Imaging faults in 3D seismic volumes

Abstract

Faults interpretation is required step in most seismic interpretations. Unlike horizons, which are imaged by reflections in the seismic volume, faults are typically imaged as discontinuities in the data. For many years faults were interpreted by visual recognition of discontinuities in the seismic data, which were then manually interpreted as fault cuts on seismic sections. The purpose of our work was to develop an attribute algorithm which images faults with sufficient accuracy, precision, and continuity to enable automatic extraction or autotracking of faults in a 3D attribute volume, much like horizons have been autotracked for years in 3D seismic volumes.