This presentation covers mapping, concentrating largely on the drawing and interpreting

of contour maps.

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The learning objectives for chapter 8 include introducing you to different types of maps,
and making sure that by the end of the day, you can understand maps, draw your own
maps, and appreciate how data density and map maker experience affect the quality of
the map produced.

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What are maps? They are a 2 dimensional view of an area. The data represented on the
map can be of many different kinds, either discrete data (isolated points, locations or
items) or continuous data, which is when the property varies with space and is known at
various points (or wells). Continuous data can be represented by contours which are
used to illustrate the gradient of the data or surface.
Contouring is the art of drawing contours through a set of discrete data points to
represent an interpretation of the surface that exists. Contours are lines joining points of
equal value, an separating areas of higher and lower values. Drawing and interpreting
contours requires the use of your imagination. Geologists tend to be very good map
makers and interpreters, because they are used to imagining three dimensional images
from two dimensional representations.
The boundary of a map is an artificial edge. The property or surface being mapped
continunes past the boundary of the mapped area.

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Maps are essential for planning field developments. They show the location of wells,
platforms and other structures, as well as subsurface geology, faults and so on.
They can be used to show the structure of the reservoirs and may reveal areas where
drilling is likely to produce the best results. They are also the basis on which Gross Rock
Volume is calcuated, and hence the estimation of Hydrocarbons in Place. They are also
the basis for drawing structural cross‐sections.

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The base map shows the area being mapped. It is defined using some kind of coordinate
system of x and y data points. These can be related to the real world in a number of
different ways, using a number of different coordinate systems. We can use geographic
or latitude and longitude coordinates. We can use universal transverse mercator
projection of some sort, or we could use local coordinates like distance from a fixed
point like a platform, or a national grid system used in local mapping. We also have GPS
systems that use different coordinate systems. It is therefore important when
constructing a map, or using a map, to identify what coordinate system is being used.

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The property being mapped is often referred to as z, giving us a set of cartesian
coordinates, or x, y, z system. The specific property can be almost anything – of
particular interest to the oil industry are depth, thickness, porosity or permeability,
pressure, temperature, rates and percentages.

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For continuous data, we can use contours to represent the gradient of the data or the
surface present. A contour is a line which joins points of equal value. Each contour
separates areas with higher values from areas with lower values. In elevation maps,
contours are horizontal (think about walking along a contour – you are walking along a
line of equal height, so horizontally). When elevation contours are drawn on a geological
surface, they are parallel to the strike of the surface, because strike is a horizontal line,
just like an elevation contour. Contours drawn on geological surfaces (beds or faults) are
often known as structure contours.

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In order to illustrate contours a little better, let us look at some topographic maps – that
is maps of the land surface, or height above sea level. In the left hand image, we have
the map, with contours in orange. There are many other pieces of information on this
map, which is an Ordnance Survey map of the Pentland Hills, south of the Riccarton
Campus. In the right hand image, you can see a three dimensional view of the same
map, which hopefully will illustrate better the relationship of the mapped contours to
the actual land surface. In the next slide we will have a closer look at some features
here.

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Here is a closer view of the land surface contours on the left. Note that the spacing of
the contours gives us a clue about the steepness of the land surface – closely spaced
contours mean a steep slope, widely spaced contours mean a gentle slope. You can see
that the contours are labelled, and also that every 5th contour has been marked in bold,
that is to help you trace the contours around the map. This map is contoured in 5 m
increments. Look for the valleys – these are where the streams are marked. The
contours have a ‘v’ shape in the valleys, pointing up valley. Hills tend to have rounded
shapes, and enclosed contours around the top of the hills. Refer to the three
dimensional view to see clearly where the hills and valleys are located. The grid system
which is used on this map is shown by the blue grid lines and bold numbers.

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Now let’s have a go at drawing contours. This set of data is derived from a topographic
map – so contour assuming that you have hills and valleys.
A good place to start is to look at the numbers, and try and find the highest and lowest
points. Get an idea for where the hills will be and where the valleys will be. Then choose
a contour interval – I’ve suggested 50 m. Contours are usually nice round numbers, so
here we should use 300, 350, 400, 450 and so on. Usually we would suggest that you
start where you have the greatest density of data, but that is impractical here where the
grid of data is regular. So instead, pick and area with a high gradient – so lots of contours
close together. Estimate visually the relative distance between two points of data, and
then place the contour lines between the data points in approximately the position they
would be if the gradient between the two points was even. Use pencil! Always use
pencil so that you can correct mistakes, and neaten your initial efforts at the end. Try it!

