Abstract

A diagnostic seismic process for generating, recognizing, and remotely examining subterranean three-dimensional objects or sub-volumes uses processed seismic reflection data to produce high-resolution quantitatively measurable, three-dimensional images of buried objects. Examples of such objects are hydrocarbon reservoirs and their encasing rocks; fresh water aquifers; hazardous waste contaminants zones; potential drilling and mining hazards; unexploded military ordnance; caves; tunnels; historical and archeological artifacts and the like. The present invention examines the interior portions of underground sub-volumes called common-impedance objects imbedded in a relatively transparent background of seismic impedance sample voxels. Acquire available data sets for the area of interest (wellpaths, log curves, time-depth charts, etc.) and acquire an appropriate three-dimensional reflection seismic data volume. The data are then subjected to diagnostic three-dimensional processing to produce a vertically and laterally high-resolution matrix of relative-logarithm-of-pseudo-acoustic-impedance samples. A starting volume element is detected and identified as a starting voxel for a subterranean common-impedance object. A specified range of impedance amplitude criteria that determine whether an adjacent element is or is not to be annexed onto a particular element is then assigned. The three-dimensional spatial attributes are quantitative measures of a volume which is consistent with these criteria. The spatial attributes may include position, orientation, shape or configuration, internal impedance distribution, and volumetric dimensions of such a common-impedance object.

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