An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Deepwater & Deep Marine Sedimentary Systems
Turbidites From Canyon to Basin
Secure your spot now!
Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 3,500
Starting From
01 Mar 2027
Home Geology and Geoscience Deepwater & Deep Marine Sedimentary Systems
Deepwater & Deep Marine Sedimentary Systems
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Deepwater & Deep Marine Sedimentary Systems - GG-DEEP-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG-DEEP-PEA27 | 01 - 05 Mar 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
3500 |
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Deepwater & Deep Marine Sedimentary Systems
Description
Deepwater reservoirs are among the most valuable and the most expensive to develop. Wells cost a great deal, there are few of them, and development concepts are fixed on sparse data. The margin for architectural error is therefore small, and the architecture is complex: channels that migrate and amalgamate, levees of uncertain continuity, lobes that stack compensationally, mass transport deposits that compartmentalise, and bed types whose flow behaviour differs sharply from clean turbidite sandstone.
This training develops deep marine systems from process to development. Sediment gravity flows are established first, covering flow types, flow transformation, deposition mechanisms and the bed types each produces, including high and low density turbidites, debrites and hybrid beds. Slope processes follow: instability, failure, mass transport deposit character and the compartmentalisation they cause. Architecture is then developed element by element: canyons, channel fills, channel complexes and complex sets, internal and external levees, frontal splays and lobes, lobe stacking patterns, and basin plain sheets. Confinement is treated as a primary control, with the architectural differences between confined, weakly confined and unconfined settings developed explicitly. Seismic expression is covered, including seismic geomorphology and the attributes used to map these systems. The training closes with reservoir characterisation, connectivity assessment and the development issues of deepwater fields.
Bed type determines reservoir quality more directly in deepwater systems than facies association does. A thick clean structureless sandstone deposited from a high density turbidity current is an excellent reservoir. A bed of the same thickness that began as a turbidity current and transformed into a debris flow, depositing a muddy sandstone with dispersed clasts in its upper part, has a fraction of the permeability and may act as a baffle. Hybrid event beds of this kind are common in the distal and lateral parts of lobe systems, and a well that encounters them sees net sand on a gamma ray log that does not flow.
Confinement controls architecture more than flow magnitude does. The same flow in an unconfined basin spreads into a broad thin lobe; in a confined mini-basin it ponds, builds thick amalgamated sands and may be reflected off the basin margin. Channels in confined settings are entrenched and laterally stable; in weakly confined settings they migrate laterally and build complexes several times wider than any single channel. Salt and shale-withdrawal basins impose confinement that varies through the fill history, which means architecture changes systematically up the section.
Levee continuity is a first-order uncertainty in channel systems. Where levees are continuous, each channel complex is isolated vertically and laterally, and connectivity depends on channel stacking alone. Where levees are breached or thin, complexes communicate. The distinction is not resolvable from seismic at the relevant scale and rarely from the few wells available, yet it changes the number of development wells required. Analogue and production evidence are the practical constraints.
Finally, mass transport deposits are both a hazard and a seal. They compartmentalise reservoirs where they are extensive, they complicate correlation because they are erosive and locally remove reservoir, they present drilling problems because of their mechanical heterogeneity, and in places they provide the top seal that makes a deepwater trap work. Mapping them properly is as important as mapping the sand.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Classify sediment gravity flows and identify the deposits each produces
- Interpret turbidite bed types including high density, low density and hybrid beds
- Assess slope instability, mass transport deposits and their reservoir consequences
- Characterise canyon, channel, levee and lobe architectural elements
- Apply channel complex and complex set hierarchy to subsurface interpretation
- Assess the effect of confinement on deepwater architecture
- Interpret lobe stacking patterns and compensational stacking
- Interpret the seismic expression and geomorphology of deepwater systems
- Assess reservoir quality and connectivity in turbidite reservoirs
- Apply the interpretation to deepwater development and well placement decisions
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Improve reservoir prediction in deepwater exploration and appraisal
- Reduce net to gross and reservoir quality errors from bed type misinterpretation
- Improve connectivity assessment and well count estimation in deepwater developments
- Map mass transport deposits and their compartmentalisation effect properly
- Improve the integration of seismic geomorphology with well data
- Build specialist deepwater capability for high value assets
Participants will:
- Identify turbidite bed types in core and understand their flow consequences
- Characterise deepwater architecture from seismic and well data
- Assess the effect of confinement on reservoir geometry
- Evaluate connectivity in channel and lobe reservoirs
- Interpret seismic geomorphology of deepwater systems
- Build specialist capability in a high value reservoir setting
- Reservoir geologists and sedimentologists working on deepwater assets
- Exploration geoscientists evaluating deepwater plays
- Geophysicists interpreting deepwater reservoirs and seismic geomorphology
