Time Slices from Two-Dimensional Seismic Surveys

M. Hugh Miller, Jr., William S. French

Two-dimensional seismic programs commonly are laid out repeatedly over the same prospect during the course of several years. Many seismic base maps reveal a network of two-dimensional seismic lines whose total mileage approaches that of a modern three-dimensional survey. A modern three-dimensional processing system can interpolate these two-dimensional networks onto a three-dimensional data volume followed by three-dimensional migration. This process has been conducted with varying degrees of success in a number of areas. We are not suggesting that the method replaces the need for modern three-dimensional surveys because detail not recorded during acquisition cannot be restored by processing. However, our method does provide a valuable new way to interpret the old two-dimensional network of lines in cases where new three-dimensional acquisition is not possible or economical. As the gaps between the two-dimensional lines increase, the resolution of the final product decreases. Ge erally, a few new two-dimensional lines can be shot to eliminate the large gaps in old two-dimensional networks.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.