oa Enforcing Geological Consistency Through Interactive Seismic Flattening While Interpreting

Building a geologically consistent interpretation of a structurally complex area (thrust belts, flower-structures, etc.) is often a challenge, especially when the structure has to be interpreted from sparse data (e.g., 2D seismic lines) or when the quality of the seismic image is poor. A solution to these problems is to perform detailed interpretation in a domain in which the considered seismic section has been unfaulted and unfolded in a mechanically consistent way, without breaking the immersive experience of seismic interpreters. In this paper we present a software tool which performs a fully automated flattening process, which is tolerant to minor flaws in the input interpretation, able to handle the most complex structures (X, Y, λ, and thrust fault patterns), and integrated into a seismic interpretation platform. Two user workflows are proposed: (1) a QC of the structural and stratigraphic consistency of an already interpreted seismic section, and (2) an easy tracking of reflectors across faults, by interactively interpreting seismic horizons into a mechanically-flattened section, from which most tectonic deformation has been removed.