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Fig. 8-34. Coherence time

slice at 2600 ms from the
North Sea showing pat-
terns of sub-salt Carbonif-
erous faulting. (Courtesy
Coherence Technology
Company.)

Fig. 8-35. Coherence time

slice from Canada show-
ing dendritic channel pat-
terns. (Courtesy Coher-
ence Technology
Company.)
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Fig. 8-36. Continuity time

slice at about 1000ms
from Gulf of Mexico show-
ing channels and faults.
(Courtesy CAEX Services
and Landmark Advance
Products Group.)

the illumination direction perpendicular to this the data collection lineations are visible
(Figure 8-23); with the illumination direction parallel to the data collection the lin-
eations are not visible (Figure 8-22).

Coherence Coherence, continuity, semblance and covariance are all rather similar. They aim to
convert a volume of continuity (the normal reflections) into a volume of discontinuity
(the faults and other boundaries). These attributes operate within a time window and
use a variety of mathematical approaches similar to correlation. Because the attributes
are derived direct from the processed data they are free of interpretive bias, in con-
trast to the horizon attributes discussed in the last section which require an interpret-
ed horizon as their input. By producing a volume where discontinuities have been
given an apparent continuity, the autotracking of faults now becomes a possibility.
Figure 8-24 is a coherence time slice covering a large area of the Gulf of Mexico.
Many faults are outstandingly visible. Figure 8-25 provides the regular time slice for
comparison. Some of the faults are visible here but, as is normal with time slices, the
fault visibility depends greatly on relative strike of fault and structure. On the coher-
ence time slice of Figure 8-24 it is clear that the faults are equally visible regardless of
their orientation relative to structural strike. This value of a coherence time slice is
further exemplified by comparison of Figures 8-26 and 8-27 from the North Sea. Here
the faults are very curved but nevertheless are equally visible along their entire
length.
Figure 8-28 is a continuity time slice from the Gulf of Mexico showing radial faults
around a salt dome. Continuity involves a straightforward multiple cross-correlation
calculation which also yields related attributes such as the dip and the azimuth of the
maximum correlation. Comparison of Figure 8-28 and 8-29 shows again the improved
fault visibility on the continuity time slice.
Figure 8-30 shows a coherence time slice delineating stratigraphic features that are
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actually channel edges. The channel is, for the most part, clear and the lower left
point bars are visible where the channel changes direction. Figure 8-31 shows the nor-
mal time slice for comparison; here the red and blue structural reflections dominate
the section, which is normally the case.
Figure 8-32 is a coherence horizon slice extracted along a smoothed picked horizon
for comparison with Figure 8-30 (Marfurt et al., 1998). The channel visibility is
improved because the structure has been removed. But also the analysis window for
the coherence calculation has been reduced; it is here 16 ms, compared with a normal
analysis window for structure of around 100 ms. Although the stratigraphic features
here benefit greatly from the horizon slice display, in general the coherence time slice
is the more valuable product. It is better for fault interpretation, is free of interpretive
bias and is available much earlier in the interpretation project.
Figure 8-33 shows faults caused by the dewatering of overpressured shale, which
can be a drilling hazard (Haskell et al., 1999). They are extremely difficult to map on
any conventional views of the data, vertical or horizontal. Figures 8-34 and 8-35 show
further examples of coherence time slices delineating features difficult to study in any
other way. Figure 8-36 is a continuity time slice showing striking channels in the
vicinity of a salt dome.

Reflection amplitude measured at the crest of an identified reflection is by far the Post-stack
most widely-used amplitude attribute. Reflection amplitude extracted over one hori- Amplitude
zon produces a display normally called a horizon slice. Horizon slices and their value Attributes
in stratigraphic interpretation are addressed at length in Chapter 4. Composite
amplitude is the absolute value summation of the amplitudes of reflections identified
at the top and base of a reservoir, or other, interval. Its use is discussed in Chapter 7.
Composite amplitude is the author’s favorite amplitude-derived attribute for reser-
voir studies. Acoustic impedance derived from amplitude by seismic inversion is
another way of combining information from reservoir top and base (with thickness
limitations) and some examples of this are also shown in Chapter 7.
Several of the attributes classified in Figure 8-1 are derivatives of the complex trace
(Taner, Koehler and Sheriff, 1979, reference in Chapter 3). More recently the complex
trace has been clearly explained by Barnes (1998). The amplitude derived from the
complex trace is reflection strength, or envelope amplitude. It is a phase-independent,
low resolution type of amplitude and the author has seldom found it useful. However,
Figures 8-37 to 8-40 show an example where reflection strength had a dramatic influ-
ence on the interpretation. The dips seen on the reflection strength section of Figure 8-
38 are opposite to those seen on the regular section of Figure 8-37. These depositional
clinoforms, if that is what they are, make sensible spatial patterns on the horizon slice
of Figure 8-40 and can, to some extent, be discerned on the amplitude-enhanced sec-
tion of Figure 8-39.
Various windowed amplitude attributes were discussed in chapter 4. A comparison
was there made between the merits of horizon amplitude and windowed amplitude.
For North Sea prospect Figure 8-41 maps the total energy over the reservoir interval
defined as the time window between two structurally-interpreted horizons. Energy is
the square of the seismic amplitude. The geologic environment here is shale-dominat-
ed so more reflection energy indicates more sand. The number of zero crossings
mapped over the same area (Figure 8-42) indicates layering and thus should also be
related to total quantity of sand. Because the top reflection here was a peak and the
base a trough, the number of zero crossings between them must be an odd number.
Even numbers thus indicate horizon mispicks, and the map of number of zero cross-
ings was used as a quality control filter for mispicks based on this principle.
Energy half-time (Figure 8-43) for the same reservoir over the same area attempts
to map vertical distribution of sand within the reservoir interval. Following the dia-
grammatic legend in Figure 8-43, energy half-time first sums energy over the interval
 Ch08_A.qxd
Fig. 8-37. Vertical section from 3-D Fig. 8-38. Reflection strength

