Do numerical models produce realistic fault evolution patterns?

大陆断裂产生新的海洋盆地是板块构造的一个重要组成部分，拉伸的几何形状和幅度对油气系统的发展有许多影响。在过去的十年中，数值模型为裂谷过程提供了重要的见解，主要是使用低分辨率的2D模型。随着计算能力的进步，现在可以在3D中以高分辨率对裂谷演化进行数值模拟，以模拟裂谷规模的断层阵列在裂谷过程中如何随着时间的推移成核、传播和生长。然而，很少有观察到的正断层阵列如何在裂谷规模的演变，以定量测试，如果现代数值模型产生的断层阵列的演变预测，地质现实。该博士将专注于量化断层阵列的几何形状和位移历史，使用3D地震反射和来自数据丰富和研究良好的裂缝（如北海和澳大利亚西北大陆架）的井数据的大型汇编。然后将其与3D数值模型产生的结果进行比较，以测试其是否符合地质现实。博士学位的主要成果将是更好地了解早期大陆裂谷（β因子< 1.5）期间断层阵列如何在裂谷尺度上演变。一个新验证的裂谷盆地断层阵列的数值模型将非常适用于其他裂谷系统与稀疏的人口数据，涵盖了一系列规模之间的区域大规模断层演化系统，中尺度野外露头和类似物，微尺度使用核心和井图像日志。这可以提供对前沿区域地震数据的更好的断层预测，以及建立用于断层封闭性分析的次地震断层密度，最终减少伸展断层体系中的不确定性。

Rifting of continents to produce new ocean basins is an important part of plate tectonics, and the geometry and magnitude of stretching has many implications for the development of hydrocarbon systems. Over the last decade numerical models have provided crucial insights into the rifting process, mainly using low-resolution 2D models. With advances in computational power it is now possible to numerically model rift evolution at a high-resolution in 3D to model how rift-scale fault arrays during rifting nucleate, propagate and grow through time. However, there are few observations of how normal fault arrays evolve at the rift scale to quantitatively test if the modern numerical models are producing fault array evolution predictions that are geologically realistic. This PhD will focus on quantifying the geometry and displacement history of fault arrays over complete rifts using large compilations of 3D seismic reflection and well data from data-rich and well-studied rifts such as the North Sea and NW Shelf of Australia. This will then be compared with the results produced by the 3D numerical model in order to test if it is geologically realistic. The key outcome of the PhD will be a better understanding of how fault arrays during early continental rifting (beta factors < 1.5) evolve at the rift scale. A newly validated numerical model of fault arrays in rift basins will be greatly applicable to other rift systems with sparsely populated data, covering a range of scales between regional large scale fault evolution systems, to mesoscale field outcrops and analogues, to the microscale using core and well image logs. This can provide better fault predictions on frontier regional seismic data, as well as establish sub-seismic fault density for fault seal analysis, ultimately reducing uncertainty in an extensional fault regime.