- Reservoir modellers building turbidite static models
- Reservoir engineers assessing deepwater connectivity and well count
- Operations geologists on deepwater wells
- Geoscientists requiring specialist deepwater capability
Module 1 - Deep Marine Settings and Sediment Supply
- Continental margin morphology and its elements
- Passive margin, active margin and intraslope settings
- Shelf edge delivery and canyon capture
- Sea level control on sediment delivery to the slope
- Sediment supply calibre and its architectural effect
- Salt and shale tectonics and intraslope basins
- Tectonically confined settings
- Basin floor topography and its evolution
- Deepwater play elements and their assessment
- Global distribution of deepwater reservoirs
Module 2 - Sediment Gravity Flows and Bed Types
- Flow classification: turbidity current, debris flow, grain flow
- Flow rheology and support mechanisms
- Flow transformation along a flow path
- Low density turbidites and Bouma divisions
- High density turbidites and their character
- Structureless and amalgamated sandstones
- Debrites and their recognition
- Hybrid event beds and their internal divisions
- Linked debrites and their lateral distribution
- Bed type effect on porosity and permeability
- Bed type against log response and the net sand problem
- Bed type distribution within a lobe system
Module 3 - Slope Processes and Mass Transport
- Slope stability and failure mechanisms
- Triggers for slope failure
- Slide, slump and debris flow deposits
- Mass transport complex internal character
- Blocks, rafts and remnant stratigraphy
- Basal shear surfaces and grooves
- Mass transport deposit dimensions and extent
- Erosion by mass transport and reservoir removal
- Mass transport deposits as seals and as barriers
- Geohazard and drilling implications
- Recognition on seismic and in core
- Mapping mass transport deposits in a field
Module 4 - Canyons and Channel Systems
- Submarine canyon formation and evolution
- Canyon fill facies and reservoir potential
- Channel initiation and the erosion to deposition transition
- Channel fill facies succession
- Channel axis against margin facies
- Channel dimensions and their controls
- Lateral migration and channel stacking
- Channel complex and complex set definition
- Channel amalgamation and vertical connectivity
- Internal and external levee character
- Levee continuity and its uncertainty
- Overbank and crevasse splay deposits
- Channel reservoir development implications
Module 5 - Lobes and Basin Floor Deposits
- Channel lobe transition zone and its deposits
- Frontal splay and lobe geometry
- Lobe hierarchy: bed, lobe element, lobe, lobe complex
- Lobe dimensions and aspect ratios
- Compensational stacking and its recognition
- Amalgamated against layered lobe successions
- Lobe fringe and distal thin bedded facies
- Lateral fringe and hybrid bed concentration
- Basin plain sheet sands
- Ponded and perched lobe deposits
- Lobe connectivity and its determinants
- Lobe reservoir quality distribution
Module 6 - Confinement and Architectural Controls
- Confined, weakly confined and unconfined settings
- Topographic control on flow behaviour
- Flow reflection, deflection and ponding
- Containment and its effect on bed thickness
- Entrenched against migrating channel behaviour
- Architecture in salt withdrawal mini-basins
- Architecture in structurally confined basins
- Fill and spill systems
- Evolution of confinement through basin fill
- Predicting architecture from basin geometry
- Confinement and its effect on connectivity
Module 7 - Other Deep Marine Deposits
- Contourites and bottom current deposits
- Contourite drifts and their reservoir potential
- Reworking of turbidites by bottom currents
- Hemipelagic and pelagic deposits
- Deepwater mudstones and their variability
- Condensed intervals and their correlation value
- Deepwater carbonate and calciturbidite deposits
- Volcaniclastic deep marine deposits
- Diagenetic features in deepwater sandstones
- Deepwater source rocks and their settings
Module 8 - Seismic Expression and Characterisation
- Seismic resolution in deepwater settings
- Seismic geomorphology and its application
- Channel expression on seismic and its scale limits
- Lobe and fan expression on amplitude maps
- Mass transport deposit seismic character
- Attribute analysis for deepwater reservoirs
- Spectral decomposition and its use
- Amplitude against net sand relationships and their pitfalls
- Seismic inversion for deepwater reservoir prediction
- Integrating seismic geomorphology with well data
- Depth conversion and structural uncertainty
- What seismic cannot resolve and what must be inferred
Module 9 - Deepwater Reservoir Development
- Characteristic deepwater development constraints
- Appraisal strategy with few and costly wells
- Static model construction for turbidite reservoirs
- Connectivity scenarios and their well count consequences
- Horizontal and high angle well placement
- Drainage area and spacing assessment
- Water and gas breakthrough behaviour
- Sweep in channel and in lobe reservoirs
- Pressure data as connectivity evidence
- Early production data and model revision
- Subsea development constraints on well placement
- Deepwater field cases and their architectural lessons
Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.
Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
All course bookings made through PEA are strictly non-refundable. By registering for a course, you acknowledge and accept that all fees are payable in full and are not subject to refund under any circumstances, including changes in personal or professional commitments or partial attendance.
PEA reserves the right to make reasonable adjustments to course content, trainers, or schedules where necessary, without entitling delegates to a refund. Comprehensive details of each course — including objectives, target audience, and content — are clearly outlined before enrolment, and it is the responsibility of the delegate to ensure the course's suitability prior to booking.
For any inquiries related to cancellations or bookings, please contact our support team, who will be happy to assist you.
