See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/322604656

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis By Ahmed Hafez

Chapter · January 2018

CITATIONS READS

0 113

1 author:

Ahmed Hafez
GDF SUEZ
4 PUBLICATIONS   4 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

AAPG IBA View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ahmed Hafez on 20 January 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis

By
Ahmed Hafez
Cairo, Egypt
2017
 i

Contents
Contents ............................................................................................................................... i
Table of Figures .................................................................................................................. v
Chapter 1: Basic Principles ........................................................................................... 20
1.1. Seismic wave propagation .................................................................................. 20
1.1.1 Media for seismic wave propagation .......................................................... 20
1.1.2 Stress-strain relationship ............................................................................. 23
1.1.3 Elastic moduli of the rocks ......................................................................... 25
Bulk modulus ........................................................................................................ 26
Shear modulus ....................................................................................................... 27
Young’s modulus .................................................................................................. 27
Poisson’s ratio ....................................................................................................... 28
1.1.4 Seismic wave types ..................................................................................... 29
1.1.4.1 Compressional seismic waves (P-wave).............................................. 29
1.1.4.2 Shear seismic waves (S-wave) ............................................................ 30
1.1.5 Seismic wave propagation models .............................................................. 31
1.1.5.1 Normal incidence (acoustic) model ..................................................... 31
1.1.5.2 Non-normal incidence (elastic) model ................................................ 32
1.2. Seismic wavelets and their elements .................................................................. 34
1.2.1 Seismic wavelet definition .......................................................................... 34
1.2.2 Elements of seismic wavelet ....................................................................... 35
1.2.2.1 Amplitude spectrum ............................................................................ 35
1.2.2.2 Phase spectrum .................................................................................... 36
1.3. Vertical “temporal” resolution of seismic data .................................................. 38
1.3.1 Definitions and calculation approach.......................................................... 38
1.3.2 Impact of the tuning thickness phenomena ................................................. 39
1.4. Methods to improve vertical resolution of seismic data .................................... 40
1.4.1 Inverse Q filter ............................................................................................ 41
1.4.2 Spectral whitening ...................................................................................... 42
1.4.3 Spectral blueing .......................................................................................... 44

i
 ii

Chapter 2: Overview of Seismic Attributes .................................................................. 47

2.1. Definitions and terminologies ............................................................................ 47
2.2. Classifications of seismic attributes ................................................................... 48
2.2.1 Classifications of seismic attributes according to their applications .......... 49
2.2.2 Classifications of seismic attributes according to basic measured seismic
information ................................................................................................................ 49
2.2.3 Classifications of seismic attributes according to used seismic data for
calculation .................................................................................................................. 52
Chapter 3: Post-stack Seismic Attributes ..................................................................... 54
3.1 Complex seismic trace attributes........................................................................ 54
3.1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 54
3.1.2 Mathematical and physical foundations...................................................... 54
3.1.3 Complex seismic trace attributes inventory ................................................ 58
3.1.3.1 Instantaneous amplitude (Reflection strength) (Amplitude envelope) 58
3.1.3.2 Instantaneous phase ............................................................................. 62
3.1.3.3 Instantaneous frequency ...................................................................... 65
3.1.3.4 Amplitude derivatives.......................................................................... 68
3.1.3.5 Phase acceleration................................................................................ 71
3.1.3.6 Envelope weighted phase (Response phase) ....................................... 73
3.1.3.7 Instantaneous bandwidth ..................................................................... 75
3.1.3.8 Average quality factor (Q factor) ........................................................ 77
3.1.3.9 Sweetness............................................................................................. 79
3.1.3.10 Thin-bed indicator ............................................................................... 81
3.2 Structural and stratigraphic attributes ................................................................ 83
3.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 83
3.2.2 Slope, dip and azimuth................................................................................ 83
3.2.3 Volume curvature........................................................................................ 91
3.2.4 Reflection parallelism ................................................................................. 99
3.3 Seismic discontinuity attributes ....................................................................... 104
3.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 104
3.3.2 Seismic discontinuity attributes based on energy ratio ............................. 104

ii
 iii

3.3.2.1 Discontinuity measure by correlation ................................................ 107

3.3.2.2 Discontinuity measure by semblance ................................................ 107
3.3.2.3 Discontinuity measure by covariance “eigenstructure”..................... 108
3.3.2.4 Discontinuity measure by weighted correlation ................................ 108
3.3.3 Seismic discontinuity attributes based on derivatives .............................. 111
3.3.3.1 Wavenumber discontinuity ................................................................ 111
3.3.3.2 Gradient squared tensor (chaos) discontinuity .................................. 112
3.3.4 Seismic discontinuity attributes pitfalls and problems ............................. 113
3.3.4.1 Reflection dip influence..................................................................... 113
3.3.4.2 Random noise influence .................................................................... 116
3.3.5 Applied workflow of fault delineation using discontinuity attributes ...... 116
3.3.6 Application from western desert, Egypt ................................................... 117
3.4 Seismic spectral decomposition ....................................................................... 119
3.4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 119
3.4.2 Spectral decomposition using short-window Fourier transform (SWFT) 120
3.4.3 Spectral decomposition using continues wavelet transform (CWT) ........ 121
3.4.4 Practical aspects of spectral decomposition .............................................. 122
3.4.5 Applications of spectral decomposition .................................................... 124
3.4.5.1 Application of spectral decomposition in qualitative layer thickness
delineation ........................................................................................................... 124
3.4.5.2 Application of spectral decomposition in quantitative layer thickness
delineation ........................................................................................................... 125
3.4.5.3 Application of spectral decomposition in depositional architectural
elements delineation............................................................................................ 128
3.5 Seismic waveform classification (segmentation) ............................................. 135
3.5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 135
3.5.2 Seismic waveform classification methods ................................................ 135
3.5.2.1 Supervised waveform classification .................................................. 135
3.5.2.2 Unsupervised waveform classification .............................................. 138
3.5.3 Seismic waveform classification: application to delineate depositional
elements in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt ........................................................................ 139
Chapter 4: Pre-stack Seismic (AVO) Attributes ......................................................... 144

iii
 iv

4.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 144

4.2. Why AVO? ....................................................................................................... 145
4.3. Seismic data processing and conditioning prior AVO analysis and interpretation
154
4.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 154
4.3.2 True amplitude (amplitude preserved) processing .................................... 154
4.3.3 Data conditioning for AVO analysis......................................................... 155
4.3.3.1 Conversion to angle gathers .............................................................. 155
4.3.3.2 Spectral equalization (balancing) ...................................................... 158
4.3.3.3 Residual moveout removal ................................................................ 160
4.3.3.4 Amplitude scaling with offset............................................................ 163
4.3.3.5 Supergathers ...................................................................................... 164
4.4. Equations used for AVO analysis and interpretation ....................................... 166
4.5. AVO analysis and attribute interpretation ........................................................ 170
4.5.1 Classification of AVO responses ............................................................... 170
4.5.1.1 Class 1 response (dim-spots) ............................................................. 173
4.5.1.2 Class 2 response (polarity change and/or bright spot) ....................... 174
4.5.1.3 Class 3 response (bright spots) .......................................................... 176
4.5.1.4 Class 4 response (weak bright spots) ................................................. 178
4.5.2 AVO interpretation of the lithology .......................................................... 179
4.5.3 AVO interpretation of porosity ................................................................. 185
4.5.4 AVO interpretation of pore fluid ............................................................... 189
4.5.5 AVO interpretation of compaction ............................................................ 193
4.6. AVO attributes catalogue ................................................................................. 194
4.6.1 Intercept (A) and gradient (B) attribute pair ............................................ 194
4.6.2 Poisson’s reflectivity stack attribute ......................................................... 197
4.6.3 P-reflectivity, S-reflectivity and fluid factor attributes ............................. 198
4.6.4 Elastic impedance and extended elastic impedance ................................. 200
5 References ............................................................................................................... 204