276
survey onshore Texas showing strong display of same section as
reflections dipping east. (Courtesy Figure 8-37 showing features

Apache Corporation.)
3/19/04
dipping west which are
thought to be depositional cli-
noforms. (Courtesy Apache
Corporation.)

3:11 PM
Page 276

Fig. 8-39. Amplitude enhanced version of Figure 8-37
showing west-dipping alignments of high amplitudes
which give rise to the suspected clinoforms of Figure
8-38. (Courtesy Apache Corporation.)
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Fig. 8-40. Horizon slice in reflection strength showing
spatial patterns of suspected clinoforms. The horizon
that was tracked is indicated by the green arrow in Fig-
ure 8-37. After downward displacement this horizon
was used for extraction of reflection strength at the
position of the green arrow in Figure 8-38. The green
arrow in this figure indicates the position of the vertical
section of Figures 8-37, 8-38 and 8-39. (Courtesy
Apache Corporation.)
277
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Fig. 8-43. Energy half-time map over reservoir

interval from North Sea indicating vertical dis-
tribution of sands within the reservoir. (Cour-
tesy BP Exploration and P. Mulholland.)

Fig. 8-41. (Opposite Top) Seismic energy map over reservoir interval from
North Sea. High energy indicates sand in a shale-dominated environment.
(Courtesy BP Exploration and P. Mulholland.)

Fig. 8-42. (Opposite Bottom) Number of zero crossings over reservoir

interval from North Sea. This map indicates layering and also serves as
quality control filter for horizon mispicks. (Courtesy BP Exploration and P.
Mulholland.)
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Fig. 8-44. Wave shape

classification of seismic
traces over an interval of
100ms for data from south
Texas. The classification
uses neural network pat-
tern recognition technolo-
gy. (Courtesy Flagship
Geosciences L.L.C.)

Fig. 8-45. Seismic facies

map showing channel
system where colors
indicate the 12 different
wave shapes classified in
Figure 8-44. (Courtesy
Flagship Geosciences
L.L.C.)
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Fig. 8-46. Wave shape run over whole area shows

a channel. Wave shape run over restricted area
but with same number of classes shows facies
along the channel. (Courtesy Paradigm
Geophysical.)

starting from the top. Then the calculation sums again until half the previous total
value is reached. If this point occurs above the midpoint of the interval, the sands are
located primarily towards the top of the reservoir. If this point occurs below the mid-
point of the interval, the sands are located primarily towards the base of the reservoir.
Reds and blues, in Figure 8-43 (primarily within the high-energy area of Figure 8-41)
indicate areas where these situations of internal distribution exist.
Energy half-time and other distribution attributes place even higher demands on
data quality than other windowed attributes and, therefore, reliable results are diffi-
cult to obtain. Amplitude ratio (of top and base reflections) is a horizon-based ampli-
tude attribute that addresses internal distribution. Relative to energy half-time it
relies perhaps less on signal-to-noise but more on the zero-phaseness of the data.

Hybrid attributes combine components of amplitude and frequency, and for this Hybrid Attributes
reason have interesting potential. Seismic character is some mixture of amplitude and
frequency; hence, a hybrid attribute has in principle the ability to be a good descriptor
of seismic character. Wave shape is a neural network classification of trace character.
A window of the seismic data, normally hung from an interpreted horizon, is ana-
lyzed, and some selected number of characteristic traces generated (Figure 8-44). The
actual seismic traces within the area under study are then compared with the model
traces and the best match is selected. Color indicates the model trace selected at each
location and thus provides a seismic facies map. Hopefully with well control seismic
facies can be related to actual depositional facies. Figure 8-45 shows a channel system
delineated in this way. Addy (1998) provides several case history examples of this
approach. The window size used should be large enough for the mathematical opera-
tions to be stable but small enough to provide adequate resolution of the geology;
about one seismic period usually works well. Figure 8-46 shows the use of wave
shape for studying a channel. The two panels show the effect of changing the size of
the area studied while keeping the number of classes the same.
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Fig. 8-47. Loop area was

used to generate this
average porosity map for
a carbonate member of
the Zechstein formation in
Holland. (Courtesy Neder-
landse Aardolie
Maatschappij B.V.)

Fig. 8-48. Loop area and

arc length explanation.