Geological Interpretation of Seismic Data in Color – A New Approach

Abstract

3D seismic data are rich with detailed geologic information. But despite our best seismic processing efforts, much of that geologic information is hidden within a cloud of noise. If the important information could be isolated and removed from this clutter, the accuracy of the geologic analysis could be dramatically increased. The method of structurally sharpened visualization of seismic data in true color provides an environment and workflows that allow the user to interrogate 3D seismic information and isolate the important geologic information. There is a need for higher resolution in both structural and stratigraphic analysis. However, its greatest application may be to reservoir identification, reservoir delineation, and advanced reservoir characterization. We propose a new method for visualizing and analyzing geophysical data in a color environment that enables better analysis of geological features. Color provides an intuitive environment that facilitates communication between geoscientists. We represent seismic data in red-blue-green (RGB) to extract the structural features from the seismic data cube. Heterogeneities in seismic data represent geologically interpretable structures only if they are coherent across a certain spatial extent in lateral and vertical directions. We can extract spatially coherent structures by rendering adjacent time or depth slices in a seismic cube in RGB. This transformation enhances the dynamic range for the analysis and allows the simultaneous analysis of very large and very subtle geological features.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90189 © 2014 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, April 6–9, 2014