TABLE OF CONTENTS The deepwater depositional system is the one type of reservoir system that cannot be easily reached, observed, and studied in the modern environment. The study of deepwater systems requires many different remote-observation techniques, each of which can provide information on just one part of the entire system. As a consequence, the study and understanding of deepwater depositional systems as reservoirs has lagged behind that of the other reservoir systems, whose modern processes are more easily observed and documented. Geoscientists use an integrated approach to study deepwater systems, working in interdisciplinary teams with multiple data types, including outcrop studies, 2D and 3D seismic-reflection data (both shallow- and deep-resolution data), cores, log suites, biostratigraphy, and well-test and production information. These data sets are routinely incorporated into computer reservoir models to simulate reservoir performance.
The term "deep water" is used in two ways. First, in the geologic sense, deep water refers to sediments that have been transported under gravity-flow processes and deposited in the marine environment, beneath storm-wave base, from the slope to the floor of a basin. Sediment gravity-flow processes also are operative in lakes and in cratonic basins in which water depths may exceed 300 m. Unless otherwise stated, in this book the term "deepwater systems" refers to marine-sediment gravity-flow processes, environments, and deposits. Other authors have used different terms for describing deepwater processes and deposits, such as "turbidite systems" (Mutti and Normark, 1987, 1991), "turbidite system complexes" (Stelting et al., 2000), and "submarine fans" (Bouma et...
