thrust belt that extends out into the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin from the Eastern Cordillera Mountains. Yet structural elements are not concordant with characteristics of a typical compressive tectonic regime, as previously claimed in the literature.

To solve these uncertainties, this paper presents a rigorous model of faulting for La Cira–Infantas. A very thorough and detailed description and documentation of the structural features, based on the interpretation of a 3-D seismic data set, support the model.

	Regional setting

 
La Cira–Infantas Field is in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (MMVB), near the center of Colombia, about 250 km north of Bogota (Figure 1). This basin is an elongated depression that covers approximately 30 000 km². It is 500 km in length (N-S) and 60 km in width.

View larger version (52K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Geologic map and producing oil fields of the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin. After Geotec (1988), Ingeominas (1976), and Ecopetrol (2000).

This article has been cited by other articles:

				O. V. Kostenko, O. V. Kostenko, S. J. Naruk, W. Hack, M. Poupon, H.-J. Meyer, M. Mora-Glukstad, C. Anowai, and M. Mordi Structural evaluation of column-height controls at a toe-thrust discovery, deep-water Niger Delta AAPG Bulletin, December 1, 2008; 92(12): 1615 - 1638. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]