Rock physics templates for integrated analysis of shales considering their mineralogy, organic matter and pore fluids

•Mudstones are characterized by mineralogy, organic matter and pore fluids.•Rock physics templates are obtained by self-consistent method and applied to shales.•Templates of Vp–Vs include the effect of kerogeno, dry gas, sea water and heavy oil.•Templates ofLambda–Mu–Rho include the effect of kerogeno, gas, water and oil.•These new templates have application in geophysics, petrophysics and geology.

Mudstones are characterized by considering their mineralogy, organic matter and pore fluids simultaneously by means of effective properties calculated using the self-consistent method. The self-consistent equations are solved in order to get the effective properties, Lame's parameters and bulk density. With them, the P- and S-wave velocities are calculated for all types of shale rocks. These results are in accordance with those reported by Pickett (1963), Leslie and Mons (1982) and Castagna et al. (1985) for their particular cases. In this work, the effect of pore fluid and organic matter is added and can be observed in the rock physics templates of the VP−VSVP−VS and λρ−μρλρ−μρ. These templates represent the straightforward integration of multi-data generated by the core and well-log analysis, reservoir studies and geosciences; namely, geophysics, petrology, petrophysics and geology. This integrated information is useful for fluid discrimination, well placement and stages of fracking in the unconventional reservoirs. Also, the modeling results are applicable to identify commercial shales like Barnett-1, Fort St. John and Haynesville-1.