3D Seismic Interpretation and Geological Expression from

Seismic Attributes for Fault/Fracture Characterization. Case

Study of Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, Northeast Brazil

Ana C. M. Q. Coelho ∗ , Paulo T. L. Menezes† and Miguel A. Mane†

∗ FGEL/UERJ,

Rua São Francisco Xavier 524, 4009a

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 20550-013 † DGAP/FGEL/UERJ,

Rua São Francisco Xavier 524, 2021a

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 20550-013

(August 6, 2019)

GEO-Example

Running head:

ABSTRACT

We present advantages to work of 3D seismic interpretation from the seismic attribute

for structural fault and fracture characterization using attribute combination and visu-

alization techniques methodology. In this work has been tested a case study from the

Neocomian-Barremian/Eo-Aptian successions of Sergipe-Alagoas Basin with potential hy-

drocarbon reservoir. Initially, was done the seismic interpretation for providing insights into

the structures pattern and stratigraphy with the recognition of geologically significant fea-

tures in cross-section view on the 3D seismic. We used to identify lithological packages and

discordance of the Basin of the RMS amplitude and TecVa (Amplitudes Volume Technique)

attributes. Already for features structural, was used variance and ant-tracking attributes.

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Finally, we identify the main natural faults and fractures that could influence to predict the

reservoir in the study area. Attributes combination enhanced the response of seismic data,

highlighting in detail faults and fracture networks structural not visible before in original

seismic data. Seismic attributes are an excellent tool to help in the seismic interpretation

process, however, should be associated with geological knowledge of the Basin to obtain

good results.

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 INTRODUCTION

Seismic visualization and interpretation techniques are increasingly important for the def-

inition of the main structural and stratigraphic features in oil exploration (Brown et al.,

1986).

3D seismic volumes provide the visualization of extensive and systematic images of

the subsurface data, which allows displaying vertical sections, slices of time and generate

surfaces visualize of the seismic horizons. Geophysical methods of seismic interpretation

integrated with petrophysical wells data are significant tools to get the external geometry

of the accumulations and structural and stratigraphic features definitions of the reservoirs.

The evaluation of natural fractures is a significant factor to predict the distribution and

the intensity of the fracturing in the reservoirs, which may or do not favor the production.

Generally, seismic interpretation if worked in isolation is limited to determine the geolog-

ical characteristics in detail such as faults, fractured zones, thin layers and the identification

of the hydrocarbons. However, the extraction of seismic attributes can highlight such fea-

tures of interest for interpretation, before not possible to identify in the original seismic

data in amplitude (Chopra and Marfurt, 2007).

Many attributes are used to estimate the fracture network. Though, the choose at-

tributes best among the main seismic attributes is fundamental for the prediction and

reservoir characterization. Uses of the seismic attributes for the interpretation of fault

systems highlight the properties of the seismic trace as amplitude, frequency, and phase.

Allows identifying to alignment, fault planes and fracture patterns and consequently pro-

vides resources to outline the main reservoir features.

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 In this approach, the work proposes to understand the deposition structure of the

Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, besides verify of the best attributes and the combination of them,

for the characterization of the structural discontinuities (faults and fractures) that may

influence the structuring of the reservoirs.

Reservoir seismic interpretation was performed in Neocomian-Barremian / Eo-Aptian

sequences in Barra de Itiba-Coqueiro Seco petroleum system in Sergipe-Alagoas Basin of

Brejo Grande production field. Dataset available by ANP (National Petroleum, Natural

Gas, and BioFuels) has provided post-stack time-migrated 3D post-stack seismic volume

and check shots surveys and composite well-logs (gamma ray, sonic, density and, resistivity).

GEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Sergipe-Alagoas Basin in northeastern Brazilian continental margin, coast parallel to the

NE-SW direction, has a total area of 44,300 km, of which 12,600 km is onshore (Aquino

and Lana, 1990). The Basin is bounded on the North by the Pernambuco-Paraba Basin

and the on the South by the Jacupe Basin (Figure 1).

Sergipe-Alagoas Basin started during the Early Cretaceous, with the formation of the

rift system in the separation between the South American and African plates. The tectonic

evolution of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin is defined by four stages of tectonics and distinct

sedimentation: syneclise, pre-rift, rift, post-rift and drift the basin Campos Neto et al.

