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Modelling discontinuous well log signal to identify lithological boundaries via wavelet analysis: An example from KTB borehole data

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Abstract

Identification of sharp and discontinuous lithological boundaries from well log signal stemming from heterogeneous subsurface structures assumes a special significance in geo-exploration studies. Well log data acquired from various geological settings generally display nonstationary/nonlinear characteristics with varying wavelengths and frequencies. Modelling of such complex well-log signals using the conventional signal processing techniques either fails to catch-up abrupt boundaries or at the best, do not provide precise information on insidious lithological discontinuities. In this paper, we have proposed a new wavelet transform-based algorithm to model the abrupt discontinuous changes from well log data by taking care of nonstationary characteristics of the signal. Prior to applying the algorithm on the geophysical well data, we analyzed the distribution of wavelet coefficients using synthetic signal generated by the first order nonstationary auto-regressive model and then applied the method on actual well log dataset obtained from the KTB bore hole, Germany. Besides identifying the formation of layered boundaries, the underlying method also maps some additional formation boundaries, which were hitherto undetected at the KTB site. The results match well with known geological lithostratigraphy and will be useful for constraining the future model of KTB bore hole data.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Prof. D C Panigrahi, Director, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, for giving permission to publish this work and also thankful to Head of the Department, Applied Geophysics. One of the authors, Amrita Singh, is grateful to Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad for providing junior research fellowship to carry out the research work. We are also thankful to Prof. Hans-Joachim Kumpel for providing the KTB data. We sincerely thank the anonymous reviewers who have helped us to improve the manuscript in many interesting ways. Partial financial benefit from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, New Delhi, India, is also thankfully acknowledged (Grant No: MoES/P.O. (Geosci)/44/2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad, 826 004, India

    Amrita Singh & Saumen Maiti

  2. CSIR – National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderbad, 500 007, India

    R K Tiwari

Authors
  1. Amrita Singh
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  2. Saumen Maiti
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  3. R K Tiwari
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Correspondence to Saumen Maiti.

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Corresponding editor: Pawan Dewangan

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Singh, A., Maiti, S. & Tiwari, R.K. Modelling discontinuous well log signal to identify lithological boundaries via wavelet analysis: An example from KTB borehole data. J Earth Syst Sci 125, 761–776 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-016-0701-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-016-0701-2

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