iv
 v

Table of Figures

Figure 1. Hypothetical layer diagram shows the concept of the interface and energy
partition at those interfaces. .............................................................................................. 21
Figure 2. Classification of media for wave propagation from the seismic reflection
perspective shows the differences between the ideal “theoretical” reflectors and the real
seismic reflectors. The ideal reflector is the reflector that characterizes the contrast
between two homogenous, isotropic and elastic media while the real reflector is the one
characterizes the contrast between heterogeneous, an-isotropic and in-elastic media. .... 22
Figure 3. Summary of the stress that could be applied to block of rocks shows the
resulted strains. If a compressive stress applied to a cube of rock from all directions with
equal magnitude, the resulting strain (deformation) will be represented by change in the
volume. When tensile stress applied to a cube of rock, the resulting strain will be
represented by change in the length. When a shear stress applied to a cube of rock, the
resulting strain will be represented by change in shape and angle (rotation of the cube).
........................................................................................................................................... 23
Figure 4. Stress – strain diagram shows the deformation of a cylindrical sample of a rock
at different level of applied tensile stress. ......................................................................... 24
Figure 5. Summary of the key elastic moduli of the rocks shows their definitions and
calculations. ...................................................................................................................... 25
Figure 6. Typical bulk modulus values of the key rock-forming minerals in GPa. .......... 26
Figure 7. Typical shear modulus values of the key rock-forming minerals in GPa. ....... 27
Figure 8. Typical Young’s modulus values of the key rock-forming minerals. ............... 28
Figure 9. Schematic diagram shows the definition of the Poisson’s ratio as the ratio of the
fractional change in the width to change in length (Chopra and Castagna, 2014). .......... 29
Figure 10. Schematic illustration shows the seismic wave types and their propagations
through the medium. ......................................................................................................... 30
Figure 11. Comparison between the normal and non-normal incidence models of the
seismic waves shows the main differences between them................................................ 33
Figure 12. Ray paths for a plane wave that is incident on an interface shows its split into
four separate modes shows the particle motion for each mode. ....................................... 34
Figure 13. Example of typical zero-phase seismic wavelet shows its shape. ................... 34
Figure 14. Amplitude spectrum of seismic wavelet in non-normalized (a) and normalized
(b) modes shows the variation of the amplitude with the frequency. ............................... 35
Figure 15. Phase spectrum example of seismic wavelet shows the variation of the phase
with frequency (after Simm and White, 2002). ................................................................ 36
Figure 16. Basic concept of the seismic wavelet phase shows its relative position along a
waveform X(t) (Barnes 2016). .......................................................................................... 36
Figure 17. Seismic polarity conventions (Simm and Bacon, 2014). ................................ 37

v
 vi

Figure 18. a) Phase spectrum of constant phase wavelet shows that the wavelet phase of
each frequency component is the same. b) Phase spectrum of linear phase wavelet shows
that the wavelet phase is related linearly to frequency (Simm and Bacon, 2014). ........... 37
Figure 19. One dimensional seismic trace model and associated tuning curve of gas-
bearing sand reservoir encased by shale shows the seismic signature and amplitude
changes as a function of reservoir thickness. .................................................................... 40
Figure 20. Amplitude spectrum shows the bandwidth enhancement by the three main
approaches; inverse Q filter, spectral whitening, and spectral blueing. The spectral
blueing may gives better results. ....................................................................................... 41
Figure 21. Key approach for inverse Q filter of seismic data shows removing of the
amplitude attenuation effect due to absorption and dispersion of the seismic waves and
therefore improving the bandwidth. .................................................................................. 42
Figure 22. Full-stack seismic sections before and after applying inverse Q filter show the
improvement of the seismic vertical resolution that resulted in better delineation of the
reservoir (yellow arrows) (Wang, 2006). .......................................................................... 42
Figure 23. Full-stack seismic sections; a) before and b) after applying spectral whitening.
Significant improvement of the vertical resolution is resulted from spectral whitening.
The amplitude spectrums extracted from the two sections are also posted. The seismic
amplitude has been changed significantly as well as the noise level increased after
applying spectral whitening. ............................................................................................. 43
Figure 24. An example of spectral whitening; a) before, b) after applying spectral
whitening and c) after applying spectral whitening and filtering. .................................... 44
Figure 25. Series of panels shows how the spectral blueing can be designed utilizing the
well-logs (Hafez et al., 2014). ........................................................................................... 45
Figure 26. An example of spectral blueing; before (upper) and after (lower) applying the
operator to the full-stack seismic data shows significant improvement of the seismic
vertical resolution (Hafez et al., 2014).............................................................................. 46
Figure 27. Seismic time slices through a) full-stack reflectivity, b) instantaneous phase, c)
similarity and d) semblance. Note that good seismic attribute is that can be used directly
to extract geologic features. .............................................................................................. 47
Figure 28. Seismic signal sampling concept. The continuous signal is represented with a
green colored line while the discrete samples are indicated by the blue vertical lines. .... 48
Figure 29. Classification of seismic attributes according to their applications; geological,
geophysical and mathematical attribute classes (Barnes 2016). ....................................... 50
Figure 30. Classification of seismic attributes according to basic measured seismic
information; time, amplitude, frequency and attenuation attribute classes (Brown 2011).
........................................................................................................................................... 51
Figure 31. Classification of seismic attributes according to the seismic data used as basis
of calculation. This classification will be used in this course. .......................................... 53

vi
 vii

Figure 32. Graphical representation of the complex number concept. This concept used as
a basis for complex trace analysis to derive several attributes. ........................................ 55
Figure 33. Graphical representation of the basic idea of the complex trace analysis shows
that, at an instant time, the real seismic trace and quadrature trace represent a point on
Cartesian coordinates while the amplitude and phase attributes represent the point in
polar coordinates. .............................................................................................................. 56

trace, and an imaginary part ( ), which is a mathematical function calculated from the
Figure 34. A complex seismic trace consisting of a real part , which is the real seismic

