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SEISMIC INTERPRETATION

JIM KELLOGG
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Instructor
http://www.AndeanGeophysical.com
http://www.KelloggInternational.com

Dr. James Kellogg has 30 years experience in regional tectonics, satellite


geodesy, structural modeling, and potential field studies. He is a Professor in
the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Director of the Andean
Geophysical Laboratory, at the University of South Carolina, President of
Kellogg International Associates, and Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of South
American Earth Sciences. He obtained his M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1981) in
geology and geophysics at Princeton University. In 1987 he joined the faculty
of the University of South Carolina as professor of applied geophysics. He has
coordinated regional geophysical basin studies for petroleum exploration using
seismic, well, gravity, and magnetic data. He has published over 60 papers and
taught short courses in volume balanced structural and seismic reflection
interpretation, potential field modeling, 3-Dimensional modeling, and regional
tectonics.
SEISMIC INTERPRETATION

1. Seismic Data Acquisition and Processing


2. Pitfalls
3. Volume Balanced Solutions and Kink Method of
Seismic Interpretation
4. Extensional Tectonics
5. Salt Tectonics
6. Seismic Attributes for Reservoir Characterization
7. 3D Seismic Data
SEISMIC DATA
ACQUISITION AND
PROCESSING
SEISMIC DATA ACQUISITION
AND PROCESSING
• Acquisition – Shot, Wavelet,
Trace
• Acoustic Impedence, Polarity
• Acoustic Well Logging
• Synthetic Seismic Traces
• Common Depth Point (CDP) Stack
• Processing and Migration
DATA ACQUISITION
• Shot – initial bang
• Shotpoint – geographical location
• Source pulse or wavelet – resulting
sound
• Reflections – echoes
• Trace – stream of reflections recorded
by geophone
SEISMIC ACQUISITION
SEISMIC ACQUISITION
Highlands Transition Zone Arctic
Land
Seismic Data
Acquisition

Desert Jungle Heliportable


Specialists
Geophone Team
Marine Seismic Acquisition
Marine Seismic Acquisition
• For some applications, it is desirable to put the receivers directly on the
seafloor using ocean-bottom cables (OBC). The acquisition of shear wave
seismic data is one such use. Shear waves do not travel through water, and
so conventional marine sources do not generate them and hydrophones will
DATA ACQUISITION

• Seismic reflector or acoustic-


impedence boundary – boundary
across which the hardness changes.
• Reflection coefficient – type and size
of acoustic impedence change.
DATA ACQUISITION
• Seismic reflector or acoustic-impedence
boundary – boundary across which the
hardness changes.
• Reflection coefficient – type and size of
acoustic impedence change.
• Acoustic impedence (Z) = density (r) x
velocity (V)
Z=rV
TRACE ANALYSIS

• Positive reflection – overlying layer is


softer than underlying layer
• Negative – upper layer is harder
• Polarity – peak or trough for positive
reflection
TRACE ANALYSIS
• Positive reflection – overlying layer is
softer than underlying layer
• Negative – upper layer is harder
• Polarity – peak or trough for positive
reflection
TRACE ANALYSIS

• Two-way time – time from bang to


recording
• Amplitude – reflection strength
• Wavelet shape
REFLECTION COEFFICIENT LOG AND
NORMAL POLARITY WAVELET
• Note high resolution of sonic log vs the
seismic trace
Synthetic Seismic Trace

• Reflection
coefficients
and velocity
log used with
a zero phase
wavelet to
produce a
synthetic
seismic trace
Wavelet
• minimum phase wavelet = front loaded energy
i.e. at time zero minimum energy and elsewhere
maximum.
• zero phase wavelet has maximum energy at
time zero.
• Most seismic sources do not generate a zero
phase pulse, because that implies output before
time zero. For instance an air gun source
generates a minimum phase pulse. We can use
minimum phase wavelet for acquisition and
during processing convert to zero phase.
EFFECT OF WAVELET FREQUENCY ON
SEISMIC RESPONSE
• Which display do you prefer?
• Are the faults clearer in this display?
2.5 sec

• Or in this display?
CDP RECORDING METHOD TO
INCREASE SIGNAL TO NOISE
RATIO

• Common-depth-point (CDP) or
Common-mid-point (CMP) – reflections
recorded from the same subsurface
point with different offsets.
• Fold – number of traces
– 2 fold – 2 traces
– 96 fold – 96 traces
SEISMIC ACQUISITION
CDP-CMP METHOD
SEISMIC ACQUISITION
MIGRATION
• Migrated – restore dipping reflector to
correct subsurface position.

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