%0 Journal Article
%T Analysis of a Pull-Apart Basin and Its Associated Fractures in the Woodford Shale, Central Oklahoma
%A Rulang Wang
%A Feng Qin
%A Nianfa Yang
%A Yun Zhou
%J Open Journal of Geology
%P 276-286
%@ 2161-7589
%D 2023
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojg.2023.134013
%X Pull-apart basins are faulting and folding zones with high intensity of fractures that strongly affect the production in unconventional shale gas. While most observations of pull-apart basins were from surface mapping or laboratory experiments, we investigated a nascent pull-apart basin in the subsurface. We characterized a nascent pull-apart basin along the strike-slip fault within the Woodford Shale by using seismic attributes analyses, including coherence, dip-azimuth, and curvature. The results indicate a 32 km long, N-S striking strike-slip fault that displays a distinct but young pull-apart basin, which is ~1.6 km by 3.2 km in size and is bounded by two quasi-circular faults. The curvature attribute map reveals two quasi-circular folds, which depart from the main strike-slip fault at ~25<span style=\"white-space:nowrap;\">&amp;#176;</span>, resulting in an elliptical basin. Inside the basin, a series of echelon quasi-circular normal faults step into the bottom of the basin with ~80 m of total subsidence. We propose that the controls of the shape of pull-apart basin are the brittleness of the shale, and we suggest proper seismic attributes as a useful tool for investigating high fracture intensity in the subsurface for hydrofracturing and horizontal drilling within the shale.
%K Pull-Apart Basin
%K Seismic Attributes
%K Analog Model
%K Fractures
%K Shale Gas
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=124378