Spontaneous potential (SP) logs

Lithological responses
Shale

Spontaneous potential interpretation depends on first recognizing shale,

where fairly constant SP readings form a straight shale baseline on the
log (Figure 1a). Its actual SP value is not significant.

Sandstone
The potential differences around a sand-shale contact deflect the SP from
the shale baseline. The deflection is negative for a normal salinity contrast
(borehole fresher than formation). Little change occurs within a sand
interval, so a clean sand shows a straight-line sand line (Figure 1c). (For
more details on SP shale and sand baselines, see Determination of water
resistivity.)

Tight rocks
An SP log is of little use in the absence of boundaries between shale beds
and permeable beds. In relatively tight rocks (carbonates, evaporites, etc.),
the SP wanders aimlessly, with no sharp usable deflections.

Log shapes

Funnel, cylinder, and bell-shaped motifs resemble those previously

described for gamma ray logs. They are due to the qualitative shaliness
indication given by the SP and can therefore be interpreted in a similar way
to the gamma ray (except for the following complications).

Salinity contrast

Contrasting salinity is critical for SP logs. Three scenarios are possible:

Fresh borehole fluid in a saline formation. Gives normal SP.
Borehole salinity is same as formation. Featureless SP, very low amplitude,
may be a straight line, no obvious relationship to beds (Figure 1b).
Saline borehole in a fresher formation. Gives a reversed SP, where sands
show positive deflections from the shale baseline.

Other problems

In additional to salinity contrasts, other conditions can create problems in

interpreting SP logs. For example,

Baseline shifts. Although the value of the SP shale baseline is not

significant, it will shift if formation fluid salinity changes from one bed to
another, making the log hard to interpret.
Manual shifts. On occasion, the logging engineer adjusts the SP log scale
to keep it within the track.
Mud type. Water-based mud (with suitable salinity) is essential. Oil-filled or
empty holes have nothing to carry the SP charges.
Interference. Remanent magnetism within the winching system often ruins
SP logs. Look for a sine-form SP whose cycle length is the circumference
of the cable drum.
Hydrocarbons. The SP is generated in water. High hydrocarbon saturation
reduces the SP, making sands appear more shaly.

Caliper logs

Property measured

For lithological purposes, the critical data are caliper readings relative to bit
size. There are three scenarios:
Hard, inert rock Hole in gauge

Caliper = bit
size

Soft or brittle
rock

Hole washes out

Caliper > bit

size

Permeable rock

Mudcake builds
up

Caliper

Well-designed modern mud systems can minimize washouts, making

caliper logs less distinctive for lithological purposes.

Lithological responses
Sandstone

Consolidated sandstone is usually permeable, so expect mudcake to

cause a caliper reading that is about 0.5 in. smaller than the bit size. Bed
boundaries are often accurately delimited (Figure 1).

Sand

Friable, unconsolidated sand may wash out, causing large caliper

readings. Look for this problem in young, shallow formations.

Shale
Shale frequently spalls into the borehole, especially in the minimum
principal stress direction. This leads to elliptical boreholes identifiable with
multiple arm calipers, as on a dipmeter.

Coal

Medium to high rank coals are often brittle and well-jointed. Such joint
blocks cave into the borehole (Figure 1c) leaving deep washouts as thick
as the coal seam (frequently only 1 ft or so). Not all coals behave this way.

Carbonates
Carbonates often fail to show mudcake build-up despite good permeability
because individual vuggy or moldic pores are too large to trap mud solids.
Mudcake builds up on the back walls of such pores, not into the borehole.
Sucrosic dolomite is the only carbonate that typically shows mudcake on
calipers.

Tight rocks

Tightly cemented beds, such as ironstones, siltstones, and carbonate

concretions in sandstones, are hard, inert rocks that remain in gauge.

Anhydrite and gypsum

Anhydrite and gypsum frequently remain in gauge if pure, but shaly

intervals may be washed out.

Halite and potash salts

Salt-saturated or oil-based muds may maintain the hole in gauge, but dilute
water-based muds result in severe dissolution leading to huge, unoriented
washouts.

Formation density logs (Alone)

Figure 2 Characteristic log signatures for a carbonate and evaporite sequence. Hole
conditions are good.

Property measured

Measured density is the sum of the rock system density and the pore fluid

system density. Density values can therefore be used directly to identify

lithology only when the porosity is insignificant. In porous rocks, density
must be interpreted in combination with neutron or other porosity logs.

Lithological Responses (Nonporous rocks)

Evaporites

Individual evaporitic minerals (such as anhydrite, halite, sylvite, and

carnallite) have well-defined densities and generate straight-line density
logs with little variation (Figure 2).

Coal

Coals are variable but always significantly lighter than 2 g/cm3. Thin beds
give a pronounced density spike, but may not resolve a true density
reading (Figure 1c). Note that deep washouts also give low-density spikes.

