T163 Combining Geophysics and Geology: The George P. Woollard Award Session

Tuesday, 2 November 2010
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mile High Ballroom 2AB/3AB

APPLICATION OF SPECTRAL DECOMPOSITION IN AN EAST CAMERON OFFSHORE AREA, NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO

Paper number: T163-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:20 AM – 9:35 AM

Authors

Abstract

Spectral decomposition is a geophysical technique employed in seismic data sets to more effectively highlight lateral and vertical geologic detail, and in some cases, display the potential of resolving thin beds in the reservoir not currently visible in the processed seismic data. Spectral decomposition is non-unique; therefore any geologic information obtained from well logs or synthetics is vital for an accurate interpretation of the generated time-frequency volume. As amplitudes in seismic data representing reservoirs have characteristic frequency expressions relative to geologic detail within said reservoirs, spectral decomposition provides a means to investigate each frequency pertaining to reservoirs of interest.

Though the area is known for deltaic and fluvial deposits relative to the ancestral Mississippi River Delta during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, spectral decomposition has aided in improvement on resolution and better horizontal imaging of discontinuities due to changes in lithology, faulting, and depositional features. Therefore, as the seismic data were converted to the time-frequency domain, spectral decomposition aided in the resolution of geologic detail hidden by the processed seismic data set. Through such efforts, far better interpretations of the depositional history of the area locally were made and the location of potential hydrocarbon reservoirs was determined.