(2007). Covers from a Paleozoic intracratonic basin to its present stage passive margin

basin.

In Aptian, end of the rifting phase occurred the first marine incursions. The basin from

the Albian to the Santonian was covered by a shallow sea, in this period there did the great

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thickness of carbonates deposited on high proximal areas and condensed section in distal

portions. During of the Campanian in end of the Cretaceous occurred the marine opening

and start deposit a prograding clastic.

The structural framework did establish in the rift phase, controlled by an NE-SW fault

system, separated by half-graben and host. Synthetic and antithetic normal fault systems

control the subsidence and sedimentation within the basin, developing internal highs and

lows distributed along a standard en-echelon pattern (Ojeda and Fugita, 1974).

SEISMIC INTERPRETATION

The interpretation of the seismic horizons was based correlation of seismic, calibrated to the

data of the wells (Figure 2), according to the Chrono or lithostratigraphic-markers, which

represent the location of the main geological limits. Consisted in the mapping of the main

stratigraphic horizons identified, based on previous knowledge regarding the stratigraphic

succession of the area, continuity of the seismic reflectors, individualization of layers with

similar seismic facies, besides structural factors such as faults.

Seismic horizons interpretation was performed with the appropriate interpolations and

the quality control to correct the inconsistencies of interpretation. We interpret 9 (nine)

horizons from the base to the top (H1 to H9), correlated with the tectonic phases of the

basin: syncline, pre-rift, rift, post-rift, and drift (Figure 3).

Syneclise and pre-rift phases were interpret based in previous regional knowledge since

the wells did not reach such depths. H1 horizon corresponds the meta-sedimentary basement

of the basin, marked by seismic reflector strong. The H2 horizon did interpret as a pre-

rift discordance. The rift phase presents erosive truncation at the top, called the Pre-

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Neo-Alagoas discordance. It is represented in the section by the lithostratigraphy of the

Coqueiro Seco Formation, composed of lacustrine shales, identified by the horizon H3.

The post-rift phase represents rocks of the Muribeca Formation, composed of inter-

calations of shales, siltstones, and conglomerates. The formation corresponds members

Carmopolis (base), Ibura (shales intercalated with halite) and in top Oiteirinhos Forma-

tion. The horizons H4 and H5 correspond to the Muribeca Formation. In base Carmpolis

Member, followed by the Member Ibura, presents at the well 1-ARO-01 and in top Member

Oiteirinhos.

The drift phase is represented by the Riachuelo, Cotinguiba, Marituba and Calumbi

formations. The H6 horizon corresponds to the Riachuelo Formation, which is present

in two wells, Taquari Member in well 1-ARO-02 and well IDF-01 Member Angico. The

horizon H7 corresponds to the top of the Cotinguiba Formation, which represents the basis

of the Pre-Calumbi discordance, followed by the horizons H8 and H9, corresponding to the

Calumbi and Marituba Formations, respectively.

APPLICATION OF SEISMIC ATTRIBUTES

Usually, the seismic attributes to extract information from the reflectivity data, which allow

to improve or quantify the geological characteristics of interest for the interpretation, that

are not possible to identify in the original seismic data, are usually applied to the data

acquired in post-stack surveys (Chopra and Marfurt, 2007).

The seismic attribute corresponds to any mathematical measure of interest from seismic

data Taner (2001) such as measures of time, amplitude and frequency (Sheriff, 2002).

This work step we did stratigraphic framework characterization in scale regional of the

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basin and analyzes the bests attributes to identify faults and fractures natural that may have

influenced reservoirs in the study area. To identify lithological packages and discordance

of the Basin were applied RMS amplitude and TecVa (Amplitudes Volume Technique)

attributes. For highlight structural discontinuities we used combination variance and ant-

tracking attribute.

RMS Attribute

The RMS (Root Mean Square) attribute corresponds to the square root calculation of

the mean of the amplitudes, extracted from the seismic trace within the analysis window,

defined with the width of n samples that allow capture variations in the seismic signal

(Chopra and Marfurt, 2007). The contrasts of the acoustic impedances between the layers

can be expressed by the RMS attribute to highlight discontinuities, channels and changes

of lithological packages, both by the effect of RMS positive amplitude anomalies, greater or

equal to zero.

