Simultaneous extraction of stratigraphic sequences using iterative seismic DNA detection

Abstract

We developed a new stratigraphic interpretation methodology enabling extraction of stratigraphic sequences of surfaces. This methodology consisted of two main components. The first component was inspired by DNA search technology used in bioinformatics in which the goal was to detect base-pair sequences in DNA molecules. The base-pair sequences may be modified by mutations, so the search technology must be able to take such mutations into account. We have adapted this technology to search for seismic reflection sequences, acknowledging that seismic reflections were likely to vary laterally that were somewhat analogs to mutations in bioinformatics. One example of a seismic reflection sequence was a geologically sorted sequence of seismic reflectors. The second component of the workflow was how to connect the DNA hits into continuous surfaces. A quality metric was used to steer the connection process of the DNA hits in a sorted order. This workflow enabled the user to extract a sequence of surfaces simultaneously, which is crucial in seismic stratigraphic interpretation.