Seismic-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions of carbonate systems: Pitfalls, limitations and perspectives - Reply to the comments on Development patterns of an isolated oligo-mesophotic carbonate buildup, early Miocene, Yadana field, offshore Myanmar by Teillet et al. (2020), authored by Paumard et al. (2020)

The comments raised by Paumard et al. (2020) led us to identify some pitfalls and limitations regarding the use of seismic geomorphology and seismic stratigraphy for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of carbonate systems and to add some clarifications on the Teillet et al. (2020a) depositional model. The comparison of the paleoenvironmental predictions by Paumard et al. (2017) with core data revealed severe inconsistencies which are due to the diachronous nature of the seismic horizon from which attribute map was computed and to the omission of fluid effects on seismic expression. In addition, detailed well-to-seismic ties revealed also that chronostratigraphic well-correlations using seismic data should be considered with caution when vertical seismic resolution is reduced (>20 m). Regarding the development pattern of the Yadana platform, we consider that the platform backstepping evidenced from seismic is not is in contradiction with the lack of deepening upward trend on platform top revealed by cores. The existence of a euphotic carbonate factory in Yadana cannot be ruled out. From the available dataset such a putative carbonate production would be reduced and/or exported out of the western Yadana platform. Finally, we propose a general workflow for better integrating seismic reflection patterns and attributes in the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of strongly diagenetized carbonate reservoirs which are imaged by low to moderate resolution (>20 m) seismic datasets.

Automated summary

The study identified pitfalls and limitations in paleoenvironmental reconstructions of carbonate systems using seismic data, such as inconsistencies and omission of fluid effects. A workflow for better integrating seismic reflection patterns and attributes in these reconstructions was proposed.