Quantitative identification of triassic top unconformity: vertical structure and its reservoir significance in the sanbian area of the ordos basin

The Triassic top unconformity in the Ordos Basin, which serves as a transfer station for hydrocarbon migration, has become a bottleneck for Mesozoic oil and gas exploration. Taking the Sanbian area as an example, based on core observations, petrophysical properties, and a weathering index analysis of five coring wells, a standard for the quantitative identification of the vertical structure of the unconformity is established using the optimal segmentation method and principal component analysis of conventional logging curves. The standard is then applied to 40 real wells, and 32 typical unconformity reservoirs are dissected. The results show that the reclassification of the unconformity surface corrects the 17.5% error in the geological stratification as an unconformity. On this basis, a quantitative identification standard for the structure of the unconformity is established via the principal component curve. The analysis of unconformity structure types applied to five paleogeomorphic units reveals that the slope mouth and slope develop three layers of structure, namely residual layer, weathered clay layer, and weathered leaching zone, while highlands, river valleys, and inter-river hills lack weathered clay layer. As an independent oil and gas-bearing layer, the unconformity has two types of reservoir-forming models. The first is the hydrocarbon accumulation in the Chang1–Chang2 member shielded by weathered clay layer in the slope mouth and slope. The second is hydrocarbon migrated from the residual layer to the local structural high part of the Yan 10–Yan 9 member in the slope mouth. The hydrocarbon in the unconformity is complementary to the upper Yan 10–Yan 9 member and the lower unweathered rock layer of Yanchang Formation. The results of this study are of great significance to the quantitative identification of unconformity structures in exploration wells without coring data in the study area, as well as to future hydrocarbon exploration in the Mesozoic strata.