real part by a Hilbert transform. When the real and imaginary parts are added in a vector
sense, the result is a helical spiral centered on the seismic time axis (t). This helical trace
is the complex seismic trace (modified after Taner et al., 1979). ..................................... 56
Figure 35. a) Real seismic trace shows high amplitude reflection at 1820 ms. b) Hilbert
transform of the real trace and c) Complex seismic trace which is the combination of the
real trace and the transformed trace. ................................................................................. 57
Figure 36. 1D complex trace analysis shows the input and resulted attributes. .............. 60
Figure 37. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section over gas accumulation in the offshore
The Netherlands shows bright spots between two-way time of 500 ms to 750 ms. b)
Instantaneous amplitude of section a) shows the application of the instantaneous
amplitude attribute to define the top reservoir (green arrow), potential gas-water contact
(white arrow) and sequence boundary between the Early and Late Pliocene sequences. 61
Figure 38. a) Full-stack reflectivity section over Central Alaska province shows possible
layer stacking configuration that is masked due to amplitude variations. b) Instantaneous
phase section shows that the layer stacking configuration became easier to be followed. c)
Interpretation of the prograding wedge stacking configuration posted over the
instantaneous phase section. ............................................................................................. 63
Figure 39. a) Uninterpreted instantaneous phase time slice at the reservoir level shown in
seismic section (d), b) Interpreted instantaneous phase, c) Uninterpreted vertical seismic
section of line B-B’ and d) Interpreted vertical seismic section shows interpreted faults
and reservoir of interest. ................................................................................................... 64
Figure 40. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section over gas-bearing reservoir which
indicated by bright spots (green arrow). b) Instantaneous frequency section of section a)
shows there is obvious frequency shadow (low frequency zone) below the gas
accumulation (white arrow) which is considered as one of the direct hydrocarbon
indicators. .......................................................................................................................... 66
Figure 41. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section shows significant thinning of the Late
Cretaceous sequences in Central Alaska. b) Instantaneous frequency of section a) shows
that the high frequency events are corresponding to thinning-out of the layers due to
destructive interference reflection phenomena. ................................................................ 67
Figure 42. a) Full-stack seismic trace shows amplitude anomaly (bright spots)
corresponding to layered gas-bearing reservoir between two way time 600 ms to 630 ms.

vii
 viii

b) Amplitude first derivative of trace shown in figure 42a shows that the reservoir’s
acoustic interfaces became sharper. c) Amplitude second derivative of the same trace is
increased the sharpness of the reservoir’s acoustic interfaces. ......................................... 69
Figure 43. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section over layered gas reservoir in offshore
The Netherlands shows its associated bright spots. b) and c) Amplitude first and second
derivatives of the same section respectively show that the acoustic contrasts became
sharper which resulted in demarcate the hidden interfaces (green arrows). ..................... 70
Figure 44. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section over layered gas-bearing
unconsolidated sand reservoir offshore The Netherlands shows that this reservoir
represents by bright spot. b) Acceleration phase attribute computed for the same section
shows that the gas-bearing sand reservoir represents by negative phase acceleration value
(green arrow). .................................................................................................................... 72
Figure 45. Response phase (red) compared with instantaneous phase (gray) (Barnes,
2016) ................................................................................................................................. 73
Figure 46. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section from the Northern Alaska (Beaufort
Sea) shows strong reflector corresponding with non-conformity surface between the
sedimentary and basement rocks. b) Envelope weighted phase (response phase) attribute
of the same section shows possible fan superimposed the non-conformity surface which
is characterized by bi-downlap reflection geometry (green arrows). ............................... 74
Figure 47. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section from offshore The Netherlands shows
many geological features such as prograding wedges stacking pattern, salt dome and gas-
related bright spots. b) Instantaneous bandwidth of the same section shows that the small
bandwidth may indicate uniform stratigraphy (black arrow) whereas the large bandwidth
may indicate vertical stratigraphic heterogeneity (white arrow). The scattered large
bandwidth may indicate random noise of the original seismic datasets. .......................... 76
Figure 48. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section over gas-bearing layered reservoir
shows the gas-related bright spots and velocity push-down effect. b) Uninterpreted
average quality factor section and c) interpreted average quality factor section show that
the possible gas-water contact (GWC) can be delineated despite the velocity push-down
effect due to significant variations in the average frequency above and below the gas
accumulation. .................................................................................................................... 78
Figure 49. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section from the Gulf of Mexico shows
obvious incised channels that are characterized by erosion surface at their bases and
repeating cutting and filling story. b) Sweetness time slice intersected the incised channel
shown in the section. There are an obvious channel geomorphology can be delineated on
the sweetness slice. Variations of the sweetness within each channel may reflect
variations of the net-to-gross ratio (Hart, 2008). .............................................................. 80
Figure 50. a) Synthetic seismic trace wedge model of well located in the offshore
Mediterranean Sea shows how the seismic amplitude change as function of layer
thickness. b) Amplitude envelope of the same model. c) Instantaneous frequency

viii
 ix

computed from the same wedge model. d) Instantaneous phase attribute computed from
the same wedge model. Red line indicates the tuning thickness where there is completely
constructive interference and the blue line indicates the completely destructive
interference. ...................................................................................................................... 82
Figure 51. 2D diagram shows the concept of the slope and dip (Barnes, 2016). ............. 83
Figure 52. Full-stack seismic section shows the concept of slope and dip calculations
(Barnes, 2016). .................................................................................................................. 83
Figure 53. Conceptual diagram shows the concept of azimuth computation (Barnes,
2016). ................................................................................................................................ 84
Figure 54. Conceptual diagram shows computation approach of slope in the three
dimensions (Barnes, 2016)................................................................................................ 84
Figure 55. a) Schematic showing a 2D search-based estimate of coherence. First, the
algorithm estimates coherence using semblance, variance, principal component, or some
other statistical measure along a discrete number of candidate dips shown as colored
lines. In this example, the maximum coherence is calculated along the dip indicated by
the green line. Next, the algorithm passes an interpolation curve through the coherence
measures estimated by the peak value (along the green line) and through coherence
measures along two or more neighboring dips (the cyan lines). The peak value of this
curve estimates coherence, while the dip value of this peak estimates instantaneous dip.
b) A 3D search based estimate of coherence; p indicates the in-line and q the cross-line
components of vector time dip. The technique is analogous to that shown in (a) (after
Marfurt et al., 1998). ......................................................................................................... 85
Figure 56. a) Full-stack vertical seismic section over salt dome in the Gulf of Mexico
shows the seismic characteristics of the salt dome. b) Dip angle vertical section computed
by complex trace analysis method. c) Smoothed dip angle vertical section computed by
complex trace attribute. d) Depth slice through the salt dome shows its “cut-onion”
appearance. e) Depth slice through the salt dome of dip angle volume computed by
complex trace analysis. f) Depth slice through the salt dome of smoothed dip angle
volume computed by complex trace analysis (Barnes et al., 2000a)................................ 86
Figure 57. a) Full-stack vertical seismic section from offshore Australia shows inclined
prograding wedge encased by relatively flatter layers. The reflector dip computed through
b) dip scanning, c) complex trace analysis, d) plane-wave destructor and e) gradient
squared tensor. The results are closely comparable despite the significant differences of
the computing methods (Barnes, 2016). ........................................................................... 87
Figure 58. Seismic shaded relief illumination concept. a) A geological cross-section with
flat layers overlaying anticlinal layers. b) The cross-section as it would appear if imaged
by seismic data and converted to seismic shaded relief. The illumination is a function of
the light incidence angle upon reflection surface (Barnes, 2016). .................................... 88

