Analyzing amplitude anomalies in seismic data requires a comprehensive understanding of the geological context and the accuracy of the seismic image. Over the past four decades, numerous surveys in mature basins like the US Gulf of Mexico have undergone reprocessing and merging to enhance imaging quality. The merging of seismic data volumes demands careful attention during processing, as the different volumes are often acquired at different times with different hardware, acquisition geometries, and exploration objectives. If insufficient care is taken, significant differences in the amplitude and spectra of the merged survey components can pose challenges when used as input for machine learning techniques or seismic attribute interpretation and studies. We implemented spectral balancing followed by structure-oriented filtering to address the abovementioned discrepancies in a merged survey. Spectral balancing equalizes high and low frequencies, creating a more uniform frequency spectrum. Structure-oriented filtering eliminates random and cross-cutting coherent noise while preserving structural and stratigraphic features. This workflow ameliorates the discrepancies between the areas covered by the individual surveys, resulting in a more consistent interpretation across the seam between the two surveys. This study found that these two processes improved vertical resolution and lateral delineation of fault and stratigraphic edges. However, we also observed in our data that increasing the spectrum runs the risk of increasing the effect of both low and high-frequency noise, including acquisition footprint. Surprisingly, we found that spectral balancing can diminish the appearance of stratigraphic edges that were fortuitously imaged by the original narrowband data volume. Finally, because both spectral balancing and structure-oriented filtering are set to not damage relative amplitudes, we need to apply amplitude gain control to balance them on the shallower parts of the merged survey.
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