Angular unconformity in Pennsylvanian strata from 3-D seismic interpretation,Goldsmith Field,West Texas

The Pennsylvanian unconformity,which is a detrital surface,separates the beds of the Permian-aged strata from the Lower Paleozoic in the Central Basin Platform.Seismic data interpretation indicates that the unconformity is an angular unconformity,overlying multiple normal faults,and accompanied with a thrust fault which maximizes the region's structural complexity.Additionally,the Pennsylvanian angular unconformity creates pinch-outs between the beds above and below.We computed the spectral decomposition and reflector convergence attributes and analyzed them to characterize the angular unconformity and faults.The spectral decomposition attribute divides the broadband seismic data into different spectral bands to resolve thin beds and show thickness variations.In contrast,the reflector convergence attribute highlights the location and direction of the pinch-outs as they dip south at angles between 2° and 6°.After reviewing findings from RGB blending of the spectrally decomposed frequencies along the Pennsylvanian unconformity,we observed channel-like features and multiple linear bands in addition to the faults and pinch-outs.It can be inferred that the identified linear bands could be the result of different lithologies associated with the tilting of the beds,and the faults may possibly influence hydrocarbon migration or act as a flow barrier to entrap hydrocarbon accumulation.The identification of this angular unconformity and the associated features in the study area are vital for the following reasons:1)the unconformity surface represents a natural stratigraphic boundary;2)the stratigraphic pinch-outs act as fluid flow connectivity boundaries;3)the areal extent of compartmentalized reservoirs'boundaries created by the angular unconformity are better defined;and 4)fault displacements are better understood when planning well locations as faults can be flow barriers,or permeability conduits,depending on facies heterogeneity and/or seal effectiveness of a fault,which can affect hydrocarbon production.The methodology utilized in this study is a further step in the characterization of reservoirs and can be used to expand our knowledge and obtain more information about the Goldsmith Field.

Pre-processing and post-processing method for geostress simulation using seismic interpretation results

In order to carry out numerical simulation using geologic structural data obtained from Landmark(seismic interpretation system), underground geological structures are abstracted into mechanical models which can reflect actual situations and facilitate their computation and analyses.Given the importance of model building, further processing methods about traditional seismic interpretation results from Landmark should be studied and the processed result can then be directly used in numerical simulation computations.Through this data conversion procedure, Landmark and FLAC(the international general stress software) are seamlessly connected.Thus, the format conversion between the two systems and the pre-and post-processing in simulation computation is realized.A practical application indicates that this method has many advantages such as simple operation, high accuracy of the element subdivision and high speed, which may definitely satisfy the actual needs of floor grid cutting.

An improved deep dilated convolutional neural network for seismic facies interpretation

With the successful application and breakthrough of deep learning technology in image segmentation,there has been continuous development in the field of seismic facies interpretation using convolutional neural networks.These intelligent and automated methods significantly reduce manual labor,particularly in the laborious task of manually labeling seismic facies.However,the extensive demand for training data imposes limitations on their wider application.To overcome this challenge,we adopt the UNet architecture as the foundational network structure for seismic facies classification,which has demonstrated effective segmentation results even with small-sample training data.Additionally,we integrate spatial pyramid pooling and dilated convolution modules into the network architecture to enhance the perception of spatial information across a broader range.The seismic facies classification test on the public data from the F3 block verifies the superior performance of our proposed improved network structure in delineating seismic facies boundaries.Comparative analysis against the traditional UNet model reveals that our method achieves more accurate predictive classification results,as evidenced by various evaluation metrics for image segmentation.Obviously,the classification accuracy reaches an impressive 96%.Furthermore,the results of seismic facies classification in the seismic slice dimension provide further confirmation of the superior performance of our proposed method,which accurately defines the range of different seismic facies.This approach holds significant potential for analyzing geological patterns and extracting valuable depositional information.

