Petroleum Geoscience and Subsurface Geology© 2011 by L. Bruce RailsbackDepartment of Geology, University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602-2501 USA
This is a website providing informational illustrations about various geoscience aspects of the study of petroleum and about applications of petroleum-well data to subsurface geology. Most of the documents provided are suitable as slides for educational and public presentations. All of them were generated by Professor Bruce Railsback, largely for his GEOL 4320/6320 Petroleum Geology course taught in the Department of Geology of the University of Georgia in 2011. They do not collectively make a textbook, but they fill some gaps that Railsback saw as he prepared materials for his course.
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| Topic | Format | Format |
| The origin and fate of petroleum | ||
| From marine photosynthesis to petroleum | jpg | |
| The natural history of petroleum | jpg | |
| The nature of petroleum | ||
| Natural carbon-bearing compounds | jpg | |
| Some hydrocarbon compounds common in petroleum | jpg | |
| Phyiscal properties of alkanes | jpg | |
| Characteristics of crude petroleum | jpg | |
| API gravity of some hydrocarbon compounds | jpg | |
| Petroleum accumulations | ||
| Categories of hydrocarbon accumulations and sources (a text-rich table) | jpg | |
| Conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons and reservoirs (a graphical alternative to the table above) |
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| Five elements of a (conventional) petroleum accumulation | jpg | |
| Conventional/discrete vs. unconventional/continuous hydrocarbon accumulations |
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| The lithologic and hydrologic (small-scale) environment of petroleum | ||
| Rocks relevant to petroleum I: hydrology and rheology | jpg | |
| Rocks relevant to petroleum II: reservoirs and seals | jpg | |
| Rocks relevant to petroleum III: origins of unconventional accumulations | jpg | |
| Categorization of pores in sedimentary rocks | jpg | |
| Wetting surfaces and water saturation in petroleum reservoir rocks | jpg | |
| Vertical segregation of an oil reservoir | jpg | |
| Seals, and pathways for migration - two ends of a continuum | ||
| Buoyancy, seals, and the upward migration of petroleum, Part I | jpg | |
| Buoyancy, seals, and the upward migration of petroleum, Part II | jpg | |
| Buoyancy, seals, and the upward migration of petroleum, Part III | jpg | |
| Faults as seals for traps or as pathways for migration | jpg | |
| The subsurface environment of petroleum | ||
| Typical pressure and temperature conditions in sedimentary basins | jpg | |
| Paleogeothermometric indicators, organic diagenesis, and siliciclastic diagenesis |
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| Heat flow, thermal conductivity, geothermal gradient, and subsurface temperatures |
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| Heat flow, geothermal gradient, and the thermal conductivity of sedimentary rocks |
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| Petroleum traps | ||
| Petroleum traps and their tectonic settings | jpg | |
| Some simple traps for petroleum | jpg | |
| Diagenetic traps | jpg | |
| Development of a turtle structure between salt diapirs | jpg | |
| The Petroleum System concept | ||
| The Petroleum System concept | jpg | |
| A time-and-space approach to petroleum systems | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems I: Reefal trap I | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems II: Reefal trap II | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems III: Reefal trap III | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems IV: Reefal trap IV | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems V: Reefal trap V | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems VI: Reefal trap VI | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems VII: Source over reservoir I | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems VIII: Source over reservoir II | jpg | |
| Petroleum systems IX: a rotated pinchout | jpg | |
| Drilling technology | ||
| Tubulars and other drilling technology | jpg | |
| Driving mechanisms for drilling in the early 2000s | jpg | |
| Drilling muds: a table | jpg | |
| Drilling muds I | jpg | |
| Drilling muds II | jpg | |
| Drilling muds III | jpg | |
| Subsurface Geology I: Logs from boreholes | ||
| Characteristics of wireline well logs used in the petroleum industry | jpg | |
| Picking tops | jpg | |
| Identification and interpretation of missing section, Part I | jpg | |
| Identification and interpretation of missing section, Part II | jpg | |
| Identification and interpretation of missing section, Part III | jpg | |
| Subsurface Geology II: Cross-sections | ||
| Structural and stratigraphic cross-sections | jpg | |
| Hanging a structural cross-section | jpg | |
| Hanging stratigraphic cross sections | jpg | |
| Interpretation of single-well anomalies in cross-sections | jpg | |
| Subsurface Geology III: Maps | ||
| Penetration maps | jpg | |
| Structure maps, Part I: making a structure map | jpg | |
| Structural maps, Part II: normal faults | jpg | |
| Structural maps, Part III: Intersections of faults and folds | jpg | |
| Predicting tops | jpg | |
| Seismic data | ||
| Seismic data and earthquake seismology: a comparison | jpg | |
| The dimensions of seismic data | jpg | |
| Statics corrections for seismic data | jpg | |
| Shot gathers, common midpoint gathers, and stacks | jpg | Why seismic resolution decreases with depth | jpg |
| Flat spots and bright spots in seismic data | jpg | |
| Other strange stuff | A genealogy of the oil industry | jpg |
