Structure Interpretation

Objective
To understand characters of structure style
signature in seismic data.
 Structural Styles In Petroleum
Exploration
Structural Styles are differentiated on the
basis of basement involvement or detachment
of sedimentary cover.
Basement-involved styles include
Wrench-fault structure assemblages
Compressive fault blocks and basement trusts
Extensional fault blocks
Warps
 Structural Styles In Petroleum
Exploration
Detached styles are
Decollement trusts-fold assemblage
Detached normal faults (growth faults and
other)
Salt structure
Shale structure
 Damage Zone
The damage zone is the area
(volume in 3-D) of brittle
deformation around a fault
surface or fault core
It must be genetically related to
the formation and/or growth of
the fault structure
The damage area is characterized
by higher strain and usually
higher density of deformation
structure (fractures) than the
surrounding
Basement-involved styles
 Wrench-fault structure
assemblages
Wrench or strike-slip
faults are more or less
vertical, generally
straight, and
thoroughgoing (all as Trace of gauge Fracture Missing material

seen from considerations

of shear failure criteria).
They sometimes have a
braided pattern in both
cross-sectional and plan
views and may have both
normal and reverse
senses of displacement.
The zone of deformation
is wider at higher level
than at lower ones.
 Wrench-fault structure
assemblages
Plan view of clay model
of a thrust-bounded
welt caused by and
paralleling the trend of
an underlying strike-slip
zone.
Strike-slip structure in
the clay were created
by convergent right-
lateral motion between
two underlying tin
sheet.
 Wrench-fault structure
assemblages
Conceptual diagram of
an up thrust-bounded
welt created by
convergent strike-slip or
transform motion.
Wrench-fault structure
assemblages
 Wrench-fault structure

Andaman Sea seismic section. Divergent wrench fault with a negative flower structure.
Wrench-fault structure
Wrench-fault structure
Compressive fault blocks and
basement trusts
Extensional fault blocks
Extensional fault blocks
Detached styles
 Trusts-fold assemblage
Trusts-fold belts can be created by convergent
wrench and by compressional-subduction
proce
Strike slip can also take place in
compressional-subduction orogenic belts,
both in the form of longitudinal faults
contemporaneous with subduction.
 Normal Fault Assemblage
Mechanically, listric normal faults, referred to
as extensional glide-plane faults, behave as
faults that bound slump blocks.
In simplest form detached listric normal
faulting can be trated as a gravity
phenomenon of basinward creep of
sediments.
 Salt Structure
Salt structure have been encountered in every
deformational environment. The preferred plate tectonic
habits of salt are divergent continental margins and
aborted rift systems.
Salt when present in and influenced by other structures has
been termed tectonic salt. The term diapir was first used
for salt structures that were highly discordant to bedding
and affected by tectonic forces.
Because of its relatively low density (2.2 g/cm3 vs 2.5-2.6
g/cm3 of consolidated sediment) and high ductility, salt has
the capability of moving buoyantly under the influence of
gravity in the complete absence of tectonic movement.
Problem in getting depth
structure
Relatively free
amplitude
Salt structure
Power of 3D Seismic data
Horizontal Section (time slice)
Horizontal Section (time slice)

Horizontal section at 3760 ms

from Eugene Island area of Gulf of
Mexico. (Courtesy Hunt Oil
Company.)
Composite display of
horizontal and vertical
sections from onshore
Europe. Vertical section
segment lies beneath
horizontal section.
Composite display of
horizontal and vertical
sections from onshore
Europe. Vertical section
segment lies above
horizontal section.
Chair display made of two
vertical sections and one
horizontal section.
(Courtesy Landmark
Graphics Corporation.)
Seismic Attribute Analysis For
Structural Interpretation
 References
Arthur E. Barnes1, 2007, Redundant and useless seismic attributes, Annual
Meeting Selection GEOPHYSICS,VOL. 72, NO. 3 MAY-JUNE 2007; P. P33P38, 7
FIGS., 2TABLES. 10.1190/1.2716717
Brown, A. R., 1999, Interpretation of three-dimensional seismic data, 5th
ed.:AAPGMemoir, 42,AmericanAssociation of Petroleum Geologists.
EAGE Module, 2010, Structure geology of Gullfaks Field.
James D Lowell, 1990, Structural styles in Petroleum Exploration.
Zhou Jing, Zhang Yanqing, Chen Zhigang and Li Jianhua, 2005, Detecting boundary
of salt dome in seismic data with edge detection technique