ix
 x

Figure 59. Illumination display of horizon from Goodwyn field in Australia. a) The
direction of illumination is from the northwest and b) the direction of illumination from
the northeast (red arrow) (Brown, 2011). ......................................................................... 89
Figure 60. a) Seismic time horizontal slice over Taranaki Basin in offshore New Zealand
shows salt dome and its associated faults. b) Seismic shaded relief with illumination
directed to the east (yellow arrow) shows the faults associated with the salt dome. c)
Seismic shaded relief with illumination directed to the south (yellow arrow) shows the
likely shape and extension of the salt dome (Barnes, 2016). ............................................ 90
Figure 61. a) Seismic full-stack time horizontal slice through salt domes and their
associated faults in offshore the Netherlands. b) Shaded relief apparent dip slice shows
obviously the geometry and extension of the salt domes (yellow arrows) and their
associated faults (white arrows) since they are perpendicular to direction of computation.
........................................................................................................................................... 91
Figure 62. 3D diagram shows the basic concept of curvature computation (Roberts,
2001). ................................................................................................................................ 92
Figure 63. Sign convention for reflection curvature (k). Anticlines have positive
curvature, synclines have negative curvature and regions of constant dip have zero
curvature. Incised channels tend to have positive curvature on their sides and negative
curvature in their centers. Faults have positive curvature on the Upthrown side and
negative curvature on downthrown side (Barnes, 2016). ................................................. 93
Figure 64. The definition of 3D shapes expressed as a function of most positive curvature
and most negative curvature attributes. For dome shaped structure, most positive
curvature and most negative curvature are greater than zero whereas for the bowl shaped
structure, both most positive curvature and most negative curvature are less than zero
(Bergbauer et al., 2003). ................................................................................................... 94
Figure 65. a) Full-stack seismic vertical section from offshore The Netherlands shows
small planer normal faults between tow way time of 3100 ms to 3000 ms. b) Most
positive curvature attribute overlays the full-stack section shows that the upthrown sides
of the faults are represented by positive curvature whereas the downthrown sides of the
faults are represented by negative curvature sign. ............................................................ 95
Figure 66. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity vertical section shows incised channel
indicated by light blue oval. b) Strong values of most positive curvature (orange) overlain
on the seismic data shows that the channel edges are characterized by strong value of
most positive curvature. c) Strong values of most negative curvature (blue) overlain on
the seismic data shows that the channel center is characterized by strong value of most
negative curvature. d) Seismic reflectivity horizontal time slice through the incised
channel shown in section a). e) Shaded relief dip display shows that the extension of the
incised channel is well defined. f) Strong values of the most positive curvature (orange)
overlain on the shaded relief time slice shows that the channel edges obviously

x
 xi

delineated. g) Strong values of the most negative curvature (blue) overlain on shaded
relief tome slice which highlights the channel center (Barnes, 2016). ............................. 97
Figure 67. a) 2D diagram shows the likely stresses that are affecting the layers within
anti-form structure. On the crest of the anti-form, there are lengthening of the layers
appears by tensile stress which results in creation of open fractures seen in b). On the
other hand, at the lower bottom part of the anti-form, shortening of the layers take place
which appears by compressive stress and causes local reverse faults seen in figure b). .. 98
Figure 68. Most positive curvature attribute created along interpreted horizon from the
Cambay basin in India. Well tie indicates that, the open fractures are characterized by
strong values of the most positive curvature that indicated by black arrows (Santosh et al.,
2013). ................................................................................................................................ 99
Figure 69. Diagram shows the concept of vector field of the seismic data that is use to
compute the reflection parallelism attribute. The vector field comprises vectors that are
everywhere perpendicular to seismic reflections. The directions of these vectors yield
reflection orientation (i.e. reflection dip and azimuth) (After Barnes, 2016). ................ 100
Figure 70. Diagram shows sequence of reflections with various orientations in vertical
window. The vectors that are describing the reflection orientations indicated by the small
arrows that re perpendicular to the reflections at each point. The large arrow represents
the average reflection orientation of all the reflectors within this window. Reflection
parallelism quantifies how much reflection orientations vary from the average (Barnes,
2016). .............................................................................................................................. 101
Figure 71. a) Full-stack vertical seismic section from offshore Australia shows inclined
prograding wedge (white arrow) encased by relatively flatter layers. b) Seismic reflection
parallelism attribute of the same section shows that the prograding wedge is characterized
by high value of parallelism (Barnes, 2016). .................................................................. 103
Figure 72. Seismic data can be considered as the sum of a continuous component (i.e.
regional reflectors) and a discontinuous component (i.e. faults, local boundaries and
noise) (Barnes, 2016). ..................................................................................................... 105
Figure 73. a) Five seismic traces with certain sample rate within analysis window
indicated by dashed rectangle. b) The seismic data from the analysis window displayed as
vectors in 2D space, where S1 is the first sample and S2 is the second sample. ............. 106
Figure 74. Map view of three-trace L-shaped shows the concept of estimating
discontinuity by correlation method. Each black circle represents a position of seismic
trace. X1 and X2 are seismic adjacent two traces in inline direction whereas X1 and X3 are
adjacent two traces in crossline direction. ...................................................................... 107
Figure 75. Map view of adjacent seismic traces (black circles) in inline and crossline
directions. The semblance discontinuity a measure of the variance of a set of traces
around the average trace (red circle). .............................................................................. 108
Figure 76. A crossplot between two adjacent seismic traces X1 and X2 with 11 samples
shows how the continuity between both of them can be estimated using PCA analysis.109

xi
 xii

Figure 77. A comparison of discontinuity attributes along a time slice from offshore
Austria showing there is little difference between them. a) Correlation. b) Semblance. c)
Covariance. d) Weighted correlation. Strong discontinuities are red to black (Barnes,
2016). .............................................................................................................................. 110
Figure 78. a) Weighted-correlation discontinuity computed in a window of 3 inlines by 3
crosslines. b) Wavenumber discontinuity smoothed in time by median filter. The two
discontinuity attributes are roughly similar (Barnes, 2016)............................................ 111
Figure 79. a) Weighted correlation discontinuity computed in 3 inlines by 3 crosslines
window. b) Gradient squared tensor discontinuity computed in a comparable window.
The two results are similar; however, the gradient squared tensor provides high detailed
results (Barnes, 2016). .................................................................................................... 112
Figure 80. Reflection dips influence the computation of discontinuity attribute. Red
window is suitable for the computation because it follows reflection dips, whereas the
yellow window is valid only if the reflections are flat.................................................... 114
Figure 81. Illustration on vertical seismic sections shows the effect of dip corrections on
discontinuity attribute computation. a) Full-stack seismic data. b) Discontinuity attribute
prior dip correction. c) Discontinuity attribute after dip correction (Barnes, 2016). ...... 114
Figure 82. Diagram shows the basic concept of dip steering discontinuity attribute
computation. a) Conventional computation method of discontinuity attributes that are
neglecting the reflection dips. b) Basic concept of dip steering method to consider the
reflection dips during discontinuity attribute computation. c) 3D block diagram shows the
potential directions of the dip steering during the computation of discontinuity attributes.
......................................................................................................................................... 115
Figure 83. a) Seismic similarity time horizontal slice through series of normal faults prior
applying dip steering. b) Same seismic similarity slice after applying dip steering before
computing the similarity. The dip steering reduces the effect of reflection dipping on the
similarity computation which makes the faults are obviously delineated (blue rectangle).
......................................................................................................................................... 115
Figure 84. Applied workflow steps of fault delineation using discontinuity attributes. . 117
Figure 85. a) Interpreted full-stack seismic vertical section over oil fields from the
northern western desert, Egypt shows variations in fault drags. b) Similarity attribute
computed using the original full-stack seismic data. The fault interpretation is highly
affected by the adjacent drags. c) Dip-steered section shows variations in the reflection
dips that will be used for similarity computation. d) Median filter results of the dip-
steered section shows less random noise. f) Similarity attribute vertical section computed
using the dip-steered median filtered seismic data shows better delineation of the faults,
less influence of the fault drag dips (red arrows) in comparison with the similarity
computed using the original data (e) (Hafez et al., 2014). ............................................. 118
Figure 86. Illustration of the essence of spectral decomposition processes. .................. 119

