Stratal slicing; Part 1, Realistic 3-D seismic model

Abstract Two-dimensional, fenced 2-D, and 3-D isosurface displays of some realistic 3-D seismic models built in the lower Miocene Powderhorn Field, Calhoun County, Texas, demonstrate that a seismic event does not necessarily follow an impedance boundary defined by a geological time surface. Instead, the position of a filtered impedance boundary relative to the geological time surface may vary with seismic frequency because of inadequate resolution of seismic data and to the en echelon or ramp arrangement of impedance anomalies of sandstone. Except for some relatively time-parallel seismic events, the correlation error of event picking is large enough to distort or even miss the majority of the target zone on stratal slices. In some cases, reflections from sandstone bodies in different depositional units interfere to form a single event and, in one instance, an event tying as many as six depositional units (interbedded sandy and shaly layers) over 50 m was observed. Frequency independence is a necessary condition for selecting time-parallel reference events. Instead of event picking, phantom mapping between such reference events is a better technique for picking stratal slices, making it possible to map detailed depositional facies within reservoir sequences routinely and reliably from 3-D seismic data.