QUANTITATIVE SEISMIC GEOMORPHOLOGY: VISUALIZING THE FUTURE OF PALEO-LANDSCAPE RESEARCH

A new generation of geomorphologists is utilizing three-dimensional (3D) seismic data to image and visualize fluvial depositional elements and other geologically significant features in landscapes millions of years old. This generation is enabled by not only immense advances in computing and geophysical imaging technology, but by 100+ years of foundational knowledge in fluvial process geomorphology and landscape evolution. Quantitative seismic geomorphology; the technique of extracting quantifiable geomorphic data using predominantly 3D seismic, has been applied in basins worldwide to assess the geomorphologic nature of fluvial systems and drainages (Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation, Miocene-Pleistocene age Gulf of Mexico, Tertiary Malay Basin), ancient deltas (South America, U.S. Gulf), and continental shelves (Gulf of Mexico, Indonesia, New Zealand, Brazil) and reveal details of how these ancient landscapes evolved in response to tectonics, climate and sea level changes. Quantitative measurements of variables such as channel center line, sinuosity, number of bends, radius of curvature, meander length and width, channel depth and width, splay frequency and locations, levee heights and widths and taper rates, and debris-flow width, height, and runout distances can be measured from seismic data and used to predict the character and behavior (distribution) of these deposits. Fluvial geomorphologic elements in Indonesia and the Gulf of Mexico show strong correlation between morphology and lithology, as well as the influence of regional tectonics on fluvial system orientations. Analyses of such deep, deep time geomorphologic systems can significantly impact climate proxies in basins around the world and extend our geomorphologic understanding of earth’s history back millions of years.