Quantitative seismostratigraphic inversion of a prograding delta from seismic data

Quantitative stratigraphy predicts the geometry of geologic strata and their petrophysical properties based on mathematical models of geological processes and parameters which affect the formation and evolution of geologic strata. Such processes include erosion, sediment transport, and deposition. Quantitative stratigraphic inversion estimates the process parameters from a priori data by systematic modeling until the predictions are compatible with the observations. In the case of quantitative seismostratigraphic inversion, the a priori data are predominantly of the seismic kind. To evaluate feasibility, we designed a preliminary algorithm which we applied in a prograding delta environment. We found that by fixing the sediment influx rate, subaerial transport rate, and the initial topography, we were able to reproduce the basic features of the delta with only three to five parameters which included subaqueous transport rate and its depth-dependent decay rate, base level, and sediment source location and spatial extent.