Evaluation of Hydrocarbon Reservoir in the “SIMA” Field of Niger Delta Nigeria from Interpretation of 3D Seismic and Petrophysical Log Data

3D seismic and petrophysical log data interpretation of reservoir sands in “SIMA” Field, onshore Niger Delta has been undertaken in this study to ascertain the reservoir characteristics in terms of favourable structural and petrophysical parameters suitable for hydrocarbon accumulation and entrapment in the field. Horizon and fault interpretation were carried out for subsurface structural delineation. In all, seven faults (five normal and two listric faults) were mapped in the seismic section. These faults were major structure building faults corresponding to the growth and antithetic faults in the area within the well control. The antithetic fault trending northwest-southeast and the normal fault trending northeast-southwest on the structural high in the section act as good trapping mechanisms for hydrocarbon accumulations in the reservoir. From the manual and auto-tracking methods applied, several horizons were identified and mapped. The section is characterized by high amplitude with moderate-to-good continuity reflections appearing parallel to sub-parallel, mostly disturbed by some truncations which are more fault related than lithologic heterogeneity. The southwestern part is, however, characterized by low-to-high or variable amplitude reflections with poor-to-low continuity. Normal faults linked to roll-over anticlines were identified. Some fault truncations were observed due to lithologic heterogeneity. The combination of these faults acts as good traps for hydrocarbon accumulations in the reservoir. Reservoir favourable petrophysical qualities, having average NTG, porosity, permeability and water saturation of 5 m, 0.20423, 1128.219 kD and 0.458 respectively.

Application of Wavelet Spectral Decomposition for Geological Interpretation of Seismic Data

Modem oil industry is on the way of complication of the geological structure to use the latest technologies to analyze available geological and geophysical algorithm---continuous wavelet transform in example of synthetic and real data. of the deposits. This trend requires specialists information. The article describes a new

Application of Catastrophe Theory in 3D Seismic Data Interpretation of Coal Mine

In order to detect fault exactly and quickly, cusp catastrophe theory is used to interpret 3D coal seismic data in this paper. By establishing a cusp model, seismic signal is transformed into standard form of cusp catastrophe and catastrophe parameters, including time-domain catastrophe potential, time-domain catastrophe time, frequency-domain catastrophe potential and frequency- domain degree, are calculated. Catastrophe theory is used in 3D seismic structural interpretation in coal mine. The results show that the position of abnormality of the catastrophe parameter profile or curve is related to the location of fault, and the cusp catastrophe theory is effective to automatically pick up geology information and improve the interpretation precision in 3D seismic data.

3-D Seismic Imaging and Morpho-tectonical Interpretation of Saucerlike Dykes of the Tarim Flood Basalt Province, NW China

The detailed structures of the plumbing system of the early Permian Tarim flood basalt were investigated by 3-D seismic imaging.The images show that the Tarim flood basalt mainly erupted from central volcanoes distributed

The Middle and Lower Cambrian salt tectonics in the central Tarim Basin,China:A case study based on strike-slip fault characterization

Due to the considerable depth of the salt layers and the lack of calibration by exploratory drilling,the interpretation of the Middle and Lower Cambrian salt formations in the central Tarim Basin poses a challenge.In this paper,we apply the coupling and decoupling deformation theory in salt tectonics to analyze the No.7 fault mapped in the seismic datasets by the response characteristics of the Middle and Lower Cambrian layers.By quantifying the stratigraphic framework of the Middle and Lower Cambrian strata,we define the position of the salt layer with the seismic data.Structural decoupling is observed in the Middle and Lower Cambrian sequences in the Shuntuoguole Low Uplift,while deformation coupling is observed in these two sequences in the Shaya Uplift.

lp norm inverse spectral decomposition and its multi-sparsity fusion interpretation

Spectral decomposition has been widely used in the detection and identifi cation of underground anomalous features(such as faults,river channels,and karst caves).However,the conventional spectral decomposition method is restrained by the window function,and hence,it mostly has low time–frequency focusing and resolution,thereby hampering the fi ne interpretation of seismic targets.To solve this problem,we investigated the sparse inverse spectral decomposition constrained by the lp norm(0<p≤1).Using a numerical model,we demonstrated the higher time–frequency resolution of this method and its capability for improving the seismic interpretation for thin layers.Moreover,given the actual underground geology that can be often complex,we further propose a p-norm constrained inverse spectral attribute interpretation method based on multiresolution time–frequency feature fusion.By comprehensively analyzing the time–frequency spectrum results constrained by the diff erent p-norms,we can obtain more refined interpretation results than those obtained by the traditional strategy,which incorporates a single norm constraint.Finally,the proposed strategy was applied to the processing and interpretation of actual three-dimensional seismic data for a study area covering about 230 km^(2) in western China.The results reveal that the surface water system in this area is characterized by stepwise convergence from a higher position in the north(a buried hill)toward the south and by the development of faults.We thus demonstrated that the proposed method has huge application potential in seismic interpretation.

