MULTI-Z POLYLINE TO SINGLE-Z HORIZONS CONVERSION

摘要

Method and system for 3-D imaging of subterranean geologic structures based on seismic data interpretations involves converting multi-Z polylines into single-Z line segments. The single-Z line segments have slopes that are either positive or negative and do not change signs. As a result, no point along the line segment has more than one value in Z. The single-Z line segments may then be grouped or assembled into lattices that may then be used to form single-z horizons. Such a method and system arrangement provide a far more efficient and less processing intensive way to render 3-D images of the geologic structures compared to existing solutions.

主权项

1. A computer-based imaging system for imaging a geologic structure in a subterranean formation, comprising:
a central processing unit mounted within the computer-based imaging system; a display electrically connected to the central processing unit and displaying a three-dimensional (3-D) image of the geologic structure; a data input unit electrically connected to the central processing unit, the data input unit receiving seismic interpretations for the geologic structure, the seismic interpretations comprising interpretations of data acquired from a seismic reflection survey taken of the subterranean formation; and a storage device electrically connected to the central processing unit, the storage device storing therein an imaging application executable by the central processing unit to render the seismic interpretations as multi-Z polylines, each multi-Z polyline being composed of a series of sample points defining a different contour of the geologic structure within a given plane, and each multi-Z polyline having a plurality of intersection points where the multi-Z polyline intersects other multi-Z polylines; wherein the storage device further stores therein a single-Z conversion module executable by the central processing unit to convert the multi-Z polylines into single-Z line segments, each multi-Z polyline being converted into a set of contiguous single-Z line segments, each single-Z line segment having only one value in Z at any point along the single-Z line segment.