Patent ID: 7266041

Claim:
A method for scanning geophysical data sets, wherein the method comprises the steps of: a. selecting a focus sub-volume, wherein the focus sub-volume comprises a plurality of discrete sampling locations, wherein the plurality of discrete sampling locations is located within at least two geophysical data sets; b. selecting a background sub-volume, wherein the background sub-volume is proximal to the focus sub-volume, wherein the background sub-volume comprises a plurality of background discrete sampling locations, wherein the plurality of background discrete sampling locations is located within at least two geophysical data sets; c. associating data values from the geophysical data sets with each discrete sampling location and each background discrete sampling location; d. forming a background data volume, wherein the background data volume comprises the data values associated with the background discrete sampling locations; e. normalizing the background data volume and each data value, forming a normalized background data volume and normalized data values; f. comparing whether each normalized data value associated with each discrete sampling location is inside or outside of the normalized background data volume to calculate a distance value, wherein if the normalized data value is inside the normalized background data volume, the distance value is zero, and wherein if the normalized data value is outside the normalized background data volume, the distance value is a non-zero value; g. populating an output data set with the distance values associated with each discrete sampling location; and h. identifying discrete sampling locations within the output data set to identify specific geophysical responses.