Interpretation of three-Dimension Seismic Data

AAPG
CHAPTER 2: Color, Character & Zero-Phaseness
Assessment of phase and polarity:
Zero-phase:
The wavelet is symmetrical with the majority of the energy being
concentrated in the central lobe;
This wavelet shape minimizes ambiquity in associating observed
waveforms with subsurface interfaces;
A horizon track drawn at the center of the wavelet coincides in
time with the travel time to the subsurface interface causing the
reflection;
The maximum amplitude occurs at the center of the waveform
and thus coincides with the time horizon;
The resolution is better than for other wavelets with the same
frequency content.
A fluid contact is always an increase in impedance.
Phase of 90:
The most common phase distortion
Common in:
o Low-impedance intervals;
o Gas sands
Red-over-blue sandwhich character. Doubling events indicate a
90 phase shift
CHAPTER 3: Structural Interpretation
Salt:
- Depth migratio and pre-stack depth migration in 3D have
recently become economically feasible and have been used
extensively for imaging under salt.
- It is the large velocity contrasts that make this more elaborate
migration necessary.
(Skipped chapters)
CHAPTER 5: Reservoir Identification

If the seismic data under interpretation have been processed to zero

phase, then the detailed character of the bright spots, flat spots and
other DHIs can be very diagnostic.
Decrease in AI = peak which is blue and an increase is expressed as a
trough which is red (European polarity)
Bright spot:
- Water sand has an acoustic impedance lower than the
embedding medium and the impedance of the gas sand is
further reduced
- The signature of the sand is peak-over-through and, for the gasfilled portion, the amplitude is greater
- Simultaneous increase in top and base amplitudes natural
pairing
Trough if increase in AI?
Dim spot:
- The water sand has a higher acoustic impedance than the
embedding medium
- when gas replaces some of the water in the pores of the sand,
the acoustic impedance is reduced
Phase change:
- recution of acoustic impedance of the sand, because of gas
saturation, causes the acoustic impedance to change from a
value higher than that of the embedding medium to one lower
than that of the embedding shale. Hence the polarities of the
reflections for the top and the base of the sand switch
- In order to observe such a phase change or polarity reversal, the
structural dip must be clearly determined from non-reservoir
reflections just above and/or just below the sand under study.
Gas reservoirs attenuate high frequencies more than do rocks without
gas saturations. Low instantaneous frequencies immediately below a
suspected reservoir can be a good indicator of gas.
The stability of interval velocities gets progressively worse for greater
depths and also for thinner beds. This generally means that interval
velocities are not sufficiently accurate to play a useful role in bright
spot validation.
CHAPTER 7: Reservoir Evaluation
Bright spot regime high amplitude desirable

Dim spot regime low amplitude is desirable

Low acoustic impedance reservoir, high amplitude is good because it
may be caused by higher net-to-gross ratio, higher porosity, or higher
hydrocarbon saturation.
Pore volume = amplitude x isochron