xii
 xiii

Figure 87. a) Concept of thin-bed reflection and the resulted spectrum. b) Long-window
Fourier transform that produces flat “white” spectrum. c) Short-window Fourier
transform that produces detailed spectrum which is suitable to delineate tiny geologic
features (Partyka et al., 1999). ........................................................................................ 120
Figure 88. The Morlet wavelet is the product of a sinusoid with the Gaussian window 121
Figure 89. Morlet wavelets and their power spectrum at different peak frequencies
(Barnes, 2016). ................................................................................................................ 121
Figure 90. a) Time-frequency spectrum using short-window Fourier transform shows the
representative frequency range as a function of time. b) Time-frequency spectrum using
continuous wavelet transform shows the frequency variations with seismic two way time.
......................................................................................................................................... 122
Figure 91. a) Full-stack broad-band seismic vertical section over gas-bearing reservoir
represented by bright spots from offshore The Netherlands. b) Frequency section at 10 Hz
decomposed from the broad-band seismic data using short-window Fourier transform. c)
Frequency section at 10 Hz decomposed from the broad-band seismic data using
continuous wavelet transform. Compareion indicates that, short-window Fourier
transform offers better resolution and thus robust interpretation of tiny geological
features. ........................................................................................................................... 123
Figure 92. Amplitude map of the Pleistocene distributry channel system on the
continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico shows the geometries of channels-A and –B
(Partyka et al., 1999). ...................................................................................................... 125
Figure 93. Short-window Fourier transform spectral decomposition at a) 16 Hz and b) 26
Hz of the same channel system showed in figure 92. It is obvious that, the narrow, thinner
channel (channel-A) is well imaged at higher frequency component whereas the wider,
thickener channel (channel-B) is well imaged at lower frequency component (Partkya et
al., 1999). ........................................................................................................................ 126
Figure 94. Frequency spectrum of 2D wedge model shows spectrum of three different
frequency components (10, 20, and 30 Hz) that are decomposed from broad-band seismic
data. Each frequency component appears as sinusoid has notching “spikes” called
“frequency peaks” (fp). These frequency peaks occur as a result of tuning-thickness
interference (i.e. reflection from thin-bed). It is found that the temporal layer thickness is
equal 1/(2fp). .................................................................................................................... 127
Figure 95. A blended image using RGB color model of distributaray channel system of
the continental shelf, Gulf of Mexico. Red corresponds to 16 Hz, green to 26 Hz and blue
to 36 Hz. The thickest part of the channel system is located in the central part of the
widest channel (white arrows) as they are characterized by higher frequency component.
The thinner part of the channel system is located in the narrowest channel element (red
arrows) (modified after Marfurt and Kirlin, 2011). ........................................................ 128
Figure 96. a) Uninterpreted and b) interpreted full-stack seismic vertical section over
deepwater incised canyon in the Mediterranean Sea slope within the Pliocene sequences

xiii
 xiv

show that the canyon consists of many 4th and 5th order incised channel that are
characterized by repeated cutting and filling. ................................................................. 129
Figure 97. Stratal slicing of the base of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows the
erosional surface and the older 4th order channel. .......................................................... 130
Figure 98. Stratal slicing of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows meander
channel geometry with possible slumping deposition. ................................................... 130
Figure 99. Stratal slicing of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows meander
channel geometry with its avulsions. .............................................................................. 131
Figure 100. Stratal slicing of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows meander
channel geometry with its abandoned ox-bow lakes. ..................................................... 131
Figure 101. Stratal slicing of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows meander
channel geometry with its frontal splays. ....................................................................... 132
Figure 102. Stratal slicing of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows meander
channel geometry with its frontal and crevasses splays.................................................. 132
Figure 103. Stratal slicing of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows meander
channel geometry with its frontal and crevasses splays.................................................. 133
Figure 104. Stratal slicing of the top of the incised canyon shown in figure 96 shows
significant changes in the flow direction and so the depositional trends. ....................... 133
Figure 105. 2D depositional model extracted from the stratal slicing of the color blended
of frequency components for the incised canyon shown in figure 96. Such kind of models
are used to allocate the drilling locations to target the hot areas contains stacking
channelized reservoirs. .................................................................................................... 134
Figure 106. Supervised classification approach in which pre-defined template “training
data” waveform compares with the observed waveforms form the seismic data and assign
each observed waveform to the class that is most likely match with the template. ........ 136
Figure 107. a) Time slice at 1.88 s through the seismic amplitude volume from the
offshore New Zealand. White arrows indicate potential channel/canyon features. The
yellow arrow indicates a high-amplitude feature. Red arrows indicate a relatively low-
energy, gently dipping area. b) Shaded relief illumination of the same time slice shows
the potential geometry of the incised canyons and channels. c) Color blended mode of
similarity and peak frequency attributes shows the locations of training data to be used
during the probabilistic neural network (PNN) classification. d) Result from the PNN
classification shows the spatial distribution of the pre-defined four classes; blue for
channel, yellow for point bars and crevasses splays, red for channel flanks and green for
shale (Zaho et al., 2015). ................................................................................................ 137
Figure 108. a) Time slice at 1.88 s (same as figure 107a) through a K-means
classification volume with K = 16 classes and b) through an Kohonen SOFM
classification using 256 clusters. White arrows indicate channel-like features. Yellow
arrows indicate high-amplitude overbank deposits. Red arrows indicate possible slope
fans. The edges of the channels are delineated similarity attribute. The two results are

xiv
 xv

comparable; however, it is essential to be aware of the geological settings of the area of

interest prior using these methods (Zaho et al., 2015). ................................................... 139
Figure 109. Full-stack seismic vertical section over well-X shows the seismic signature of
the thick conglomeratic facies encountered by the well in the onshore Gulf of Suez
(Hafez et al., 2016). ........................................................................................................ 140
Figure 110. a) 3D block diagram shows the overall geometry of the alluvial fan and its
associated braided streams. b) Map view of the alluvial fan and generalized cross section
through it show the likely internal depositional facies belts of the fan. Generally, alluvial
fan consists of three distinct facies belts; proximal, mid and distal fan facies. .............. 141
Figure 111. a) 3D block diagram shows the depositional model of the alluvial fans in the
rift settings of the Gulf of Suez. The fans are entering to the basin from the relay ramp
between two faults. b) Landsat TM image over Gabel Esh El-Mallaha shows alluvial fans
entered into basinal area through relay ramp of two faults. ............................................ 142
Figure 112. Vector quantizer neural network classification products of seismic
waveforms of Miocene sequence in the onshore Gulf of Suez shows obvious alluvial fan
geometry and its internal facies belts (Hafez et al., 2016).............................................. 143
Figure 113. Diagram illustrates the basic concept and applied workflow of AVO analysis
and interpretation. S refers to seismic wave source and R for receivers. ....................... 144
Figure 114. Raypath for a spherical wave strikes an interface. Compressional (blue
arrow) and shear (green arrow) stress occurs that causes splitting of the incised energy
into different components. .............................................................................................. 146
Figure 115. Raypaths for a plane P-wave that is incident on an interface and splits into
four separate modes; reflected P- and S-waves and transmitted P- and S-waves. .......... 146
Figure 116. a) and b) are partitioning of incident P-wave energy for different values of
VP2 and VP1 as a function of incident angle (Chopra and Castagna, 2014). For more
details, please read the text. ............................................................................................ 149
Figure 117. a) and b) are partitioning of incident P-wave energy for different values of ρ2
and ρ1 as a function of incident angle (Chopra and Castagna, 2014). For more details,
please read the text. ......................................................................................................... 150
Figure 118. Amplitude response as a function of offset when acoustic impedance and
Poisson’s ratio increasing from upper medium to lower medium shows increasing of the
amplitude with offset (Castagna, 2014). ......................................................................... 151
Figure 119. Amplitude response as a function of offset when acoustic impedance is
increasing and Poisson’s ratio is decreasing from upper medium to lower medium shows
decreasing of the amplitude with offset (Castagna, 2014). ............................................. 152
Figure 120. Amplitude response as a function of offset when acoustic impedance and
Poisson’s ratio are decreasing from upper medium to lower medium shows increasing of
the amplitude with offset (Castagna, 2014). ................................................................... 153