New Evidence of the Holokinetic Sequences around Suakin-1 and -2in the Sudanese Red Sea Area Using Integrated Geophysical Interpretation

Suakin-1 and Suakin-2 wells are in the Sudanese Red Sea segment where the hydrocarbon generation had been proved by previous studies, however, no reasonable reserve was evidenced due to the complexities of the surrounding salt structures. Six seismic lines were tied to Suakin-1 and -2 to delineate the controlling salt tectonics. The salt evacuation (Roho) and other salt bodies were recognized and matched with similar salt structures in analogous stratigraphic conditions as the Gulf of Mexico and Angola margin. While a previous inconsistent interpretation in the study area marked the high amplitude horizon of the Lower Zeit formation as the top of the Dungunab formation. Three seismic features indicated the presence of salt dome (autochthonous): velocity pull-up, dragging of the sedimentary layers forming mini basins around the third feature, which is the relative transparency of the seismic signal in two piercing like bodies. This interpretation similarly demarcated that the salt escaped east-wards, thus the mapped welded salt is believed to be formed after the salt evacuation. A 3D seismic with a far offset and wide range of azimuth is recommended for detailed imaging.

3D HIGH RESOLUTION SEISMIC PROSPECTING IN MINING AREAS,XIEQIAO COLLIERY

3D seismic prospecting in mining areas of Xieqiao Colliery is a successfulmodel for an advancement from the resource prospecting to mining prospecting stagein coal fields. Its results have proved that faults with a throw of 5-10 m can be detected in an area with good seismogeologic conditions by using 3D seismic technique.Detection of underground tunnels for the first time utilizing 3D seismic data indicates that subsided columns, gotten and mine goaf can be detected using 3D seismic technique, so it has a broad applied prospect.

Coherence cube enhancement based on local histogram specification

Coherence analysis is a powerful tool in seismic interpretation for imaging geological discontinuities such as faults and fractures. However, subtle faults or fractures of one stratum are difficult to be distinguished on coherence sections （time slices or profiles） due to interferences from adjacent strata, especially these with strong reflectivity. In this paper, we propose a coherence enhancement method which applies local histogram specification （LHS） techniques to enhance subtle faults or fractures in the coherence cubes. Unlike the traditional histogram specification （HS） algorithm, our method processes 3D coherence data without discretization. This method partitions a coherence cube into many sub-blocks and self-adaptively specifies the target distribution in each block based on the whole distribution of the coherence cube. Furthermore, the neighboring blocks are partially overlapped to reduce the edge effect. Applications to real datasets show that the new method enhances the details of subtle faults and fractures noticeably.

The Seismogenic Structure of the 2010 Suining Ms 5.0 Earthquake and its Geometry,Kinematics and Dynamics Analysis

In January 2010, the Suining Ms5.0 earthquake occurred in central Sichuan Basin, with the epicenter in Moxi-Longnvsi structural belt and a focal depth of 10 km. Based on structural interpretations of seismic profiles in this area, we recognized a regional detachment fault located at a depth of 9-10 km in the Presinian basement of the Suining area, transferring its slipping from NW to SE orientation. This detachment fault slipped from NW to SE, and underwent several shears and bends, which caused the basement to be rolled in and the overlaying strata fold deformation. It formed a fault-bend fold in the Moxi area with an approximate slip of 4 km. Correspondingly, the formation of the Moxi anticline is related to the detachment fault. With the earthquake＇s epicenter on the ramp of the detachment fault, there is a new point of view that the Suining earthquake was caused by re-activation of this basement detachment fault. Since the Late Jurassic period, under the influence of regional tectonic stress, the detachment fault transfered its slip from the Longmen Mountains （LMS） thrust belt to the hinterland of the Sichuan Basin, and finally to the piedmont zone of southwest Huayingshan （HYS）, which indicates that HYS might be the final front area of the LMS thrust belt.

CFD simulation on the generation of turbidites in deepwater areas: a case study of turbidity current processes in Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea

