The use of seismic attribute in 2D data: a case study for stratigraphical and structural

settings in Esprito Santo basin

Salomo Alencar Serra NUNES*, LAGESED UFRJ
Joo Paulo Miranda OLIVEIRA, LAGESED UFRJ
Maria Eliege GLRIA, LAGESED UFRJ
Leonardo Fonseca BORGHI de Almeida, LAGESED UFRJ
Cludio Luiz de Andrade VIEIRA FILHO, LAGESED UFRJ
Carlos Eduardo N. CARDOSO, LAGESED UFRJ
Jlia Peixoto de OLIVEIRA, LAGESED UFRJ

Copyright 2017, SBGf - Sociedade Brasileira de Geofsica

This paper was prepared for presentation during the 15th International Congress of the Introduction
Brazilian Geophysical Society held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 31 July to 3 August, 2017.
The seismic reflection enables to determine geological
Contents of this paper were reviewed by the Technical Committee of the 15th structures. A common part of the interpretation workflow
International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society and do not necessarily
represent any position of the SBGf, its officers or members. Electronic reproduction or is the application of seismic attributes to identify better
storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written consent these features. Eventually, some factors, as old data that
of the Brazilian Geophysical Society is prohibited.
____________________________________________________________________ can be related to problems in acquisition and processing,
may difficult the interpretation of stratigraphical and
Abstract structural setting, such as unconformities, formation top,
Sometimes seismic reflectors do not present the ideal channels and faults. This study aims to discuss the
definition for an interpretation work, as an example in old seismic attributes in stratigraphical and structural
data with poor quality, which can be associated to interpretation, mainly in old data as shown in this study by
problems in acquisition and processing. These problems a 2D strike seismic section located in the ancient
may mask the seismic reflectors, and it results in low geomorphological province of Fazenda Cedro, onshore
resolution to interpret the stratigraphical and structural area of the Esprito Santo Basin (figure 1).
settings.
In order to solve those problems, a 2D strike seismic
section located in Fazenda Cedro paleocanyon, onshore
Esprito Santo Basin, was used in this case study, that
discuss the importance of seismic attributes for enhancing
stratigraphical settings (unconformities, formation top
associated to the basement and channels), and structural
features (faults). In this study were used three attributes,
which were essential for the composition of the tecVA: (1)
RMS amplitude that removes the carrier frequency,
displaying just the geological information. This information
is a result of the amplitude anomaly values, what allows
the recognition of unconformities (DPES, DPU) and faults,
(2) remove bias, that removes the deconvolution, and (3)
phase shift, controlling the phase of the seismic data. It
makes the high impedance contrasts stronger, and
consequently shows the difference between lithologies
and textures, which was useful to identify unconformities
and faults, reinforcing the RMS amplitude effects. Figure 1- Location map of the study area, Fazenda
According to mentioned above, the tecVA is important for Cedro Paleocanyon, onshore Esprito Santos Basin.
stratigraphical and structural interpretation, however,
when testing the tecVA (default color table-red and blue)
without the remove bias application this has enabled the Method
recognition of stratigraphic settings such as portions of Seismic attributes are measures, characteristics or
great sedimentary deposits (channels), and it helped in properties derived from seismic data.
sedimentary deposits packing identification, separating According to Barnes (2001), the seismic attributes
the sedimentary formations from the basement quantify specific characteristics, and decomposes seismic
(sismofacies identification). data into constituent attributes.
The seismic attributes are excellent complements for a Attributes can be measured at a time point or by a time
traditional seismic interpretation, helping during an window, and can be measured in a single trace, a series
interpretation and generating a satisfactory final product. of traces, and a surface or extracted volume seismic data
(Astratti et al. 2012). Their calculation is useful because
they help draw patterns, relationships, or traits that

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 SEISMIC ATTRIBUTE IN 2D DATA 2
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otherwise might not be apparent. The deduction or

