Fractals in Petroleum Geology and Earth Processes

The editors of this book chose a diverse spectrum of papers written by pioneers in the field of fractals and their application to the exploration and production of hydrocarbons. The geology of the Earth`s crust is complex, chaotic, and unpredictable. Fractal geometry can quantify the spatial heterogeneity of the different geologic patterns and ultimately help improve the results of both production and exploration. To this goal the book has accomplished such an objective with diverse, well-chosen contributions from a variety of experts in the field. The book starts with a chapter introducing the basics, with a short historical foot-note by Benoit Mandelbrot, who is considered the {open_quotes}father of fractals.{close_quotes} Mandelbrot emphasized that geologic processes not only exhibit fractal properties but also are strongly connected to the economic system. This paved the way for the next three chapters that deal with the size and spatial distribution of hydrocarbon reserves and their importance in economic evaluations. The following four chapters deal with the fractal processes as related to sedimentologic, stratigraphic, and geomorphologic systems. Chapter five is an interesting one that deals with stratigraphic models and how their fractal processes can be tied with the inter-well correlation and reconstruct depositional environments. The nextmore » three chapters are concerned with porous and fractured rocks and how they affect the flow of fluids. The last two chapters (chapters 13 and 14) are of particular interest. Chapter 13 deals with the vertical vs. horizontal well-log variability and application to fractal reservoir modeling. Chapter 14 illustrates how fractal geometry brings mathematical order to geological and geophysical disorder. This is evident when dealing with geophysical modeling and inversion.« less