Turbidity currents represent a major agent for sediment transport in lakes, seas and oceans. In particu-lar, they formulate the most significant clastic accumulations in the deep sea, which become many of the world＇s most important hydrocarbon reservoirs. Several boreholes in the Qiongdongnan Basin, the north-western South China Sea, have recently revealed turbidity current deposits as significant hydrocarbon res-ervoirs. However, there are some arguments for the potential provenances. To solve this problem, it is es-sential to delineate their sedimentary processes as well as to evaluate their qualities as reservoir. Numerical simulations have been developed rapidly over the last several years, offering insights into turbidity current behaviors, as geologically significant turbidity currents are difficult to directly investigate due to their large scale and often destructive nature. Combined with the interpretation of the turbidity system based on high-resolution 3D seismic data, the paleotophography is acquired via a back-stripping seismic profile integrated with a borehole, i.e., Well A, in the western Qiongdongnan Basin; then a numerical model is built on the basis of this back-stripped profile. After defining the various turbidity current initial boundary conditions, includ-ing grain size, velocity and sediment concentration, the structures and behaviors of turbidity currents are investigated via numerical simulation software ANSYS FLUENT. Finally, the simulated turbidity deposits are compared with the interpreted sedimentary bodies based on 3D seismic data and the potential provenances of the revealed turbidites by Well A are discussed in details. The simulation results indicate that a sedimen-tary body develops far away from its source with an average grain size of 0.1 mm, i.e., sand-size sediment. Taking into account the location and orientation of the simulated seismic line, the consistence between normal forward simulation results and the revealed cores in Well A indicates that the turbidites should have been transported from Vietnam instead of Hainan Island. This interpretation has also been verified by the planar maps of sedimentary systems based on integration of boreholes and seismic data. The identification of the turbidity provenance will benefit the evaluation of extensively distributed submarine fans for hydro-carbon exploration in the deepwater areas.

Inverse spectral decomposition using an I_p-norm constraint for the detection of close geological anomalies

An important application of spectral decomposition(SD)is to identify subsurface geological anomalies such as channels and karst caves,which may be buried in full-band seismic data.However,the classical SD methods including the wavelet transform(WT)are often limited by relatively low time-frequency resolution,which is responsible for false high horizonassociated space resolution probably indicating more geological structures,especially when close geological anomalies exist.To address this issue,we impose a constraint of minimizing an lp(0<p<1)norm of time-frequency spectral coefficients on the misfit derived by using the inverse WT and apply the generalized iterated shrinkage algorithm to invert for the optimal coefficients.Compared with the WT and inverse SD(ISD)using a typical l1-norm constraint,the modified ISD(MISD)using an lp-norm constraint can yield a more compact spectrum contributing to detect the distributions of close geological features.We design a 3 D synthetic dataset involving frequency-close thin geological anomalies and the other3 D non-stationary dataset involving time-close anomalies to demonstrate the effectiveness of MISD.The application of 4 D spectrum on a 3 D real dataset with an area of approximately 230 km2 illustrates its potential for detecting deep channels and the karst slope fracture zone.

Application of 3D Static Modelling in Reservoir Characterization:A Case Study from the Qishn Formation in Sharyoof Oil Field,Masila Basin,Yemen

Three-dimensional(3 D)static modelling techniques are applied to the characterization of the Qishn Formation(Fm.)in the Sharyoof oil field locating within the Masila basin,southeastern Yemen.The present study was initiated by the seismic structural interpretation,followed by building a 3 D structural framework,in addition to analysing well log data and from these,3 D facies and petrophysical models are constructed.In the Sharyoof oil field,the Qishn Fm.exhibits depth values within the range of 400-780 m below sea level,with a general increase towards the SSE.A set of high dip angle normal faults with a general ENE-WSW trend dissect the rocks.The strata are also folded as a main anticline with an axis that is parallel to the fault trend,formed as a result of basement uplift.According to the facies models,the Qishn Fm.comprises 43.83% limestone,21.53% shale,21.26% sandstone,13.21% siltstone and 0.17% dolomite.The Qishn Carbonates Member has low porosity values making it a potential seal for the underlying reservoirs whereas the Upper Qishn Clastics SI A and C have good reservoir quality and SIB has fair reservoir quality.The Upper Qishn Clastics S2 and S3 also have fair reservoir quality,while the Lower Qishn Clastics zone has good reservoir quality.The water saturation decreases towards the west and east and increases towards north and south.The total original oil in-place(OOIP)of the Upper Qishn clastics is 106 million STB within the SI A,SIC and S2 zones.Drilling of development wells is recommended in the eastern study area,where good trapping configuration is exhibited in addition to the presence of a potential seal(Upper Qishn Carbonates Member)and reservoir(Qishn Clastics Member)with high porosity and low water saturation.

