Application of local singularity in prospecting potential oil/gas Targets

International audience; Together with generalized self-similarity and the fractal spectrum, local singularity analysis has been introduced as one part of the new 3S principle and technique for mineral resource assessment based on multifractal modeling, which has been demonstrated to be useful for anomaly delineation. Local singularity is used in this paper to characterize the property of multifractal distribution patterns of geochemical indexes to delineate potential areas for oil/gas exploration using the advanced GeoDAS GIS technology. Geochemical data of four oil/gas indexes, consisting of acid-extracted methane (SC1), ethane (SC2), propane (SC3), and secondary carbonate (?C), from 9637 soil samples amassed within a large area of 11.2×104 km2 in the Songpan-Aba district, Sichuan Province, southwestern China, were analyzed. By eliminating the interference of geochemical oil/gas data with the method of media-modification and Kriging, the prospecting area defined by the local singularity model is better identified and the results show that the subareas with higher singularity exponents for the four oil/gas indexes are potential targets for oil/gas exploration. These areas in the shape of rings or half-rings are spatially associated with the location of the known producing drilling well in this area. The spatial relationship between the anomalies delineated by oil/gas geochemical data and distribution patterns of local singularity exponents is confirmed by using the stable isotope of ?13C.