Automated Interpretation Error Correction

• US 20140358445A1
• Filed: 05/07/2014
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ethan Nowak, Matthias Imhof, Pavel Dimitrov
• Original Assignee: Ethan Nowak, Matthias Imhof, Pavel Dimitrov
• Inventors: Imhof, Matthias, Dimitrov, Pavel, Nowak, Ethan
• Granted Patent: US 9,835,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/302 in 3D data cubes
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/325 Transforming one representation into another
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/362 Effecting static or dynamic corrections; Stacking
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/641 Continuity of geobodies
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/643 Horizon tracking

Abstract

A fully automated method for correcting errors in one interpretation (13) of seismic data based on comparison to at least one other interpretation (14) of the same subsurface region. The errors may occur in any feature of the seismic data volume, for example a horizon, surface, fault, polyline, fault stick, or geo-body. In some embodiments of the invention, an error may be a hole in a horizon (53), and the whole is patched by a piece of a horizon in another interpretation (55). In an alternative embodiment of the invention, a single interpretation may be used to repair itself, for example by identifying similarly shaped, adjacent horizons (67), and merging them (68).

Claims

1. A method for automated fixing of errors in a first interpretation of seismic data representing a subsurface region, comprising:

obtaining a second, independent interpretation of said seismic data or of another set of seismic data representing said same subsurface region;

searching the first interpretation for an error in a subsurface feature; and

fixing the error based on the second interpretation;

wherein searching the first interpretation for an error and fixing the error are performed by a programmed computer after inputting of the first and second interpretations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said subsurface feature is one or more of a group consisting of surfaces, horizons, faults, polylines, fault sticks, and geo-bodies.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsurface feature is a horizon and the error is one of a cycle skip, a hole and a gap, caused by improper assignment to another horizon or by a data quality issue.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching of the first interpretation is performed one horizon at a time, looking for one or more holes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a hole found in a horizon is filled by a patch removed from the second interpretation at the same spatial location as the hole.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the fixing of the error based on the second interpretation comprises searching the second interpretation for a horizon at the same depth as the horizon with the hole in the first interpretation.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining at least a third interpretation of seismic data representing the subsurface region, and using it or them as an additional basis for fixing errors in the first interpretation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of errors are found in the first interpretation, further comprising fixing some, less than all, by interpolation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the fixing of the error based on the second interpretation comprises reassigning all or a portion of one subsurface feature in the second interpretation to the subsurface feature with the error.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second interpretations are obtained by identifying a plurality of surfaces in a volume of the seismic data, and then assigning each of the surfaces to at least one of the first interpretation and the second interpretation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the assignments are based on size of the surfaces.

12. A method for automated fixing of errors in one or more interpretations of seismic data representing a subsurface region, comprising:

searching the one or more interpretations for two adjacent surfaces having edges that are similarly shaped where the surfaces are adjacent, similarity being judged by a preselected tolerance criterion; and

merging the two surfaces where the edges are similarly shaped;

wherein searching the one or more interpretations and merging the two surfaces are performed by a programmed computer after inputting of the one or more interpretations by a user.