Interpretation Techniques: Detection and Analysis of Basement Warp Structures

This chapter explores the second main branch of the obscured and buried structures category, basement warp structures (BWSs). The recognition of these structures on imagery is quite similar to the first group and employs the same image interpretation techniques. However, because these structures are more subtle and originate in the deep basement, they differ from the first group in two significant aspects. First, their subsurface constraints are often difficult to define with conventional interpretation techniques. Second, they usually do not form pure structural traps, but rather exert significant control on the development of reservoir rocks in their vicinities, particularly the development of structurally controlled incised valleys.