A new approach for salt dome detection using a 3D multidirectional edge detector

Accurate salt dome detection from 3D seismic data is crucial to different seismic data analysis applications. We present a new edge based approach for salt dome detection in migrated 3D seismic data. The proposed algorithm overcomes the drawbacks of existing edge-based techniques which only consider edges in the x （crossline） and y （inline） directions in 2D data and the x （crossline）, y （inline）, and z （time） directions in 3D data. The algorithm works by combining 3D gradient maps computed along diagonal directions and those computed in x, y, and z directions to accurately detect the boundaries of salt regions. The combination of x, y, and z directions and diagonal edges ensures that the proposed algorithm works well even if the dips along the salt boundary are represented only by weak reflectors. Contrary to other edge and texture based salt dome detection techniques, the proposed algorithm is independent of the amplitude variations in seismic data. We tested the proposed algorithm on the publicly available Netherlands offshore F3 block. The results suggest that the proposed algorithm can detect salt bodies with high accuracy than existing gradient based and texture-based techniques when used separately. More importantly, the proposed approach is shown to be computationally efficient allowing for real time implementation and deployment.

Robust salt-dome detection using the ranking of texture-based attributes

The accurate interpretation and analysis of seismic data heavily depends on the robustness of the algorithms used. We focus on the robust detection of salt domes from seismic surveys. We discuss a novel feature-ranking classification model for saltdome detection for seismic images using an optimal set of texture attributes. The proposed algorithm overcomes the limitations of existing texture attribute-based techniques, which heavily depend on the relevance of the attributes to the geological nature of salt domes and the number of attributes used for accurate detection. The algorithm combines the attributes from the Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix （GLCM）, the Gabor filters, and the eigenstructure of the covariance matrix with feature ranking using the information content. The top-ranked attributes are combined to form the optimal feature set, which ensures that the algorithm works well even in the absence of strong reflectors along the salt-dome boundaries. Contrary to existing salt-dome detection techniques, the proposed algorithm is robust and eomputationally efficient, and works with small-sized feature sets. I used the Netherlands F3 block to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results suggest that the proposed workflow based on information theory can detect salt domes with accuracy superior to existing salt-dome detection techniques.

Structural Effect on Hydrocarbon Trapping, North Western Nile Delta, Egypt

The present study aims to interpret the available data, that derived from well logs and 2-D seismic reflection data, in the area located northeast onshore Nile Delta, in order to delineate its structural styles and its relation with the basement inferences and regional tectonic, and also to detect the possible existence of hydrocarbon accumulation at the Tertiary-Quaternary sedimentary section. The study area lies between latitudes 30°31' and 31°17'N, and longitudes 30°38' and 31°21'E. Using the available well logs, the average velocity gradients are calculated at El-Wastani, Kafr El Sheikh, Abu Madi, Qawasim and Sidi Salem Formations and velocity contour maps are constructed. The available 2-D seismic sections were interpreted and utilized to construct the isochronous reflection maps to the tops of the fore-mentioned five formations. These maps were converted into depth maps. The depth maps show the predominance of three tectonic trends. The structure contour maps were used to deduce the structural elements affecting the fore-mentioned formations in the area under study. These maps reflect the abundance of the E-W trending faults (sometimes ENE-WSW and in other times WNW-ESE), which characterize the general Mediterranean Sea trend. The second system of structural deformations is trending NE-SW (Syrian arc trend). The third type of faults is the NW-SE trending features (Red Sea faults trend). By integrating the structure contour maps together with the different kinds of maps have been done using different sources of data such as velocity data, the possible locations that can be oil traps for hydrocarbon accumulation have been detected.

Research on fault recognition method combining 3D Res-UNet and knowledge distillation

Deep learning technologies are increasingly used in the fi eld of geophysics,and a variety of algorithms based on shallow convolutional neural networks are more widely used in fault recognition,but these methods are usually not able to accurately identify complex faults.In this study,using the advantage of deep residual networks to capture strong learning features,we introduce residual blocks to replace all convolutional layers of the three-dimensional(3D)UNet to build a new 3D Res-UNet and select appropriate parameters through experiments to train a large amount of synthesized seismic data.After the training is completed,we introduce the mechanism of knowledge distillation.First,we treat the 3D Res-UNet as a teacher network and then train the 3D Res-UNet as a student network;in this process,the teacher network is in evaluation mode.Finally,we calculate the mixed loss function by combining the teacher model and student network to learn more fault information,improve the performance of the network,and optimize the fault recognition eff ect.The quantitative evaluation result of the synthetic model test proves that the 3D Res-UNet can considerably improve the accuracy of fault recognition from 0.956 to 0.993 after knowledge distillation,and the eff ectiveness and feasibility of our method can be verifi ed based on the application of actual seismic data.