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Modeling and classification of the subsurface lithology is very important to understand the evolution of the earth system. However, precise classification and mapping of lithology using a single framework are difficult due to the complexity and the nonlinearity of the problem driven by limited core sample information. Here, we implement a joint approach by combining the unsupervised and the supervised methods in a single framework for better classification and mapping of rock types. In the unsupervised method, we use the principal component analysis (PCA), K-means cluster analysis (K-means), dendrogram analysis, Fuzzy C-means (FCM) cluster analysis and self-organizing map (SOM). In the supervised method, we use the Bayesian neural networks (BNN) optimized by the Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) (BNN-HMC) and the scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) (BNN-SCG) techniques. We use P-wave velocity, density, neutron porosity, resistivity and gamma ray logs of the well U1343E of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 323 in the Bering Sea slope region. While the SOM algorithm allows us to visualize the clustering results in spatial domain, the combined classification schemes (supervised and unsupervised) uncover the different patterns of lithology such of as clayey-silt, diatom-silt and silty-clay from an un-cored section of the drilled hole. In addition, the BNN approach is capable of estimating uncertainty in the predictive modeling of three types of rocks over the entire lithology section at site U1343. Alternate succession of clayey-silt, diatom-silt and silty-clay may be representative of crustal inhomogeneity in general and thus could be a basis for detail study related to the productivity of methane gas in the oceans worldwide. Moreover, at the 530 m depth down below seafloor (DSF), the transition from Pliocene to Pleistocene could be linked to lithological alternation between the clayey-silt and the diatom-silt. The present results could provide the basis for the detailed study to get deeper insight into the Bering Sea’ sediment deposition and sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the estimation of gas hydrate and free gas concentration using various rock physics models in the Cascadia accretionary prism, which is one of the most intensively studied regions of natural gas hydrate occurrences. Surface seismic reflection data is the most useful and cost-effective in deriving seismic velocity, and hence estimating gas hydrate and free gas across a BSR with depth, if a proper background (without gas hydrate and free gas) velocity is chosen. We have used effective medium theory of Helgerud et al. (EMTH) and, a combination of self-consistent approximation and differential effective medium (SCA-DEM) theory coupled with smoothing approximation for crystalline aggregate. Using the SCA-DEM (non-load-bearing) and EMTH (load-bearing) modeling, we calculate the average saturations of gas hydrate as 17 and 19%, respectively within ~100 m thick sedimentary column using velocity, derived from the surface seismic data. The saturations of gas hydrate are estimated as 15 and 18% using the SCA-DEM, and 20 and 25% using EMTH from the logging-while-drilling and wire-line sonic velocities, respectively. Estimations of gas hydrate from Poisson's ratio are in average 50% for EMTH and 10% for SCA-DEM theory. We obtain the maximum saturation of free gas as 1-2% by employing the SCA-DEM theory either to seismic or sonic velocities, whereas the free-gas saturation varies between 0.1 and 0.4% for EMTH model. The gas hydrate saturation estimated from the sonic velocity and the free gas saturation derived from both the seismic and sonic velocities using the SCA-DEM modeling match quite well with those determined from the pressure core data in the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the amount of gas-hydrate and free-gas is difficult in deep seas even with scientific coring and downhole measurements. Well data may be incompatible between holes of a site as well as with depth in the same hole. In this paper, we demonstrate an approach to estimate saturation of gas-hydrate from seismic velocities at any site where data set is limited. The study is carried out in the outer Blake Ridge, which is one of the most intensively studied regions of natural gas-hydrate occurrences and a very distinctive example of studying geophysical signatures of gas-hydrate and free-gas in deep marine sediments. Although, downhole measurements from both vertical seismic profiles (VSPs) and sonic logs provide the most accurate and direct measurements of velocity, only VSP velocities at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 994, 995, and 997 on the Blake Ridge are used to estimate the saturation of gas-hydrate and free-gas as sonic logs at ODP sites are not reliable. Here we derive a general trend of the background velocity with depth using the porosity and mineralogy from coring at discrete depth intervals. Saturations of gas-hydrate and free-gas are then estimated from this background velocity using the effective medium modeling. The porosity and mineralogical compositions are taken from four different depths at Site 995, as data quality is the best in this hole. Average saturations of gas-hydrate and free-gas at three holes are estimated as 10-14 and 2-3%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]