Uncertainty assessment in the stratigraphic well correlation of a carbonate ramp: Method and application to the Beausset Basin, SE France

We assess stratigraphic correlation uncertainties by stochastically generating several possible correlations lines between a set of stratigraphic logs. We motivate the use of automatic correlation methods to sample this uncertainty and introduce a stochastic version of Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) that correlates two logs. This method is extended to a larger number of logs using a sequential application of DTW. When available, low-frequency stratigraphic events are correlated first, and then used to constrain the correlation of higher-order events. All DTW variants use elementary correlation costs corresponding to the likelihood of each possible horizon. The method is demonstrated on a carbonate ramp of the Cretaceous southern Provence Basin, SE France, using costs that measure the consistency between the computed platform slope angle and a theoretical depositional profile. We show that these correlation uncertainties significantly impact facies proportions in stratigraphic layers. (C) 2015 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.