Ironstone
Concentrations of iron minerals such as pyrite and siderite give high
densities, often in thin beds, contrasting with surrounding rocks.

Shale
Densities of shales vary between 2.2 and 2.65 g/cm3 or more, increasing
with compaction induced by age and depth of burial (Figure 1).
Overpressured shales, in which some of the overburden load is borne by
pore fluid, are undercompacted and have low densities relative to normally
pressured shales at similar depths.

Photoelectric absorption (Pe) logs property

measured

Photoelectric absorption (Pe), measured by the newer formation density

tools, is related to atomic number Z, raised to the 3.6 power (Z3.6).
Consequently, very light components (pore fluids) have negligible effect,
making the log good for lithology. Unfortunately, heavy elements have an
enormous effect. Thus, a few percent of iron masks basic lithological
differences, and barite (usually with mud weights over 10 ppg) makes the
log unusable.

Lithological responses
Sandstone

Quartz should read 1.7 to 1.8 barns/electron, but most other minerals can
raise the value substantially. Because they are usually present, the log is of
limited value.

Limestone

Clean limestone reads about 5.0 barns/electron (Figure 2).

Dolomite
Dolomite should read about 3.0 barns/electron, providing an easy way to
distinguish limestone from dolomite (Figure 2) even if gas is present. Note
that iron in ferroan dolomite increases readings to resemble limestone.

Shale

Average shale reads 33.5 barns/electron, but values up to 7 or 8

barns/electron can be obtained depending on iron content and accessory
minerals. This large range makes the log of limited value.

Neutron porosity logs (Alone)

Property measured

Compensated neutron porosity is primarily the combined hydrogen content

of the rock system and the pore fluid system. Lithology can therefore be
interpreted directly from neutron values only when porosity is insignificant.
In porous rocks, the neutron log must be interpreted in combination with
other logs such as formation density.

Lithological responses (Nonporous Rocks)

Water of Crystallization (Evaporites)

Gypsum and anhydrite. The typical neutron porosity value in anhydrite

(CaSO4) is close to zero, but that in gypsum (CaSO4 2H2O) is much
higherup to 60%.
Potash Evaporites. Sylvite is anhydrous with a near-zero neutron porosity,
but carnallite (KMgCl3 6H2O) gives neutron values of 30% to 60%.

Bound water in shale

Some water in shales is chemically bound to clay minerals, whereas some
occurs in micropores. Both types raise neutron log readings but represent
no effective porosity (Figure 1). Shales consequently have high apparent
neutron porosity, but values vary among formations. Often 40% is a good

shale cutoff limit, but shale values can be as low as 30%. A local cut-off
can often be established by calibration, such as from cores.

Neutron and density logs combined

Neutron and density logs each react to both lithology and porosity, so by
analyzing the two logs together, one can begin to distinguish lithology from
porosity. Neutron and density logs, together with a caliper measurement
recorded by the density tool and a natural gamma ray log, are commonly
run as a combination. This is the most powerful of the commonly available
log suites for general purpose determination of lithology.

Crossplotting

Logging company chart books all include neutron-density crossplots that

are easy to use for clean (nonshaly) reservoir rocks. The plots are entered
with a bulk density and an apparent neutron porosity (should be
environmentally corrected, but the corrections are usually negligible). A
rock type (sandstone, limestone, or dolomite) and a corrected porosity can
be read from the crossplot.

Overlay presentation

Manual crossplotting is tedious. A much faster way to visualize rock type is

directly from the overlay presentation in which both neutron and density
logs are superimposed in the same log track. To do this, a compatible
scale must be used so that the porosity components of both logs exactly
overlay. Then any offset (or residual) between the two logs is attributable to
lithology or to the presence of gas.
Both tools are generally calibrated in limestone units, so the compatible
scale is defined for freshwater-limestone systems, with theoretical limits as
follows:
All Porosity
(H2O)

No Porosity
(CaCO3)

Neutron (p.u.)

100

Density
(g/cm3 )

1.0

2.71

In practice, porosities over 50% are seldom needed, whereas rocks with

densities over 2.71 g/cm3 are common. Thus, with slight rounding, the
usual compatible scale is

15

Neutron (p.u.)

45 30 15 0

Density
(g/cm3 )

1.9 2.2 2.4 2.7 2.9

5 0 5 0 5

In high porosity areas with no dolomite, the scale is often slid across to the
following range:
Neutron (p.u.)

60 45 30 15 0

Density
(g/cm3 )

1.7 1.9 2.2 2.4 2.7

0 5 0 5 0

On these scales, any offset of neutron and density logs is maintained

regardless of porosity. Offsets are due to rock differences in density and
neutron-absorbing properties (capture cross section). Ideal relationships
for the three main liquid-filled porous rocks are as follows:

Sandstone

Density displaced 0.05 g/cm3 to the left.