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Now that you have experienced contouring yourself, we need to cover some rules and
guidelines about creating contour maps. The first section is the five golden rules of
contouring. A contour line cannot cross itself or any other contour. Contours are lines of
equal value, therefore if two contour lines cross, you are saying something impossible –
that there are two values at the point of crossing.
A contour line cannot merge with contours of the same or different values – for the
same reason that contours cannot cross. If you have a vertical face, then contours will
appear on top of each other, but they do not merge.
A contour must pass between points whose values are lower and higher than its own
value. A contour line of a given value is repeated to indicate reversal of slope direction –
think of the valley. As you descend into the valley, you cross the lowest contour and then
as you rise up the other side of the valley, you cross the same contour first. This is
‘repeating’ the contour of a given value to indicate that the slope direction is reversed.
Contours close within the mapped area, or terminate at the edge of the map. In reality,
of course, the surface continues beyond the edge of the map, but the contours on the
map must either close within the mapped area or terminate against the edge. No
dangling ends are generally allowed within a mapped area.

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Some additional guidelines are as follows – read through these carefully before
attempting the next exercises.

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There are three types of contouring that we will discuss. Mechanical contouring,
interpretive contouring and computer contouring.

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Mechanical contouring, or triangulation, is a process where the surface to be contoured
is theoretically divided into flat triangular surfaces. This is not geologically realistic, but
does allow a contouring process with no interpretation involved. It is used to start an
interpretive contouring process, or to resolve disputes or to remove human error. It can
be used where many parties need to agree on a map for unitisation purposes. Try the
exercise on page 14.

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Here is the process and solution to the exercise. The area divided into triangles, then the
location of specific values identified and these points joined to form contours. You can
see that the contour shapes are angular and therefore not very realistic.

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Interpretive contouring does not involve any strict subdivision of the data like
mechanical contouring uses. However a very strict version involves subdividing the area
between two points and positioning the contours accordingly – this produces a result
much like the mechanical method but with rounded corners.
However interpretive contouring can also allow ‘soft’ data to be incorporated into the
map – this could include various interpretations about the depositional environment,
and also the structural setting of the area. Soft data does not usually show up in the
discrete data points on the map, but can allow a more realistic map to be produced. For
any given data set, there may be many possible solutions with different geological
interpretations. The more data initially available, the more constrained the final map,
and less possible solutions will exist.

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Here are three examples of contouring the same data set as we used for mechanical
contouring. Each has a different interpretation of the shape of the structures present,
but each honours the data and is realistic.

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Maps can be of different quality depending on various factors. The first factor that
affects a map is the density of data available to make that map. A dispersed data set will
produce a simple map. If there is more data, the map will appear more complex. This
point can be made by comparing our first exercise (Figure 8) to the topographic map in
Figure 1. Our hand drawn maps are much more simple than the complex shapes in the
topographic map, because our data was much more dispersed and limited than the data
used to generate the topographic map. Maps with a low density of data are also likely to
have multiple interpretations possible, each equally justified by the data available.
Another quality factor is the consistency of the map, with known geology, depositional
environments, structural interpretations, wells, correlations and cross‐sections.

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Here is an example of how a low density data set can be interpreted in multiple equally
valid ways. In this case, we have a map (without scale or orientation) of unknown data,
probably elevation, but could be any other type of data that can be expressed as
negative numbers. Let us look at some of the ways that this data can be contoured and
interpreted.

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In this interpretation, the map maker is assuming that the map shows a buried
topographic surface, or an unconformity. There are hills and valleys interpreted as being
present.

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In this case the buried topography being suggested is interpreted to be created due to
partial erosion of a basalt flow, which allows the interpreter to postulate very steep
slopes.

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In this case the map maker assumes that the surface as been folded with a NNW trend
to the fold axes (hachures indicate lows)

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Here the interpretation is two salt domes under the surface creating elongate anticlines
with faulting along some margins.

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This case is where the depositional environment is interpreted to be a horseshoe atoll
reef, with tidal channels between the reef elements.

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This interpretation assumes NE trending folds, note the assymetry which suggests that
these folds are being controlled by some kind of basement process…

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Such as fault blocks. This situation is common where you have a more rigid basement
rock type overlain by sedimentary successions which are more plastic. Faults in the
basement cause folding in the overlying strata.

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In this case the interpretation is of a series of tilted fault blocks…

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Or we could have a series of folds overlying those blocks.

