GIS Products in Support of Petroleum Resource Assessment in Northern Afghanistan

Transcription

1 GIS Products in Support of Petroleum Resource Assessment in Northern Afghanistan ESRI Petroleum Users Group Houston, Texas February 27, 2007 Douglas W. Steinshouer 1, Craig J. Wandrey 2, Christopher C. Skinner 2 1 Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 2 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO

2 Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources in Northern Afghanistan Collaboration of the U.S. Geological Survey and the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Industry (AMMI) Joint Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Team Estimate of volumes of undiscovered petroleum Assist AMMI to develop data, technology and human resources to develop and manage Afghanistan s energy resources Must have best possible locations of wells and structural elements

3 The Scavenger Hunt for Data AMMI - Maps, geologic reports and production data; incomplete, poorly reproduced and preserved and of uncertain reliability Russian sources - Maps and geologic reports; incomplete, poorly reproduced and of uncertain reliability IHS / Petroconsultants - Incomplete and not very reliable well and field locations USGS - GPS locations, geochemical samples and analyses, geophysical surveys

4 Mapping in Afghanistan No nationwide mapping effort until 1959 Soviet US collaboration 1970 s vintage Soviet military topographic maps of Afghanistan in 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 scales - unreliable United States DMA topographic maps - unavailable

5 Soviet Era Maps No projection information provided Rule of thumb: Scale smaller than 1:1,000,00 likely to be Equidistant Conic projection. Scale larger than 1:1,000,000 likely to be Gauss-Krüger projection. Graticules and geographic features DO NOT match. What to use as reference?

6 The First Section All maps were considered State Secrets in The Soviet Union. The First Section managed base maps and altered working maps for publication. Did the First Section use its super cartographic powers on maps in Afghanistan?

7 A Tale of Two Maps Prospect Map Seismic Line Map

8 Jer Koduq Gas Field

9 Prospect Map Jer Koduq Gas Field

10 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field

11 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field

12 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field 1653 meters Well 52

13 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field Well meters

14 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field 1645 meters Well 19

15 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field Well meters

16 Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field Well meters

17 A Datum for All Seasons? Pulkovo 1942 Common Soviet datum Krasovsky spheroid Herat North of 1959 Datum developed by the Soviets for Afghanistan International spheroid of 1924 WGS 1984 Geocentric datum commonly used by GPS receivers.

18 Jer Koduq Well 63 WGS 1984 Herat North Pulkovo meters 1000 meters Well 63 from Seismic Map 500 meters

19 Jer Koduq Well 63 WGS 1984 Herat North 1626 meters Pulkovo meters 1000 meters Well 63 from Seismic Map 500 meters

20 Transverse Mercator Projections Universal Transverse Mercator UTM Six degree zones numbered from 180 degrees Each zone has unique x coordinate origin Secant projection scale factor at CM = Gauss-Krüger Six degree zones numbered from Prime Meridian Prefix false easting = zone number x 1,000,000 Tangent projection scale factor at CM =

21 What if? Did the First Section alter maps in Afghanistan? Could modern GIS decode the alterations of the First Section? Alteration algorithm as simple as changing the scale factor of a Transverse Mercator projection? Could a trusted data set be reverse engineered to match the altered data?

22 If the glove fits Seismic Line Map Jer Koduq Gas Field

23 And the datum is 500 meters 1000 meters WGS 1984 Pulkovo 1942 Well 63 from Seismic Map Herat North probably Pulkovo 1942 Jer Koduq Well 63

24 The Fix is in To register and rectify scanned images of large-scale Soviet era maps of Afghanistan: Project reference data to a Transverse Mercator projection Use Gauss-Krüger coordinates and parameters Use a scale factor of Use the Pulkovo 1942 datum and the Krasovsky spheroid

25 Out of the Rabbit Hole To recover data digitized from Soviet era large-scale maps in Afghanistan: Use PROJECT DEFINE to alter the data s projection definition: Change the defined scale factor from to Project the data to the desired conventional projection, taking care to use the appropriate datum transformation definition

26 By Any Means Necessary? Are these manipulations justified? PRO: CON: They seem to work across the map extent They are describable and repeatable They avoid arbitrary manipulations like ADJUST They are the result of trial and error, not formal logic

27 Summary Can we say that we have solved the problem of Soviet era map distortion? No, we cannot. Especially not in the case of the infamous System 1963 coordinate system. The unexpected Transverse Mercator scale factor on these maps of Afghanistan might simply be a peculiarity of the Soviet cartographers that created them. It makes a good story, but we can t claim to have outwitted the First Section.

28 Hierarchy of Reliability GPS observations Seismic line map Dari prospect map Russian prospect map Structure maps IHS/Petroconsultants data

29 Digital Prospecting Kohi Kartaw Eocene mudstone

30 Brave New World The U.S. Geological Survey has equipped AMMI with some computers, ArcView and ArcGIS licenses, 2 scanners and 2 plotters Only gradually have they come to realize the value that digital data and GIS bring to their work

31 Requirements of Digital Products Simple to use Transferable from computer to computer Local installation No software cost Flexibility for end-users

32 Shapefiles Flexible format Editable in ArcView v3.x Robust

33 ArcReader Free software Local installation Good functionality Easy to use

34 The ArcReader project Presents the digital data collected and generated so far Provides a nucleus for creation of an Afghan data package Provides the Afghans with a template for new GIS projects

35 Thank you! For more information about the U.S. Geological Survey s Energy Resource Program s efforts in Afghanistan, please visit: