Closing the gap between theory and practice in seismic interpretation of small-scale faults

The ability to map small-scale faults from seismic surveys depends upon resolution, noise content and acquisition/processing procedure. In addition, the geoscientist must possess a sound understanding of plausible geometries consistent with analyses of well data. The comparison of two seismic datasets from the Gullveig structure, northern North Sea, demonstrates that the lateral resolution of the data is strongly dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio. By combining a theoretical approach with statistics from well analyses, exemplified by data from the Gullfaks Field, it is possible to enhance our understanding of the limits of fault resolution on 3D seismic data.