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Can we tell whether the surface is faulted or folded? It is often not possible to resolve
this seismically. In any case if there is a rigid basement overlain by a more plastic
sedimentary succession, the both faults and folds may occur at different stratigraphic
levels.

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We could have thrust faults, with associated folding.

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And here are some ‘hills’ and ‘valleys’ that are on the same trend, but there is not
interpretation of faults or folds given.

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In this case the folds are trending NNW…

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An in this case we have NW trending asymmetric folds (note the spacing of the contour
lines giving us the different dips of the limbs).

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So there are many, many different possibilities for one map – and the data given does
not constrain the result very much. How do we choose the right map? We need to take
into account other data which is not part of the mapped data points. Can the computer
take away our uncertainty?

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Not really – the computer is producing a simple interpretation of the given data, but it is
not particularly realistic. Note the odd anomalous shapes along the bottom, around
some particularly high and low data points. These are often described as bull’s eyes and
are a common artefact of computer contouring. This means that they are most probably
not actually there – and yet a nice round high would look great as a potential field!

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If the point is to try and understand the field – which is better? Both are a very simplistic
interpretation of the data, but the human is not so affected by edge effects or
anomalous values a the computer is.

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There are ways to control a computer generated map – for example varying the grid size
that the computer uses to determine the contour surface, or specifying a preferred
alignment. In fact computer contour mapping is almost as subject to human ‘error’ or
able to be biased by human observation as an interpretive map, but will also come up
with the anomalous bull’s eyes.

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The advantages of each method. Mechanical contouring will produce a unique solution,
no matter who does the contouring. Interpretive contouring makes it easy to
incorporate soft data, permits the interpreter to emphasize a particular geological story
or incorporate their geological understanding of the field. Computer mapping is free of
some kinds of operator error, is mathematically consistent, produces a digital map, and
handles large data sets.

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The disadvantages of each method. Mechanical contouring does not look realistic.
Perhaps interpretive contouring allows too much license. Computer contouring
produces bull’s eyes, has issues handling faults, requires software, is surprisingly time
consuming, and can be dangerous if not properly supervised. Most importantly, it should
never be assumed that just because the computer produces it, the map is the real and
final solution. More data may change the interpretation, and remember that those
artefacts produced by computer contouring are not real.

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What is actually used in the industry – computers are used for large datasets, although
these surfaces are often modified by manual contouring. Maps are also produced from
seismic surfaces, where picking of the seismic surface is used to control an interpolation
by the computer. Mechanical contouring can be used if no other method can be agree
upon. Most real geologists like to hand contour their maps because it helps them to see
what the geology is doing, and to identify anomalies.

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Let us take a closer look now at contouring various different types of data. Elevation
data uses sea level as a datum or point of reference. Positive numbers are generally
above sea level (height) and negative numbers are below sea level (depth). However you
will often find that depth is expressed as a positive number, increasing with increasing
depth, so we need to be careful about what property our maps actually show. Depth is
often derived from seismic lines by depth conversion, which gives a much denser grid of
available data than is usually available in wells.

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Contour line spacing gives us clues about the relative steepness of a surface. If the
surface is dipping a constant amount, then the contour lines will have equal spacing on
the map. If there are changes in dip then there will be changes in spacing. If there is a
constant curvature (constantly increasing/decreasing dip) then the spacing will vary in a
consistent manner. Steep dips will give closely spaced contours, shallow dips will result
in widely spaced contours.

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Try this data set. Contour this elevation data. Remember to neaten your contours at the
end to remove any irregularities in the surface.

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Here is an answer – note there are still some irregularities in these contours, which
should be corrected to create a smooth looking surface.

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Another commonly contoured data type is thickness data. There are two types of
thickness data – true stratigraphic thickness, and true vertical thickness. True
stratigraphic thickness represents the original depositional thickness of the formation,
measured perpendicular to the bedding surfaces. However since most beds are dipping
to some degree, this is different to the true vertical thickness, which is measured
vertically. The two measures are two sides of a right angle triangle, so that their
relationship can be represented by trigonometry.
Contours of true stratigraphic thickness are called isopachs, while contours of true
vertical thickness are called isochores.

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Variations in thickness can be caused by several different processes. The original
formation may have had a variable thickness – think of mouth bars, point bars, wedges,
ribbons or other depositional shapes that have variable thicknesses. However the
thickness of a formation can also be changed after deposition. Thickness can be
removed by erosion along an unconformity surface, or part of the formation could be
truncated by a fault. Mapping thickness can therefore provide information about both
original depositional processes, likely areas of good quality or poor quality reservoir, and
areas where reservoir has been removed by post‐depositional processes.

