ROUND

J. BEE BEDNAR, Houston, Texas

TABLE

Least squares dip and coherency attributes

S

eismic images exhibit considerable local continuity.

With the exception of unusual amplitude anomalies
and faults, most seismic events can be characterized as
exhibiting smoothly varying local dip. Bahorich and
Farmer and Gersztenkorn and Marfurt (see Suggestions
for further reading) show that deviations from local planar behavior can be crucial in unraveling complex fault
patterns, improving interpretations, and delineating
reservoir extent.
As solutions to least squares optimization problems,
local dip estimates are functions of the local spatial and
temporal derivatives of the 3-D seismic wavefield. Because
differentiation is a natural edge detector, unusual events
in 3-D volumes frequently result in anomalous estimates
of local slowness. This article shows that the magnitude
of local dip estimates is an excellent detector of interesting events in 3-D seismic volumes.
Detection of plane waves. In his 1992 book Earth Sounding Analysis, Jon Claerbout shows how to use least squares
to calculate a vector (whose components are time averages
of spatial derivatives) that defines a local plane at each
point in the 3-D volume. Its magnitude is a scalar which
responds in a somewhat dramatic fashion to relatively
minor deviations from local plane-wave assumptions. The
reasons for this response may not be completely clear. For
time-migrated 3-D volumes, the x and y components of the
vector are estimates of the post-migration dip. For a given
velocity, they provide the basis for computing the zero-offset point from which the local primary-reflection horizon
migrated. In this case, the dip magnitude is in some sense
proportional to the distance to this zero-offset location. For
large dipping events, such as faults, this distance can be
quite large.
Abrupt changes in amplitude or wavelet phase can
also result in major changes in dip magnitude. The vector
components are estimates of differential change and so
will be significant whenever discontinuities are present in
the data volume.
Application. Figure 1 is a 3-D view of a small data volume
with good local plane wave behavior. While faults with
large throw are clearly visible, those with smaller displacement are not. Claerbouts least square method, with
a three-point spatial and a 44-ms temporal smoother, was
used to derive the dip-magnitude cube shown in Figure
2. Figure 2 is indicative of the fact that typical cross-sectional views of dip-magnitude cubes are not pleasing and
reveal little about potential interesting events in the data.
Figure 3 is a time slice through the dip-magnitude data set
at 2.76 s. It should be compared with the equivalent input
time slice in Figure 4. Interesting anomalies are now
easily recognized. A careful review of the dip-magnitude
volume shows that many low-resolution events are highlighted and much more easily recognized. The availability of dip-magnitude data has certainly increased the overall
information content.
Enhancements. As suggested by S. Fomel, a possible
enhancement is the extension of Claerbouts least squares
coherency to 3-D. In 2-D, this measure quantifies the quality

Figure 1. Original 3-D data volume.

Figure 2. Dip-magnitude 3-D data volume.

Figure 3. Dip-magnitude slice at 2.76 s.

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Figure 4. Original slice at 2.76 s.

Figure 5. Coherency slice at 2.76 s.

of the planar fit and is more statistically related to coherency than the dip magnitude. A direct comparison of the two
methods clearly suggests that coherency will at least be
better normalized. Figure 5 is a time slice at 2.76 s after calculation of the magnitude of the coherency at each point
in the volume displayed in Figure 1. In the view of the
author, this display is a much improved version of Figure
3. Moreover, the volume display in Figure 6 indicates some
improvement in the quality of vertical sections as well.
Only a careful comparison of each volume in a valid interpretation setting will reveal which result is more useful.
In addition to the two approaches described here,
other ideas may prove interesting. Estimates of local dip
can be used to orient calculation of other desirable statistical quantities. Given sufficient daring, one can consider
the computation of local curvature throughout the entire

Figure 6. Coherency 3-D data volume.

volume. Displaying such values on a horizon slice through
the volume should provide estimates of the local roughness and perhaps form a basis for fractal-based prediction
of faulting below seismic resolution.
Conclusions. The identification of faults in 3-D data volumes can be enhanced through the use of simple leastsquares-based edge-detection methods. The use of dipmagnitude and coherency based on local dip estimates is
shown to be an effective approach to detection and identification of both high- and low-relief fault patterns. Threedimensional dip estimates can be an effective tool for the
interpretation of 3-D volumes.
Suggestions for further reading. The coherency cube
by M. Bahorich and S. Farmer (TLE, October 1995). Eigenstructure based coherence computations by A. Gersztenkorn and K. Marfurt (SEG Expanded Abstracts, 1996). LE
Acknowledgments: Thanks go to Jon Claerbout for providing the opportunity to participate in the Stanford Exploration Project during the
summer of 1997, to Sergey Fomel for the coherency suggestion, and to
Christine Ecker for testing my changes after I left SEP.
Corresponding author: Bee Bednar, email bednarb@3dbee.com

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