Patent ID: 7243029

Claim:
A hydrocarbon detection system that comprises: a memory having hydrocarbon detection software; and a processor coupled to the memory to execute the hydrocarbon detection software, wherein the hydrocarbon detection software configures the processor to retrieve seismic trace data from a storage device, and further configures the processor to process the seismic trace data to determine at least one wavelet absorption factor, wherein the wavelet energy absorption factor relates to seismic energy attenuation as a function of frequency, wherein as part of configuring the processor to process the seismic trace data, the hydrocarbon detection software configures the processor to calculate a wavelet spectrum for each of multiple positions in a region of interest, and further configures the processor to fit a parameterized model to each wavelet spectrum, wherein the parameterized model is expressible as: A ^ ⁡ ( ω ) = { a 1 + a 2 ⁢ ω Q L for ⁢ ⁢ 0 ≤ ω < ω D a 3 ⁢ ⅇ - Q G ⁢ ω for ⁢ ⁢ ω > ω D wherein ω is frequency, ω D is a frequency where the wavelet spectrum reaches a maximum, a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 are constants, Q L is a liquid absorption factor, and Q G is a gas absorption factor.