Net Thickness Estimation of Stacked Sands

Seismic data do not uniquely define the underlying geology. All thickness estimations from seismic data have assumptions and constraints and therefore will have limitations. Methods based on single-wedge concept can fail for stacked sands. We compare the net thickness estimations of stacked sands using conventional tuning analysis, impedance inversion and monochromatic tuning analysis. Low-frequency energy is insensitive to geometric details and ineffective in resolving thin beds; but this weakness can actually produce a simple and elegant monochromatic methodology for net thickness estimation that requires neither wavelet estimation nor intermediate steps such as inversion.