AAPG Bulletin; April 2009; v. 93; no. 4;
p. 453-459; DOI: 10.1306/11200808104
© 2009 American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
New tools for seismic stratigraphic interpretation: Stratal convergence and instantaneous isochron attribute cubes derived from volumetric flattening of experimental strata
Jesse Lomask1,
Jason M. Francis2,
James Rickett3,
Marc L. Buursink4,
Thomas P. Gerber5,
Martin Perlmutter6 and
Chris Paola7
1 Chevron Energy Technology Company, San Ramon, California; jesse.lomask{at}chevron.com
2 Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston, Texas
3 Chevron Energy Technology Company, San Ramon, California
4 Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston, Texas
5 Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston, Texas
6 Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston, Texas
7 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jesse Lomask graduated in 1993 with a B.S. degree in geology from Temple University in Philadelphia. In 2006, he earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University. He worked as a field engineer for Schlumberger in the Gulf of Mexico for two years. He also worked as a 3-D seismic interpreter for Occidental Oil and Gas at Elk Hills, California. In 2007, he joined Chevron Energy Technology Company in San Ramon as a research geophysicist.
Jason Francis is a stratigrapher at Chevron Energy Technology Company. He received his B.A. degree from Colgate University, his M.S. degree from Texas A&M University, and his Ph.D. from Rice University. His research interests include mixed siliciclastic carbonate systems, deep-water stratigraphy, and basin analysis.
James Rickett completed his early studies in the United Kingdom, earning a B.A. degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University in 1994 and an M.S. degree in exploration geophysics from Leeds University in 1995. At that point, he moved to the United States and in 2001 earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University. Since 2001, he has worked for Chevron Energy Technology Company in San Ramon, California, on both geophysical research and development and exploration and new ventures. He is currently the team leader for the seismic imaging Research and Development Team, where his interests are focused on quantitative imaging of earth properties in geologically complex areas.
Marc Buursink is an earth scientist at Chevron Energy Technology Company where he works on basin analysis problems and deep-water Gulf of Mexico exploration. Previously at the U.S. Geological Survey, he applied geophysical methods to natural resources investigations. He earned a B.A. degree in physics and environmental science from the University of Virginia, an M.S. degree in geosciences from the University of Connecticut, and a Ph.D. in geophysics from Boise State University.
Thomas Gerber received his B.S. degree in geology from the University of Montana in 2002 and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 2007. His main research interests are in surface processes, stratigraphy, and subsurface imaging. He joined Chevron Energy Technology Company in 2008.
Martin Perlmutter received his Ph.D. in marine geology from the Rosenstiel School of Marine Sciences of the University of Miami in 1982. He joined Texaco in 1981, Argonne National Laboratory in 1994, and rejoined Texaco (now Chevron) in 1997. His career has focused on basin analysis and applying new methods for predicting reservoir trends. He is presently the team leader of the Reservoir Prediction Team for Chevron.
Chris Paola is a professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and does research at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. His research interests are in physical sedimentary geology and stratigraphy, especially the dynamics of channelized systems. He received his B.S. degree in environmental geology from Lehigh University, his M.S. degree in applied sedimentology from the University of Reading, and his D.S. degree in marine geology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography.
Interpreting seismic data requires inferences to be made from the geometry, character, and spatial association of seismic reflections. Seismic attributes that highlight such associations are essential for understanding basin-fill histories. In this article, we describe two novel attributes obtained from an automatic full-volume-flattening algorithm and apply them to a synthetic seismic volume of experimental strata. The stratal convergence attribute colors reflections according to their degree of convergence, which is commonly high in areas where strata thin because of erosion or nondeposition. The instantaneous isochron attribute measures thickness between reflections and is therefore generally proportional to sediment accumulation rate. These attributes distinguish bounding surfaces and depocenter migration in well-constrained experimental strata. By showing the diagnostic value of each attribute, our study motivates field-based applications of full-volume flattening and attribute co-rendering for seismic stratigraphic interpretation.
Copyright © 2009 by American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
