Author: Mike Cline, T/X Resources
Has this ever happend to you? Just as you are getting ready to plot a horizon/grid as a finished, color-filled map for an upcoming meeting (a short fuse of course), then you notice anomalous data ”spikes” and/or “black holes”, that really detract from the appearance (and credibility) of the map? Don’t feel too badly though, they aren’t always that obvious on most of these types of “flat” map displays—often seeming to appear out of nowhere.
To correct the map, you have to go through the tedious process of trying to find the bad data, fixing it, and then trying to recreate the display just as you had it earlier (with all of the same title block and scale info that you had before, but forgot to keep)? Arrgghhh……. There has got to be a better way!
See the VuPak animation (17MB Media Player avi file).
Note: The avi file is fairly large, so it will take some time before the animation starts.
The image above, illustrates a method of seismic interpretation quality control, utilizing geo-visualization techniques that may help eliminate this problem before it exists. In this example, the red line (highlighted by the blue arrow), at the intersection of the vertical seismic line and the horizon surface, indicates the interpreted horizon on that particular seismic line (interpreting a seismic trough, or negative amplitudes, in this example).
The technique, which is better illustrated in the animation, is to scroll through each of the vertical seismic lines within SMT’s VuPak while watching for, then correcting, bad data points. The anomalous data seems to be easier to catch when you do this—maybe because it’s in a 3D perspective view, which allows you to you see more of the surface than just the data on a single seismic line. Or, maybe because you can see out-of-position data better with up or down time deflections when you’re viewing it in perspective, than just the subtle color changes on a colored map. It is is also easier not to mistake a horizon “leg jump” across a small, unassigned fault (that may not have a fault pick on that particular line), for an interpretation “bust” when you view it this way.
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