6D phase-difference attributes for wide-azimuth seismic data interpretation

Abstract

Phase information of seismic signals is sensitive to subsurface discontinuities. However, 1D phase attributes are not robust when dealing with noisy data. In addition, variations of seismic phase attributes with azimuth are seldom explored. To address these issues, we have developed 6D phase-difference attributes (PDAs) derived from azimuthal phase-frequency spectra. For the seismic volume of a certain azimuth and frequency, we first construct stacked phase traces at each common-depth point along a certain decomposed trending direction. Then, the 6D PDA is extracted by calculating the complex-valued covariance at a 6D phase space. The proposed method enables characterization of the subsurface discontinuities and indicates seismic anisotropy. Moreover, we provide one q-value attribute obtained by singular value decomposition to describe the variation intensity of PDA along different azimuths. Simulated and field wide-azimuth seismic data sets are used to illustrate the performance of the proposed 6D PDA and the derived q-value attribute. The results show that PDA at different frequencies can image various geologic features, including faults, fracture groups, and karst caves. Our field data example shows that PDA is able to discern the connectivity of karst caves using large-azimuth data. In addition, PDA along different azimuths and the q-value attribute provide a measurement of azimuthal variations, as well as the anisotropy. Our 6D PDA method can be used as a potential tool for wide-azimuth seismic data interpretation.