ABSTRACT: Integration and Imagination: The Keys to Developing New Computer Applications in Exploration

Steven W. Daut, Niall J. Murray

The benefits of computers with regard to speed and the ability to perform repetitive and iterative calculations are universally recognized and utilized. Development of processing methods for seismic, gravity, magnetics, image processing, and statistical analysis of geological data have depended on utilizing these benefits.

The ability to integrate various data sets and procedures has developed much more slowly, owing to competition and secrecy between vendors and users. Examples of integration include modeling techniques in which numerous types of data are combined and compared; seismic inversion, which integrates velocities measured in the well bore with those from seismic; and GIS systems, which allow integration of various data types through a common base mapping system.

Imagination, however, combined with a thorough understanding of hardware and software systems, unlocks the true power of the computer and is the key to making new strides in the development of exploration applications. Experimental examples include the application of seismic processing techniques to radar data and application of magnetics and LANDSAT processing techniques to seismic data.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90998 AAPG Eastern Section Meeting, London, Ontario, Canada, September 10-12, 1990