--> ABSTRACT: Rapid Structural Interpretation Utilizing Newly Developed Seismic Attributes: Interpretation Methodology and Workflows, by Lacazette, Alfred, Kurt J. Marfurt, Charles. H. Blumentritt, Isabel C. Serrano; #90026 (2004)

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Lacazette, Alfred1, Kurt J. Marfurt2, Charles. H. Blumentritt2, Isabel C. Serrano2 
(1) Consulting Geologist, Houston, TX 
(2) University of Houston, Houston, TX

ABSTRACT: Rapid Structural Interpretation Utilizing Newly Developed Seismic Attributes: Interpretation Methodology and Workflows

New seismic attributes developed recently (some only weeks before this submission) at the University of Houston directly reveal geologic structure and sharply image subtle structures at and below the normal limits of seismic resolution. This presentation briefly describes many of the new attributes, shows how they are used to rapidly interpret geologic structure, and discusses workflows for rapid, multi-attribute based structural interpretation. Numerous images and structural interpretations are provided using 3D data sets from the Permian and Ft. Worth basins in Texas. The attributes are based on a new method of vector dip computation by volumetric coherent energy correlation. Computed attributes include: structural dip, various types of curvature including Gaussian curvature, and curl. Amplitude gradients computed relative to the structural dip and in other orientations are another new attribute with application to both structural and subseismic fracture interpretation. These attributes are used together with standard seismic data and attributes such as acoustic impedence. Multiple attributes can be combined to generate false-color volumes, maps, slices, and horizon images using methods similar to those applied to multichannel remote-sensing data. Such images directly reveal structural dip, dip changes, and curvature and sharply define structural dip-domains. Subtle faults and even joints not visible in standard seismic data are sharply imaged allowing the kind of deterministic brittle-fabric interpretation normally done in outcrops, e.g. fault-slip sense determination from damage-zone features. Such direct structural imaging permits short-cuts across traditional workflows and provides valuable constraints on horizon/stratigraphic interpretations and correlations.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90026©2004 AAPG Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 18-21, 2004.