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In thickness contouring, the zero value has a different interpretation than in elevation
contouring. For elevation, zero is sea level, and therefore a contour in it’s own right.
However in thickness contouring, zero means that the formation was not present at that
data point. A zero value therefore not only occurs just outside the limit of the formation,
but also 100 m away, 500 m away, 1000 m away and so on. Therefore, when contouring
thickness, the zero contour does not pass through all the zero values, and is usually
drawn between the first positive value and the nearest zero values.

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Bearing all that in mind, let’s try this exercise in contouring some thickness data.
Remember to start by identifying the highest and lowest values and choosing a contour
interval. You can start anywhere, you don’t need to start with the highest contour or the
lowest contour.

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This answer shows an elongate body, much thicker in the middle than towards each
edge. Note that this is one possible solution (using 20 m contour intervals), and that the
thickest part could conceivably be joined along the top of the structure, passing
between two of the datapoints in the 40s. As long as the contour repeats itself, and does
not enclose a lower value, that is a realistic solution.

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This exercise uses some soft data to aid your interpretation. The reservoir is known to be
from a fluvial delta sourced from the SW. The best place to start this map is to first think
about what shape sand‐bodies are in fluvial dominated deltas, and draw yourself some
little diagrams orientated with the source from the SW. Then look again for the highest
and lowest points… where are the highest points? What kind of orientation(s) do they
suggest?

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Here the solution suggests shoestring sands formed by the distributary channel system.
Note again that this is one possible interpretation, there are others…

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Other data can of course be contoured on maps, and contour maps may also use colour
fields to illustrate the data more effectively.

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A special kind of map is a geological map. Geological maps of the earth’s surface show
the location of various rock types at or just below the surface. Geological maps usually
use colour, combined with labelling, to distinguish the different rock types, or if in black
and white they use symbols and patterns. Other symbols show faults, folds, strike and
dip and other measurements.
Subsurface geologists may create ‘subcrop maps’, which show the distribution of rock
types below a certain surface or an unconformity. This is often useful to determine the
locations of hard or soft rock types that may have been topographic highs and lows
respectively.

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These are some of the symbols that may be used on geological maps. All maps will have
a key which explains the system of symbols, patterns or colours which is used on that
particular map.

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Faults offset the surfaces being mapped, and therefore must be represented on our
maps. Faults will have a variable amount of throw along the fault trace, generally
reaching a maximum in the centre and reducing to zero at the tips. Faults will be of
varying sizes, both in length and in throw.

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When we are viewing a large scale map (for example a whole field), faults will usually
appear as lines. Smaller scale maps, like sectors of a field, may show faults as shapes,
where the shaded shape represents the area over which the mapped surface does not
exist due to being faulted out.
Because the surface being mapped is displaced by the fault activity, the contours will
terminate against the fault on the map, and start at a different location on the other side
of the fault. Vertical fault displacement can then be estimated by comparing the
elevation of the surface on either side of the fault at a single point.

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The displacement across a fault will vary along the fault plane, but will generally have a
consistent sense, where one side will always be downfaulted relative to the other. When
two faults intersect, the displacement on the faults adds up – that is the displacement
on the single fault is roughly equal to the sum of the displacements of each contributing
fault.

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Let’s try and example of contouring a surface that has been faulted. Again, start by
finding the highest and lowest points, and deciding a contour interval.
In this case there are two methods which work – the first is to contour each segment
separately (perhaps covering the other segments over while working on one) and the
other is to contour ignoring the faults and then to come back and put in the fault
displacements later.

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Check to make sure that the displacement is relatively consistent, and work out which
side of each fault is being upthrown and downthrown – mark with U and D.

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Drawing cross‐sections from maps is a very useful skill to help you interpret or illustrate
the geological setting you think is present.
The first step to drawing a cross‐section is to decide where you want to put your section.
You want to choose the best place to illustrate the structures present, so generally
across folds and faults is the direction chosen first. Of course, you can draw multiple
cross‐sections in different directions if you choose. There are some standard usages or
conventions for orientating cross‐sections. In general from left to right on your page,
cross‐sections are drawn W‐E and S‐N. Draw the cross‐section line on the map, labelling
the ends clearly. Labels usually run A to A prime, and so on.

