3D edge-preserving smoothing and applications

Abstract This paper presents a new algorithm for reducing noise in seismic-impedance cubes while preserving structural and stratigraphic discontinuities or edges. The method divides the vicinity of every location in a 3D impedance cube into a number of blocks as the analysis point moves throughout the volume. At an interior discontinuity location with any 3D orientation, the process does not average values across the edge because this would blur the feature. Instead, the smoothest neighboring value is used. The main advantage of this 3D smoothing algorithm is that it preserves both lateral and vertical edges (i.e., the impedance boundaries) and improves the contrast in coherence attributes derived from impedance data.