xv
 xvi

Figure 121. Amplitude response as a function of offset when acoustic impedance is

decreasing and Poisson’s ratio is increasing from upper medium to lower medium shows
decreasing of the amplitude with offset (Castagna, 2014). ............................................. 153
Figure 122. Illustration of the key concept of analyzing seismic amplitude as a function
of offset is to correlate the rock properties to the seismic signature. .............................. 154
Figure 123. A general processing sequence for AVO analysis (Chopra and Castagna,
2014). .............................................................................................................................. 156
Figure 124. a) An offset gather. b) An angle gather. c) An offset gather configuration. d)
An angle gather configuration. ....................................................................................... 157
Figure 125. Schematic normal moveout curves for two reflections in a CDP gather
showing convergence of the curves as offset increase. Moveout correction moves the
reflections onto the horizontal lines, which implies that the trace will be stretched by an
amount that increases with offset (Simm and Bacon, 2014). ......................................... 159
Figure 126. Synthetic angle gather before (left) and after (right) correction for moveout
stretch. Gradients calculated from these data would be different after stretch correction
(Simm and Bacon, 2014) ................................................................................................ 159
Figure 127. The effect of residual moveout on the AVO intercept and gradient. The
gradient is more sensitive to the effect than the intercept (Bacon et al., 2003). ............. 161
Figure 128. Angle stacks showing residual moveout effect. The red picked horizon shows
an apparent phase reversal from near to far in the updip part of the structure. .............. 161
Figure 129. Three adjacent gathers after a) initial migration, b) after additional higher
order residual moveout and c) after trim static flattening. Gather flatness has been
significantly improved (Gulunay et al., 2007). ............................................................... 162
Figure 130. Intercept and gradient sections calculated from gathers before (top) and after
(bottom) trim static flattening. ........................................................................................ 162
Figure 131. AVO calibration at a well; a) AVO crossplot generate from well data (red dot
represents top reservoir). b) Seismic AVO crossplot determined from the same time
segment as the well crossplot. c) Seismic AVO crossplot calibrated by scaling the
reflectivities at top reservoir and re-calculate intercept and gradient. Not how the seismic
background trend does not change significantly with calibration as it is contaminated by
noise. ............................................................................................................................... 164
Figure 132. An example of gathers and supergathers. a) Processed gathers and b)
supergathers generated by stacking offsets across an odd number of CDPs. Noise level is
significantly reduced by the supergathers but the lateral resolution is reduced (Simm and
Bacon, 2014). .................................................................................................................. 165
Figure 133. Reflectivity (or amplitude) versus offset (or incident angle or squared sign of
angle) crossplot is used to define the AVO responses that can be interpreted in terms of
geology. This crossplot is essential for any AVO analysis. ............................................ 170

xvi
 xvii

Figure 134. AVO intercept versus AVO gradient crossplot shows the background trend
and four possible quadrants (I-IV). For limited time window, water-bearing clastics and
shales tend to fall along a well-defined background trend. ............................................ 171
Figure 135. P-wave and S-wave velocities crossplot of water-bearing clastics and shales
shows the mudrock line introduced by Castagna et al., (1993) which is reflected the
background trend in AVO intercept – AVO gradient crossplot shown in Figure 134. .. 172
Figure 136. AVO intercept versus AVO gradient crossplot shows the rotation of the
background trend as a function of VP/VS (Castagna et al., 1998). .................................. 173
Figure 137. AVO modeling of the AVO class 1 sandstone shows the AVO analysis
aspects and angle gather responses. ................................................................................ 174
Figure 138. Full-stack seismic section over gas-bearing reservoir represented as dip spot
in the North Sea. Upper un-interpreted and lower interpreted section (Brown, 2012). .. 175
Figure 139. AVO modeling of the AVO class 2 sandstone shows the AVO analysis
aspects and angle gather responses. ................................................................................ 176
Figure 140. AVO modeling of the AVO class 3 sand shows the AVO analysis aspects and
angle gather responses. ................................................................................................... 177
Figure 141. Example of gas-related bright spots on the full-stack data.......................... 177
Figure 142. AVO modeling of the AVO class 4 sand shows the AVO analysis aspects and
angle gather responses. ................................................................................................... 178
Figure 143. AVO modeling of the special type of AVO class 4 sand shows the AVO
analysis aspects and angle gather responses. .................................................................. 179
Figure 144. Seismic amplitude versus angle crossplot shows the curves of the AVO
response classes (Simm and Bacon, 2014) ..................................................................... 180
Figure 145. AVO intercept – AVO gradient crossplot shows the potential AVO response
classes. ............................................................................................................................ 181
Figure 146. Well-based P-impedance – Poisson’s ratio crossplot shows various
lithologies. The lithological contrasts may create false AVO anomalies as they are vary in
terms of P-impedance and Poisson’s ratio. ..................................................................... 182
Figure 147. a) AVO modeling and analysis crossplots b) and c) show the lithology-
related false AVO class 3 anomalous response due to the contrast between water-bearing
sandstone encased by tight limestone (Hafez and Castagna, 2016)................................ 183
Figure 148. Example of lithology-related false AVO anomalous response in the
Norwegian Sea. a) 3D structure map shows the location of Zumba prospect relative to
existing gas field. b) AVO analysis on CDP gathers of gas field (upper) in comparison
with Zumba prospect (lower). c) Fluid indicator sections over gas discovery (left) and
Zumba prospect (right) show obvious similarity. d) Gas probability section from
inversion between the gas field and Zumba prospect shows high potential gas prospects.
However, the drilling results indicate presence of high TOC soft shale not gas reservoir.
......................................................................................................................................... 184

