Buried Quaternary Valleys Stand Out - Infill and Implications for Oil and Gas Fields of the North Sea

Buried Quaternary valleys spread out beneath the formerly glaciated North Sea stand out from the surrounding sediments and provide significant challenges for seismic imaging, borehole stability and seabed installations. Through the use of a 1244 km2 3D seismic dataset and a few shallow borehole logs important details about the valley infill are revealed with implications for offshore operations. Two types of seismic infill facies are found in a number of different combinations within 12 buried valleys of very different sizes, and a conceptual model explaining the circumstances under which the valleys are likely to have been filled up are presented.