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The next step is to set up a framework for drawing the cross‐section on some graph or
plain paper. You have to decide at what scale you are going to draw the section. The
easiest thing is to use the map scale for both horizontal and vertical axes, this is a
section with no vertical exaggeration. Vertical exaggeration creeps in when we use a
different scale on the vertical axis to the map scale used on the horizontal axis. In
structural cross‐sections this is never done, because it exaggerates the appearance of
the structure. However if we want to illustrate stratigraphic relationships, then we may
need to use vertical exaggeration, and correlations are always drawn with an
exaggerated vertical scale for this reason. Always show the scales, and state what VE is
being used.

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Next we can transfer the location of each structure contour where it crosses our section
line to the framework, using a piece of paper, a ruler or by folding our map along the
section line and transferring it directly. Mark the height of each contour on the
framework with a dot…

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And then join the dots to create a surface. The top of the anticline here is created by
curving over between the given points, going no higher than the next contour level (or
we would have seen that contour on the map). We can create bottom surfaces using
thickness data, or add structures like faults to a cross‐section created in this way.

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Your turn to try drawing a cross‐section over this structure. Be careful to use the same
vertical and horizontal scales – we may experiment with using exaggeration later on, but
always start with 1:1 scales.

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Here is the process for creating the final cross‐section.

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This example clearly shows the difference between the cross‐section drawn with no
vertical exaggeration, and the cross‐section drawn with 12.5 x vertical exaggeration. A
fault has also been included, showing the amount of interpreted offset, and the
suggested dip of the fault. What kind of fault is it?

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Cross‐sections can also be created from thickness data – often these will need to use
some degree of vertical exaggeration, as the stratigraphic relationships are otherwise
difficult to see.

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It is vitally important that your map and cross‐sections display consistent stories, that
are also consistent with all other geological information available. Maps are difficult
because they are interpretations of available data. The actual mechanical process of
contouring is easy, but the more difficult part is using your knowledge and experience to
inform the map, and to tell our story about the geology present.

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This case shows a consistent story between the map and the cross‐section, and can be
used to inform drilling and field locations at different levels of the stratigraphy.

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Maps can be combined in different ways – several different properties can be mapped
on one map. This could include pipelines, wells, structures on a structual map, or
another continuous variable like porosity laid over a thickness contour map. Colour or
symbols are used to distinguish the different data sets.
You can also combine two contour maps to produce a third contour map – for example a
top structure map combined with an isochore map produces a new set of data points
which can be contoured to produce a base structure map.

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Maps are needed to find the gross rock volume of a field and therefore the
hydrocarbons in place for the field. This is stricly part of the volumetrics process, and will
be covered in more detail in Chapter 10, but here I want to cover the process by which
we use our maps to estimate the GRV. Computer estimates use mapped top and base
reservoir surfaces or Oil Water Contact to calculate the volume between. If we are
doing the process by hand then we need to also estimate the volume between the top
of the structrure and the OWC, or if the reservoir is thin then we need to find the
volume between top structure and base structure. To do this we create area versus
height graphs. The area enclosed by each contour is estimated, and this is then graphed
against the height of that contour. The zone underneath the resulting graph is then the
gross rock volume, if the reservoir is thicker than the oil column height (the base of the
reservoir is not within the oil zone). If the reservoir is thin, then we need to repeat the
process with the base reservoir contours, so that we end up with a zone between two
graphs which is the gross rock volume. If we are in a hurry, then we can use an estimate
that assumes that the shape of this graph is triangular, and therefore the formula for
calculating the area under the graph is half base times height. Therefore we only need to
know the area at the OWC, and the height of the structure, and we can work out an
approximation of the GRV. This is usually a slight overestimate.

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In order to estimate areas for our graph, we can use several methods. One is to use a
device called a planimeter, which will run around the contour lines and measure the
area enclosed. Another is to count squares of known area and sum to get the total area
covered, and a final method is to subdivide the area into regular polygons, the area of
which can be easily calculated and summed.
These methods will be mentioned again during volumetrics, when there will be several
exercises in calculating GRV.

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And so to the end. Remember that maps are two dimensional representations of an
area, and that continuous data types can be represented by contours. Remember that all
maps are an interpretation of the available data by the map maker, and that they should
be consistent with other geological data, such as depositional environmental
interpretations, cross‐sections, correlations and so on.
Practice makes perfect – so go on now to try the exercises in the back of the chapter as
well as those available on VISION. Enjoy!

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