calculation of seismic attributes typically involves the
treatment of data, including operations window settings,
smoothing, averaging, filtering, and finding maximum and
minimum values (Astratti et al. 2012), which improve the
data quality during the interpretation.
The volume amplitude technique (tecVA) generates
amplitude maps and seismic sections that reflect
subsurface geology, which is a set of attributes (RMS, ?
Remove bias and Phase Shift). The tecVA is a widely
used attribute in the exploration workflow, for the
identification of seismic sequences, stratigraphic units
and geological unconformities (Bulhes and Amorim,
2005).
Bulhes and Amorim (2005) verified that the RMS mean
was used with the objective of eliminating the carrier
frequency, thus, only the desired information was
extracted, as unconformities and faults. Based on a Figure 3- Seismic section well tied, with black, gray
variation of the tecVA, the rotated phase, which is
and white color table. Red circles indicate areas with
obtained by the application of the inverse Hilbert
transform in the seismic data, is possible to control the low quality. The white arrows indicate unconformities
phase of the seismic data, what results in a highlight of and the black dotted lines the possible faults.
the high impedance contrasts (Bulhes and Amorim, In figure 3, there are two reflectors with high amplitudes,
2005). Combining those two attributes, and remove bias, that are important and representative in the study area.
that removes the deconvolution, was possible to enhance The upper represents the Pr-Eoceno Superior
unconformities, faults and stratigraphic settings like unconformity (DPES), related to a eustatic event that was
channels. important in the basin peneplanization (Frana et al.,
The algorithms that calculate RMS mean, the 2007). The other reflector at the bottom is associated to
deconvolution removal and the inverse Hilbert transform the Pr-Urucutuca unconformity (DPU), responsible for
were applied in the Petrel software through the RMS the excavation of the main paleocanyons in onshore
Amplitude, Remove bias and Phase shift attributes, Esprito Santo Basin (Frana et al., 2007). As observed in
respectively, as presented in figure 2. the figure 3 (white arrows), these reflectors are easily
recognized. However, in areas with low quality (red
circles) the interpretation is not clear. Besides, the
recognition of the basement is also limited by the old data
poor quality.
Thereby, was used the tecVA attribute to improve the
visualization where the data show low quality, as
presented in figure 4. Analyzing the figures 3 and 4 it is
possible to see red circles that represent areas with low
quality, but when using tecVA the features got more
evident than without attribute.

Figure 2- TecVA atribute workflow.

Results
The attribute application has demonstrated to be very
useful to solve the problems associated to old data.
These data may show some problems in acquisition and
processing, which present seismic sections with poor
quality (figure 3).

Figure 4- Seismic section with the application of

tecVA, where it is possible to see some features
enhanced in areas with low quality.

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 NUNES, OLIVEIRA, GLRIA, BORGHI, VIEIRA FILHO, CARDOSO, OLIVEIRA 3
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Regarding the structural setting, through the figure 5 is The red line represented the top of the basement.
possible to see how the tecVA helped during faults Default color table (red and blue).
interpretation, comparing to figure 3. That attribute
highlight the faults continuity, and they got more evident
As presented by Bulhes and Amorim (2005), the tecVA
and the structural interpretation became more accurate.
proved to be very useful and effective in stratigraphical
and structural features interpretation. Each attribute had
its part in the composition of tecVA. The RMS Amplitude
helped enhancing just the geological information (faults,
unconformities) by amplitude increasing. The Remove
bias was important in deconvolution removal, and finally
the Phase shift, that controlled the seismic data phase,
which made the impedance contrasts stronger, was also
useful to reinforce the effects of RMS Amplitude, showing
the differences between lithologies and textures. In figure
7 is possible to see the main unconformities, the top of
the basement and the structural framework interpreted.

Figure 5- Seismic section with the structural

interpretation using tecVA. Observe that the
continuity of the faults is more evident.

Even with the usual tecVA application, the interpretation

of the basement was not totally solved, thereby, it is
complicated to set apart the basement and the
sedimentary formations reflectors. Therefore, it has been
observed that without applying remove bias, some deep
reflectors were better highlighted. Thus, that alternative
tecVA shown a satisfactory imaging and delineation of the
basement, allowing the recognition of different
Figure 7- Interpreted seismic section with tecVa
sismofacies, as noted in figure 6. Futhermore, this attribute. DPES unconformity in blue, DPU
attribute improved the interpretation of thickness unconformity in green and the top of the basement in
sedimentary deposits, enabling to see features like red, and faults in black.
channels. The limits of these deposits were better
interpreted with tecVa attribute (figure 6).
Conclusions
The tecVA application made possible the interpretation of
the main unconformities (DPES and DPU) and structural
features (faults), those results were possible by removing
the carrier frequency, displaying just the geological
information (amplitude increasing), deconvolution
removing, and shifting the phase of seismic data.
Furthermore, was verified that without the remove bias
attribute stratigraphical settings, as channels and
formation top associated to the basement, had a gain in
their visualization.
The use of tecVA was essential in this case study, it
helped on a more coherent and accurate interpretation of
stratigraphical settings and structural features.
Acknowledgments
I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to the
Delta II Project team, for the continuous support, patience
and motivation. I also would like to thank LAGESED for
Figure 6- Seismic section with the set of attributes the infrastructure and for the opportunity to write this
composed by RMS amplitude and Phase shift. Note work, and Schlumberger for the Petrel license.
the difference between sedimentary and basement References
facies. In addition, the channels were better limited.

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Fifteenth International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society