Course Description
Rivers are important agents of sediment transport and deposition in their own right and are also important in terms of supplying sediment to depositional systems further down-dip, such as deltas. Similarly, deltas are important sites of sediment accumulation in their own right but are also crucial in supplying sediment to deeper water depositional systems. This course takes a holistic view of fluvial and deltaic depositional systems and their deposits from sediment production in erosional sources to sediment deposition and storage in a wide range of fluvio-deltaic depositional settings. The course covers basin, sandstone body and internal heterogeneity scale attributes of the deposits and therefore provides an understanding of potential reservoir attributes of the deposits in their broader context.
Audience
- The course is designed for geologists and geophysicists who wish to become familiar with the basic principles of fluvial and deltaic depositional systems and selected current research developments that are relevant to the hydrocarbon industry. Exploration- and development scale issues are covered in the course. Geoscientists working on deep water sedimentation prospects may wish to attend in order to enhance their understanding of up-dip systems and their roles in delivering sediment to deeper water settings.
Prerequisites
- Basic stratigraphy and sedimentary structures
Course Schedule
| 1 |
- The alluvial system and alluvial deposits
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Alluvial and deltaic depositional systems – from source to sink. A review of the main controls on depositional systems and their importance in clastic basin-fill successions.
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The fluvial system
Drainage basin, transfer zone, depositional system
Structural controls on transfer systems in extensional and compressional basins
Terminal versus coupled alluvial depositional systems
Modern alluvial depositional systems : processes, bedforms, structures and channel behaviour
Alluvial fans
Braided rivers
Sinuous, meandering channels
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Ancient alluvial deposits
Basin margin alluvial fan deposits
Braided versus sinuous, meandering channel sandstone bodies
The nature and significance of overbank deposits and palaeosols.
Seismic expression of alluvial deposits
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| 2 |
- Alluvial architecture and reservoirs
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Alluvial systems in tectonically active basins – sediment transport paths and the location of alluvial depositional systems
Extensional basins
Compressional basins
Strike slip basins
Coastal plain alluvial systems
Sequence stratigraphy of alluvial systems and deposits
Subsidence driven analysis of terminal alluvial systems
Relative sea level driven analysis of coupled alluvial systems
Alluvial architecture and reservoirs – principles, models, applications to the sub-surface.
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| 3 |
- Deltaic depositional systems – the nature and significance of deltaic systems and their deposits
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Deltas as prime sediment depocentres in passive margins
What happens at the river mouth?
Different modes of interaction between sediment-laden river waters and basin waters, focusing on hypopycnal plume processes and hyperpycnal underflow processes
The variability of modern deltas – a review
Deltaic elements and facies associations
Delta front
Delta plain
Delta abandonment
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| 4 |
- Sequence stratigraphy of delta systems
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Deltaic parasequences and the occurrence of deltas in systems tracts
Highstand systems tract deltas
Transgressive systems tract deltas
Lowstand systems tract incised valleys, forced regression and shelf edge deltas
Exercise : Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of deltaic deposits
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| 5 |
- Syn-sedimentary deformation in deltas
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Syn-sedimentary deformational processes and their significance
Rotational slides, collapse depressions and gullies, mud diapirs
Listric extensional growth faults, compressional thrust and fold structures
Shelf-edge collapse features – nature and significance
Exercise : Seismic interpretation of shelf edge deltas
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Instructor
Prof. Trevor Elliott
Instructors may vary based on location and schedule.
Classes
No classes are currently scheduled for this course.
Add yourself to the waiting list
We will schedule a class for this course, when there are enough participants on the waiting list.