The RMS attribute provides energy content of the seismic trace data relationship with

acoustic impedance contrast defined low or high amplitudes. This attribute gives informa-

tion to distinguish lithologies. Usually, sands indicate high seismic amplitudes, while clays

and shales lower shown amplitudes.

The Figure 4 present the seismic section displaying original seismic data and extracted

RMS amplitude. Shown different packages of lithologies of sand and shale/ clay that are

according to well data and gamma-ray interpretation.

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TecVa (Volume Amplitudes Technique) Attributte

The volume amplitude technique (tecVA) generates seismic sections that reflect subsur-

face geology, is a set of attributes (RMS, Remove bias and Phase Shift). The tecVA is a

widely used attribute in the exploration workflow, for the identification of seismic sequences,

stratigraphic units and geological unconformities (Bulhões, 1999).

In this work, we used three attributes for the composition of tecVA, the RMS amplitude

that removes the carrier frequency, display just the geological information. This information

is a result of the amplitude anomaly values, that allows the identification of unconformities

and faults; Remove bias, that removes the deconvolution, and, Phase shift, control the phase

of the seismic data. As a result, the high contrasts stronger impedance and consequently

shows the difference between lithology and textures.

The attribute highlights the mains structures of the basin and to help in the inter-

pretation of the seismic horizons. The application of the technique made possible in the

generation of amplitude maps and vertical and horizontal seismic sections that showed the

subsurface geology. From a continuous surface in the seismic cube, was generate seismic

images that presented the reinforced structural and stratigraphic features and the high-

lighted amplitudes. The attribute mainly highlights faults and fractures and individualizes

lithological packages with different patterns of reflection.

The section interpreted with the TecVA attribute presents the highlighted lithological

layers and discordance surfaces and faults in rift and basement (Figure 5).

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Variance Attribute

The attribute of the seismic variance is a form of coherence attribute that expresses the sign

similarity between two or more traces (Chopra and Marfurt, 2005). It is a detection method

that obtains the discontinuities, spatially along the cube, allows to identify the distribution

of the faults and the geological characteristics of interest.

The attribute shows trace-to-trace similarity, marking the changes in characteristics

around the traces, which are generated by the loss of similarity. The amplitude variations

when fault intercepted interface result in high variance values, however when there is no

fault interference, the variation show low. Similarity shows scale values in of zero to 1 (one).

The zero value is used to the zone that does not present similarity. Already the value 1

(one) to the zones of maximum similarity.

Application of the attribute allowed to confirm the presence of both rift and basement

faults (Figure 6). The interpretation of variance attribute enhances to understand the

distribution of faults and other geological features of interest for a possible reservoir.

Multiattribute Ant-Tracking

The multiattribute ant-tracking consists of the tracking of faults used to identify and im-

prove spatial discontinuities in a more detailed from the automatic extraction of the struc-

tures present in the seismic volume.

The technique is based on the collective behavior of insect societies swarm intelligence,

who perform tasks such as finding food and building nests, expelling pheromones on the

tracks for other members of the colony to find their way. Using this method, members

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find the shortest and most efficient path to the nest or food. In analogy, fault properties

are behavior-coded to track and follow discontinuities, reinforce and extract compatible

responses such as faults, eliminating incompatible features so as oscillations in the coherence

of a reflector.

The use of this attribute requires the preconditioning of the data for the removal of

random noise, as structural smoothing filters. The workflow consisted of the application of

the multiattribute, using as input the seismic variance volume to detect the discontinuities,

followed by two applications of the ant-tracking attribute for edge improvement.

The discontinuities were reinforced using the input of the volume of variance to generate

the ant-tracking, resulting in the better definition of the edge of the data and in the tracking

of the consistent discontinuities interpreted by faults (Figure 7).

