Patent ID: 7295930

Claim:
Process for smoothing a subsurface property in a geological structure represented by seismic measurements, in which there is constructed a continuous function S ij,k (t) by interpolation or approximation of the discrete seismic traces of a multi-dimensional seismic matrix, said function S ij,k (t) being designed as a “continuous local seismic trace”, comprising the following steps: a). using as optimum offset of two adjacent continuous local seismic traces S ij,k (t) and S pq,k (t), the value of offset rendering maximum their correlation function, this optimum offset not necessarily being a whole number multiple of the vertical sampling interval; b). using as conditional neighborhood of a central continuous local seismic trace S ij,k (t) the sub-neighborhood consisting of adjacent traces S pq,k (t) corresponding to optimum offsets associated with correlations R ij,pq,k (h) greater than a predetermined threshold comprised between 0 and 1; c). selecting a property of a subsurface to be smoothed in the conditional neighborhood of a point (i, j, k) of a reference “central” continuous local seismic trace; d). offsetting the subsurface properties of the conditional neighborhood by translating the current variable of the value of optimum offset h ij,pq,k ; e). taking as the smoothed value of the point (i, j, k) an average of the subsurface properties offset in step d).