Patent ID: 6516274
Filing Date: 2003-02-04
Classification: G01V

Abstract:
A method for detecting structural and stratigraphic discontinuities in a volume of seismic data samples, comprising the steps of:selecting a primary direction and at least one secondary direction in the volume of seismic data samples; identifying skeleton patches in the primary and secondary directions in the volume of seismic data samples, the skeleton patches comprising groups of connected seismic samples representing seismic horizons in the volume of seismic data samples; calculating apparent dip in the primary and secondary directions at each data sample within the identified skeleton patches, creating a primary direction dip volume and secondary direction dip volumes, respectively, at corresponding data sample locations; applying a filter to the primary direction and secondary direction dip volumes to fill in values at the data sample locations not within the identified skeleton patches; and determining a discontinuity volume from one-dimensional, two-trace discontinuity values calculated in the primary and secondary directions at data sample locations, wherein the calculated apparent dips at corresponding data sample locations in the primary and secondary direction dip volumes determine which portions of the data samples to use in the corresponding discontinuity value calculations.