We used 3D seismic interpretation volume techniques shown the surface map of the

seismic horizon of the Coqueiro Seco Formation to better reservoir visualization. In the

Figure 8 we can observe the intense degree of fracturing on the surface.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we interpreted 3D seismic data for better understanding and visualization

of the geology of the basin, besides to describes the main lithostratigraphic sequences and

regional discordances. Were applied to identify lithological packages and discordance of the

Basin the RMS amplitude and TecVa (Amplitudes Volume Technique) attributes. We used

seismic discontinuity variance and ant-tracking attributes to highlight structural features.

Qualitative reservoir characterization did perform from seismic horizons and structural

interpretation and lithostratigraphic wells markers. We analyze attributes to identify main

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natural faults and fractures that may have influenced the reservoirs in the study area.

The multiattribute ant-tracking presented the best response in the identification of faults

and geological fractures in detail scale. Workflow consisted of generating seismic surface

maps that show the distribution of the faults and fractures.

The application of seismic attributes is tools importance for the characterization of

oil reservoirs, as it allows the interpreter to identify structural features of interest and,

consequently, to define more favorable areas for oil and gas exploration in the basin.

The methodology applies to identify faults in reservoir surfaces was successfully in stud-

ies area of Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. Additionally can be expanded in research using the

directional attributes to guide the faults and fractures in the reservoir, as to the analysis of

the connectivity of the same.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank ANP (Brazilian Petroleum Agency) for making available the seismic

data and well logs. We thank LAGEX-UERJ and Seismic Stratigraphy Interpretation

(UERJ/STATOIL) for providing computational resources. A. C. M. Coelho acknowledges

an Petrobras scholarship. P. T. L. Menezes was supported in this research by fellowship

from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfico e Tecnolgico (CNPq).

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 REFERENCES

Aquino, G. S. d., and M. d. C. Lana, 1990, Explorao na bacia de sergipe-alagoas: O estado

da arte: Boletim de Geocincias da Petrobras, 4, 3–11.

Brown, A., R. Wright, K. Burkart, W. Abriel, and R. McBeath, 1986, Tuning effects,

lithological effects and depositional effects in the seismic response of gas reservoirs: Geo-

physical prospecting, 34, 623–647.

Bulhões, É. M., 1999, Técnica volume de amplitude para mapeamento de feições estruturais:

Presented at the 6th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society.

Campos Neto, O. d. P. A., W. S. Lima, and F. E. G. Cruz, 2007, Bacia de sergipe-alagoas:

Boletim de Geociências da PETROBRAS, 15, 405–415.

Chopra, S., and K. J. Marfurt, 2005, Seismic attributesa historical perspective: Geophysics,

70, 3SO–28SO.

——–, 2007, Seismic attributes for prospect identification and reservoir characterization.

Ojeda, H. A. O., and A. M. Fugita, 1974, Bacia Sergipe/Alagoas: Geologia regional e

perspectivas petrolferas: Congresso Brasileiro de Geologia, 137–138.

Sheriff, R. E., 2002, Encyclopedia dictionary of applied geophysics: Society of Exploration

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Taner, M. T., 2001, Seismic attributes: CSEG recorder, 26, 48–56.

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Figure 1: Location of Basin Sergipe-Alagoas and study area (red).

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Figure 2: Synthetic seismogram obtained from well 1-ARO-02-SE. Well-tie of sonic (DT),

density (RHOB) and the check-shot well data in depth with seismic data in time.

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Figure 3: Seismic Interpretation cross-section (TWT) showing wells and main stratigraphic

framework (H1 to H9).

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Figure 4: Original seismic data and seismic interpretation of the RMS attribute in crossline

237 with the lithology and gamma-ray profiles of well 1-ARO-02 showing discordance and

lithological packages.
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Figure 5: Volume 3D with the tcVA attribute showing the packages of the basement, rift,

and drift.

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Figure 6: Section of variance attribute computed over a window of 3x3 traces in in-

line/crossline directions and 15 ms in the time slice of 1800 ms showing the main faults

in the horizon.

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Figure 7: Section of variance attribute computed over a window of 3x3 traces in in-

line/crossline directions and 15 ms in the time slice of 1800 ms showing the main faults

in the horizon.

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Figure 8: Ant-Tracking attribute map at the top of the horizon surface in the reservoir,

showing the distribution of the wells into the study area.

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