Empirical trends of velocity- porosity and velocity-density in shallow sediment in Kerala-Konkan Basin on the west coast of India

Abstract

During the expedition 01 of Indian National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP), drilling and coring were carried out at one site in the Kerala-Konkan (KK) Basin on the west cost to establish the presence of gas hydrate. Drilling/coring results show a homogenous sequence of oozes and explain that the reflector, which was identified as a bottom- simulating reflector (BSR) on seismic section, is mainly due to changes in formation density because of less clay content in carbonate-rich sediment. Wire line logging data collected at this site is of good quality and has been used to establish empirical relations between P-wave velocity ( Vp), S-wave velocity ( Vs), density ( ρ ) and porosity (Ø). The established relations show very good fit with high R2 value (>0.7), and would be very useful for further studies in this region. Well known exiting empirical formulas between Vp , Vs , ρ and Ø deviate significantly from our established relations.