OUTCROP ANALOGUE
A dematerialized field notebook to de-risk your geological prospect
Looking for the perfect geologic outcrop analogue?
The perfect « outcrop analogue » does not exist. Considering multiple analogues is relevant assuming that at least the burial history, the diagenesis, the rock composition, the depositional environment, the attributes of the tectonic events (…) of a single outcrop are partly different from your prospect of interest. Extracting the right analogue from both the literature and our database in order to challenge the current-day geological view of a given field is our first goal.
The challenge of outcrop studies is to allow the efficient transition from qualitative data (observations) to (i) concepts and (ii) quantitative data (e.g. reservoir thickness, size, geobody volume, porosity, permeability, fracture intensity, fault dips) and sometimes more … We sincerely hope this website can help this process.
A virtual field notebook in Geology?
Do not expect to find a comprehensive answer on this website, we are only gathering pieces of the answer. This website has to be used as a dematerialzed field note book where outcrop data, sketches and first interpretations are discussed to challenge some field experiences. Your contribution is very welcome.
Our geologic philosophy
The conceptualization:
The « Self-similarity* » concept allows geological upscaling from the sample or the outcrop, to the field scale. Despite the fact that mechanical processes can be different, geometries remain notably comparable to similar.
* »Self-similarity » refers to the idea of repeating a similar shape (often at a different scale) over and over again. In other words, a self-similar image contains copies of itself at smaller scales (Mishra and Bhatnagar, 2014). Samples and outcrops can sometimes be our ‘small-scale’ study cases. This helps to conceptualize the subsurface. We basically use the « self-similarity » in order to de-risk subsurface reservoirs, traps, sources and seals.
This methodology can be partly applied to any types of geologic reservoirs, from C02 storage to mining and petroleum geology.
We all assume that the « Outcrop-analogue.com » methodology has to be cleverly integrated in comprehensive geologic and modelling workflows.
Who should use outcrop-analogue website?
Geologists, exploration geologists, geophysicists, seismic interpreters, reservoir engineers, petrophysicists, hydrogeologists, R&D managers, structural geologists, sedimentologists, modelling engineers, software developers, well designers, geotechnical staff, mining geologists, human ressources staff (to optimize their technical interviews), master students as well as PhD students are more than welcome to use the outcrop-analogue website.
How to use the outcrop-analogue website?
The outcrop-analogue website has been built as an organized field note book where the common denominator is not the chronology or the study area location. This field note book is organized as a function of the geological problem that needs to be resolved. This problem is commonly related to the main geological topics that are the tectonics, the stratigraphy, the diagenesis, the reservoir characteristics or the methods of imaging (e.g. seismic, well data). Folders and sub folders are located on the left side of the window; please use it to navigate wherever you are in the outcrop-analogue website.
How to contribute to outcrop-analogue website?
If you feel that your favorite outcrop could be relevant to share for the scientific community:
1- Send a couple of pictures (original picture + detailed interpretations) to the website’s author.
2- Try to extract a single main message to ease the reading/understanding of your article.
3 – Provide the relevant scientific references and a .kmz file of the outcrop location.
The authors will be properly acknowledged on the article webpage.
The peer-review is performed by the author of this website. Only outcrops with detailed, educational and aesthetic interpretations will be published. In advance, we thank you for your contribution.
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(c) Tcavailhes . This picture is protected by a copyright.
