You can perform a restoration at any point during an interpretation, provided that at least one horizon segment has been interpreted.
- The fault curve categories (and names) do not matter. Fault segments may belong to individual curve categories or may be lumped together as you find useful
- All of the horizon segments that represent a reference horizon for restoration should belong to a single horizon curve category so that they can be appropriately linked together.
No. Individual faults may be interpreted in any order and in any direction (from top to bottom or bottom to top). Individual horizon segments may be interpreted in any order and in any direction (left to right or right to left).
- Faults should not reverse in dip or have very sharp kinks.
- Faults should generally not cross other faults
- Horizon segments should generally not cross faults
- There should be at least one horizon segment in each fault block or sliver.
- The ends of horizon segments should in general be separated from adjacent faults by a small distance.
- For each horizon segment adjacent to a fault, the two horizon points immediately adjacent to a fault should project into the fault in such a way as to define the cutoff accurately.
- Individual horizon segments should not reverse in dip, but repeated section across reverse faults is OK.
After you have selected a horizon category for restoration, StructureSolver extracts all of the curve segments for that curve category. StructureSolver then uses a variety of methods to connect the horizon segments together across the section. In most cases, all methods will yield the same horizon geometry connectivity. In some cases involving reverse faulting, there may be differing results, in which case StructureSolver will choose the most reasonable geological connectivity.
After the restoration horizon has been connected together, StructureSolver finds those places where the horizon crosses a fault, then projects adjacent points into the fault to determine fault cutoffs and fault slip.
In the vast majority of cases this automatic method of determining the interconnected geometry of horizons and faults produces reliable results.
In this case you will get a warning message and you can use Display Intersections or Display Paleoverticals to diagnose the issues.
Restoration Errors and Warnings
Your restored section comes up in a new StructureSolver window, as part of a new solution that can be saved.
The faults, horizons and markers that appear on the restored section are part of the base image for the restored solution and are consequently not active.
However, if you wish, you can quickly interpret over the top of these restored structural elements, and then perform a sequential restoration.
To help you, an appropriate Calibration is carried over to the new solution. Also the curve categories are carried over from the original solution to the restored solution.
If you have an estimate of the paleo-bathymetric profile, you can do the following.
- First restore the original section.
- In the StructureSolver window for the restored section, extend the image upwards.
- Interpret a new horizon whose upwards elevation with respect to the restored reference horizon represents the paleo-bathymetric profile.
- Produce a flattened section with respect to this new horizon. And if you make the background color of the extended image blue, you can have the right color for the water!