xvii
 xviii

Figure 149. P-wave velocity – porosity crossplot of different type of sand reservoir shows
effect of changing in porosity on the P-wave velocity. For more explanation, please read
the text (Simm and Bacon, 2014) ................................................................................... 186
Figure 150. Well-based crossplot between the P-impedance and Poisson’s ratio of sand-
shale sequence shows the effect of changing in the sand porosity on the physical
properties of impedance and Poisson’s ratio that are controlling the AVO response. For
more explanation, please read the text. ........................................................................... 187
Figure 151. Seismic amplitude versus incident angle crossplot of different sand reservoir
porosity ranges shows the great effect of the changing in porosity to the AVO response
and so the classification. ................................................................................................. 188
Figure 152. AVO intercept versus AVO gradient of the top sand reservoir as a function of
porosity. For more explanation, please read the text. ..................................................... 188
Figure 153. AVO intercept versus AVO gradient of water-bearing sand reservoir encased
by shale and the corresponding replaced gas in the pore space with the same
petrophysical properties of the reservoirs. It is obvious that, the introduction of the gas
into the pore spaces cause deviation form the background trend (Castagna et al., 1998).
......................................................................................................................................... 189
Figure 154. The effect of pore fluid and gas saturation on the elastic properties of a high
porosity unconsolidated sand reservoir as well as the AVO response. For more
explanation please read the text (Simm and Bacon, 2014). ............................................ 190
Figure 155. a) Well-based crossplot between the gas saturation of sand reservoir versus
the P-wave velocity. b) Crossplot between the gas saturation of sand reservoir versus the
P-wave impedance. ......................................................................................................... 191
Figure 156. a) Well-based crossplot between the bulk density and gas saturation shows
linear relationship. So that bulk density can be used to differentiate between the live and
residual gas accumulation. b) Well-based crossplot between the bulk modulus and gas
saturation. ........................................................................................................................ 192
Figure 157. AVO changes as a function of the compaction for the offshore Nile Delta
basin in Egypt. ................................................................................................................ 194
Figure 158. a) AVO intercept and b) AVO gradient over gas field in the Gulf of Mexico.
Gas-bearing sand indicated by white arrow. Black log is deep resistivity. .................... 195
Figure 159. a) AVO intercept versus AVO gradient crossplot from seismic data over gas
field in the Gulf of Mexico shows the potential AVO anomalies that appear as point
cluster deviated from the background trend. b) Projection of the selected anomalous point
cluster on the crossplot to highlight the extension of the gas-bearing reservoir
encountered at the well location. .................................................................................... 196
Figure 160. Poisson’s reflectivity stack over gas-bearing reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico
shows that the top gas-bearing sand is represented by strong negative as indication of
decreasing in Poisson’s ratio due to gas presence (blue arrow)...................................... 197

xviii
 xix

Figure 161. a) P-reflectivity section over gas-bearing sand reservoir in the Gulf of
Mexico shows that the top gas-bearing sand reservoir is represented by strong negative
which may reflects decreasing in the P-impedance at the top of the reservoir. b) Fluid
factor section over the same reservoir as section a) shows the top gas-bearing sand
reservoir is represented as strong negative fluid factor. ................................................. 199
Figure 162. The concept of elastic impedance (Simm and Bacon, 2014). ..................... 200
Figure 163. a) Correlation diagram showing maximum correlation at 25° and -51° for
water saturation and gamma ray logs respectively. b) Log plot showing good comparison
between the recorded logs and the EEI logs. .................................................................. 202
Figure 164. Applied workflow of extended elastic impedance for lithology and pore fluid
delineation (Hafez and Castagna, 2016). ........................................................................ 203
Figure 165. a) Full-stack seismic section ; (b and c) seismic absolute colored inversion
products from the EEI reflectivities of LR and MR, and (d) possible lithology
interpretation from the integration between the LR and MR. ......................................... 203

xix
 20

Chapter 1: Basic Principles

First chapter of this course deals with the fundamentals of the seismic wave
propagation through the subsurface layers includes the basic concepts of the elastic
properties of the rocks, seismic wavelets characteristics and seismic data resolution. This
chapter also discusses the seismic interpretation approaches that can be applied to extract
geological information about the subsurface settings. Understanding of these aspects is
essential to realize the physical meaning of the seismic attributes and their interpretation.

1.1. Seismic wave propagation

One of the key aspects to understand the seismic attributes is to realize how the
seismic waves propagate trough the subsurface rocks and what are the key factors
affecting their propagation. Two main factors are controlling the propagation of the
seismic waves through the subsurface layers; the media through which the waves are
propagating and the type of the seismic waves.

1.1.1 Media for seismic wave propagation

The subsurface of the earth comprises rock layers that have different physical
properties and are in contact with one another (i.e., are stratified). The boundaries
separating the individual layers are referred to as interfaces (Figure 1).

Interface (represent contact

between two different pore
Shale ρ1 fluids in same lithology)
Gas-bearing sandstone ρ2
ρ3 Interface (represent contact
Water-bearing sandstone
between two different
ρ4
Shale lithologies)

Tight limestone ρ5
ρ6
Shale
Energy partition at interface

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

 35

more extensive at high frequency, so wavelets tend to contain less high-frequency energy
relative to low frequencies at longer travel times.

1.2.2 Elements of seismic wavelet

There are two key elements of the seismic wavelets; amplitude and phase. Both of
them are varying with the frequency. Fourier transformation allows decomposing the
seismic trace into sinusoidal waves which in general have amplitude and phase.

1.2.2.1 Amplitude spectrum a) 180

160
It is a graphic representation of how 140

Amplitude (db)
the amplitude of the constituent sine 120
100
wave varies with frequency (Figure 14). 80
60
It can be calculated from the seismic trace
40
using Fourier transform over a given 20
0
seismic window. There are two modes of 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
the amplitude spectrum presentation: Frequency (Hz)

b) 1
I. Non-normalized amplitude 0.9
Amplitude (normalized)

0.8
spectrum (Figure 14a): in which 0.7
Bandwidth (8-25 Hz)

the seismic amplitude shows in 0.6

0.5
decibel scale. In this plot, the 0.4
0.3
amplitude exhibits decay with the 0.2
Dominant frequency (~17 Hz)
0.1
frequency after certain frequency 0
value. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Frequency (Hz)
II. Normalized amplitude spectrum
(Figure 14b): in which the seismic Figure 14. Amplitude spectrum of
amplitude shows normalized seismic wavelet in non-normalized (a)
(between 0 and 1). In this plot, the and normalized (b) modes shows the
bandwidth and dominant variation of the amplitude with the
frequency.
frequency of the seismic data can
be defined.
Bandwidth is a range of frequencies above a given amplitude threshold. The
common amplitude threshold is the half of the maximum amplitude (i.e. 0.5 in
normalized amplitude plot). The half of the bandwidth is called the dominant
frequency. Bandwidth and the dominant frequency play a key role to define the
vertical resolution of the seismic data. However, the wider bandwidth seismic
data is resolved more geologic features as the dominant frequency will be larger.

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

 54

Chapter 3: Post-stack Seismic Attributes

This chapter discusses the post-stack seismic attributes, their sub-classes,

mathematical expressions, physical meanings and applications. Obvious examples will be
provided for each attribute to fully understand its interpretation and best display aiding
interpretation.

As shown in figure 31, there are six sub-classes belong to the post-stack seismic
attributes; complex seismic trace attributes (1D and 3D), structure/stratigraphic
attributes, spectral decomposition, seismic waveform attributes, horizon attributes, and
relative acoustic impedance/Q factor. Following is detailed description of each attribute
in these sub-classes.

3.1 Complex seismic trace attributes

3.1.1 Introduction

Complex seismic trace analysis has been introduced by Taner et al., 1979, to find
a direct method to delineate seismic bright spots which may indicate the presence of
hydrocarbon reservoirs.

The basic idea of the complex trace analysis is that the seismic trace is a product
of two independent attributes: instantaneous amplitude and cosine of the instantaneous
phase. Accordingly, if the amplitude information is separated from the phase information
then it will be easily to correlate the amplitude information with the geological
information. This idea is inspired by the example of Fourier analysis.

3.1.2 Mathematical and physical foundations

In order to understand the mathematical foundation of the complex seismic trace

analysis and attributes let’s start with the definition of term “complex”.