Neutron displaced about 3 p.u. (porosity units) to the right.
Cross-over is two small-scale divisions on the usual log grid.

Limestone

Density and neutron overlay exactly.

Dolomite

Density displaced 0.175 g/cm3 to the right.

Neutron displaced 48 p.u. to the left.
Separation is four to six small-scale divisions on the usual log grid.
Other noncompatible scales are harder to interpret. One is the sandstone
scale: the zero neutron reading is aligned with 2.65 g/cm3. Also, the
neutron log may, or may not, be calibrated in sandstone units, reducing
cross-over in sandstone by about two, or one, scale divisions, respectively.
If the two scales do not have the same amplitude (60 neutron porosity units
corresponding to a range of 1 g/cm3), lithological interpretation should not
be attempted from the overlay plot because log separations then become a

function of porosity as well as lithology.

Lithological responses

Sandstone (Oil or Water Filled)

Clean quartz sandstones give the typical two-division neutron-density

cross-over with density to the left of neutron (Figure 1). The addition of
some clay (forming shaly sandstone) increases the neutron reading,
reducing log crossover or even reversing it to create separation. Check
natural gamma ray for evidence of increasing clay.
Heavier components such as mica increase the density, reducing log
cross-over or even reversing it to create separation. Check spectral gamma
ray to distinguish the following:
Mica: potassium radiation only.
Zircon (with other heavy minerals): thorium or uranium radiation.
Siderite, pyrite, etc.: no increased radiation.
Use the shape of the neutron-density cross-over to provide depositional
energy in the same way as an SP or gamma ray log (Figure 1). Thus, a V
shape is a funnel (coarsening upward) and a shape is a bell (fining
upward).

Sandstone (Gas-Filled)

Compared to oil- or water-filled sandstone, the neutron log for a gas-filled

sandstone reads as much as 1015 porosity units too low, and the density
log may read about 0.05 g/cm3 too low. Together these effects increase the
log cross-over from two to about five scale divisions.

Sandstone (Air-Filled)

Nonhydrocarbon gas in sandstone can give neutron readings close to zero,

depending on residual water and humidity in the pore space. Enormous log
cross-over results.

Limestone
Clean limestone has no neutron-density separation (Figure 2). When the
neutron drifts to higher values, expect the presence of clay. Check the
natural gamma ray. In gas-filled limestone, expect cross-over like that
described for sandstone, and use a Pe value of 5 to confirm limestone.

Dolomite

Characteristic four to six scale division separation with density to the right
of neutron is relatively consistent in clean dolomite (Figure 2). Gas reduces
or eliminates the separation; use a Pe value of 3 to confirm dolomite.
Locally high natural gamma ray looks like clay, but if neutron-density
separation is unchanged, it may be hot dolomite (especially in the
Permian basin). Check uranium if spectral gamma ray is available.

Shale

Shale shows a log separation with neutron to the left of density, sometimes
displaced by a large amount (Figure 1). At times the separation is only
three or four scale divisions, which can resemble dolomite. To distinguish
shale, check for the following:
Apparent neutron porosity is too high for the area. Shale neutron readings
are often between 30 and 50 porosity units.
Caliper log shows washouts.
Natural gamma ray is high; consistently high in beds where neutron is high.
If spectral gamma ray is available, look for all radioactive elements
elevated (contrast only uranium high in hot dolomite).

Coal
Neutron and density logs for coal both read similar very high apparent
porosities (Figure 1c). Coals give prominent deflections that do not
resemble anything but severe washouts. (Diatomite has a density of about
1.4 g/cm3 and a neutron measurement of about 60 porosity units, so
crossover is at least seven scale divisions.)

Complex rock mixtures

Using neutron and density logs to resolve porosity and lithology allows only
a one-dimensional view of lithology. Rock mixtures always create
ambiguities for this simple quick-look interpretation. Local knowledge of
rock types and mixtures to be expected and not to be expected may
eliminate ambiguity (for example, do not look for dolomite and evaporites in
a temperate, humid delta). Rock sample and mudlog data are invaluable.
For complex rock mixtures, more input log data are needed, and computerprocessed multidimensional crossplots must be used to determine
lithology. In any case, confidence is always increased by using more input
data.

See also

Difficult lithologies
Dipmeters
Formation evaluation of naturally fractured reservoirs
Basic open hole tools
Basic tool table
Introduction to wireline methods
Determination of water resistivity
Preprocessing of logging data
Wireline formation testers
Basic cased hole tools
Standard interpretation
Borehole imaging devices

External links

find literature about

Quick-look lithology from

logs

Original content in Datapages

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