FRACTOGRAPHY ANALYSIS OF CAMBRO-ORDOVICIAN RESERVOIRS THROUGH SURFACE ANALOG. MOUYDIR BASIN, ALGERIA

The study of outcrop analogues is easier, accessible and can be used to model fractures at different scales, from mega scale to microscale, using several data and techniques. The ending could be used to understand the fractures distribution, fracture network connectivity, fractures kinematics, and simulate the fluid flow. The aim of this paper is the proposition of a new approach and a specific workflow to characterize and model the natural fractures. This method would be a way to understand the temporal and the spatial fractures distribution in the outcrop to predict them later in subsurface. The fracture quantitative analysis is built on the basis two approaches. The first approach is the analysis of a global faults map that affect the area of study, generated from the combination of curvature & illumination attributes, geological maps, satellite images, and digital elevation model. The outcomes are the determination of fault sets, length distributions, correlation coefficients, power law coefficients, and fractal dimensions. The second approach is the analysis of the fracture affecting the basement and the different Cambro-Ordovician units, by using the same input data and determining the same parameters and attributes. These methodologies help to determine the major and minor faults sets and helps to understand the fractography and typology of fracture affecting the Cambro-Ordovician units. The 3D deterministic fault models for each formation are built to illustrate the fractures distribution in space and their superposition helps to determine their origin, their relationship, their kinematics, and illustrates the impact of the basement’s faults on the sedimentary cover and the structuration of the basin. In the proposed workflow, satellite images, geological maps, and digital elevation model are used as input data to recognize and digitalize faults.