Complex number is a combination of real and imaginary numbers (Figure 32). It

can be expressed by equation 16.

% . v = +v Equation
16

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

 55

where a is real number; and bi is an imaginary number

imaginary solution of a problematic equation that stated ( + D = w) so that

Imaginary unit (i): is a unit satisfies the equation i2 = −1. In fact this is an
must
2
be equal -1. Finally, is called imaginary unit and gave symbol of (i ) (Figure 32).

Imaginary number
Figure 32. Graphical representation of the
complex number concept. This concept b a +bi
used as a basis for complex trace analysis
to derive several attributes.

0 Real number
a

The same concept has been used to describe the “complex” seismic trace as a
combination of ‘real” part and “imaginary” part according to equation 17.

xyz{|} ~•€} = ( ) + ( ) Equation 17

where ( ) is a real “recorded’ seismic trace and ( ) is an imaginary seismic

trace.

( ) can be expressed as the product of two separate

attributes; instantaneous amplitude •( ) and cosine of instantaneous phase €y• ‚ƒ ( )
The real seismic trace

(Equation 18).

„}•| ~•€} ( ) = •( ) ‚ƒ ( ) Equation

18

On the other hand the imaginary seismic trace part ( ) (called quadrature trace)
can be expressed as the product of instantaneous amplitude •( ) with sine of the
instantaneous phase •ƒ… ‚ƒ ( ) (Equation 19).

†‡•ˆ~• ‡~} ~•€} ( ) = •( ) •ƒ… ‚ƒ ( ) Equation

19
The quadrature trace can be easily obtained by applying Hilbert transform of the
real “recorded” seismic trace (Equation 20).

( ) = ‰( ) ∗ ( ) Equation 20
Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez
 58

3.1.3 Complex seismic trace attributes inventory

3.1.3.1 Instantaneous amplitude (Reflection strength) (Amplitude envelope)

Definition: it equals the maximum value that the trace amplitude can attain
through constant phase rotation. It represents the magnitude of the sinusoid that best
matches the seismic trace in a small window. It is independent to the phase of the wavelet
(Figure 36c - green curve).

Mathematical expression: instantaneous amplitude (amplitude envelope) •( )

can be computed utilizing the real trace amplitude ( ) and Hilbert transform of the real
trace ( ) (Equation 21). This computation is applied sample by sample (i.e.
instantaneously). The resulted amplitude is positive sign (i.e. independent to phase).

•( ) = • ( )+ ( ) Equation 21

Physical meaning: instantaneous amplitude highlights the maximum value of the

trace amplitude regardless the phase and/or the polarity of the used data. The maximum
value of the trace amplitude reflects large acoustic contrast that could be produced by
many geological features.

Uses and applications: instantaneous amplitude can be used to highlight/interpret

the following features:

• Bright spots (hydrocarbon reservoirs)

• Pore fluid contacts (abrupt decrease in the amplitude)
• Sequence boundaries (major changes of depositional environments)
• Major changes of lithology
• Thin-bed tuning effects
• Sometimes it correlates the reservoir porosity

Example: figure 37 shows example of gas accumulation in the Pliocene sequences

from the offshore The Netherlands. It is located between two-way time of 500 ms to 750
ms in layered reservoir. Analysis of the full-stack reflectivity (Figure 37a) indicates that,
this accumulation is represented by bright spots (i.e. higher seismic amplitude relative to
background). Computation of the instantaneous amplitude (amplitude envelope) is helped
to delineate the reservoir top (green arrow) and the possible gas-water contact as
indicated by abrupt decrease in the instantaneous amplitude (white arrow). On the other
hand, the instantaneous amplitude helped to delineate the sequence boundary between the

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

 61

250
a) Full-stack reflectivity
Two way time (ms)

500

750

1000 Neg. Amplitude Pos.

250 b) Instantaneous amplitude

Two way time (ms)

500

750

1000 Low Amplitude High

Figure 37. a) Full-stack seismic reflectivity section over gas accumulation in the offshore
The Netherlands shows bright spots between two-way time of 500 ms to 750 ms. b)
Instantaneous amplitude of section a) shows the application of the instantaneous
amplitude attribute to define the top reservoir (green arrow), potential gas-water contact
(white arrow) and sequence boundary between the Early and Late Pliocene sequences.

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

 63

500 a) Full-stack reflectivity

Two way time (ms)

1000

1500

Neg. Amplitude Pos.

2000
500 b) Instantaneous phase
Two way time (ms)

1000

1500

-180 Phase (°) 180

2000
500 c) Interpreted instantaneous phase
Two way time (ms)

1000

1500

-180 Phase (°)

2000 180

Figure 38. a) Full-stack reflectivity section over Central Alaska province shows possible
layer stacking configuration that is masked due to amplitude variations. b) Instantaneous
phase section shows that the layer stacking configuration became easier to be followed. c)
Interpretation of the prograding wedge stacking configuration posted over the
instantaneous phase section.
Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez
 91

Physical meaning: apparent dip acts as a directional filter revealing faults,

anticlines and other features that trend perpendicular to the computation direction, while
hiding features that parallel it.

Example: figure 61a is a seismic time horizontal slice through salt domes and
their associated faults in offshore The Netherlands. The salt domes are represented on the
time slice as cut-onion appearance that is bounded by strong reflectors. Apparent dip has
been computed with 20° azimuth. Shaded relief mode has been used to display the
resulted apparent dip (Figure 61b). The shaded relief apparent dip slice shows obvious
geometry of the salt domes and their extension (yellow arrows in figure 61b). Salt domes-
associated normal faults are also obviously visualized since their plans perpendicular to
the direction of computation (white arrows in figure 61b).

a) b)

5 km
Figure 61. a) Seismic full-stack time horizontal slice through salt domes and their
associated faults in offshore the Netherlands. b) Shaded relief apparent dip slice shows
obviously the geometry and extension of the salt domes (yellow arrows) and their
associated faults (white arrows) since they are perpendicular to direction of computation.

3.2.3 Volume curvature

Definition: curvature (k) is the rate of change of dip and azimuth along a seismic
reflection or horizon. As the dip and curvature can vary differently in different directions,
so curvature forms a complicated set of properties, which includes mean curvature,
Gaussian curvature, most positive curvature, most negative curvature, maximum
curvature, minimum curvature, dip curvature, strike curvature and curvedness.

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

 129

Figure 96a is a full-stack seismic vertical section over deepwater incised canyon
in the Mediterranean Sea slope within the Pliocene sequences. Well data tied to the
seismic and indicated that, this canyon consists of many fourth and fifth-order incised
channels that are characterized by repeating cutting and filling (Figure 96b). Studying of
geometry of these channels and their evolution through the geologic time is very
important during the development of this complicated reservoir. Figures 97 to 104 show
stratal slicing products from color blended of three frequency components of 15, 20 and
25 Hz. The slicing started from base to top with interval of 12 ms.

a)

b)

1 km
Erosional surface (sequence boundary)
Flooding surface
4th and 5th order incised channel

Figure 96. a) Uninterpreted and b) interpreted full-stack seismic vertical section over
deepwater incised canyon in the Mediterranean Sea slope within the Pliocene sequences
show that the canyon consists of many 4th and 5th order incised channel that are
characterized by repeated cutting and filling.

Seismic Attributes and AVO Analysis. By: Ahmed Hafez

View publication stats