StructureSolver can instantly restore interpreted seismic or geological sections by flattening with respect to a reference horizon while removing slip across faults that intersect the horizon.
Through this process you create value by:
- Checking seismic correlations across faults
- Unraveling structural and stratigraphic history
- Revealing subtle features and relationships that have been masked by tectonic dissection.
StructureSolver restoration is a much more useful technique than the simple flattening that is performed in many seismic interpretation systems, which does not take fault slips into account.
Restoration Basics
- No special steps are needed before you can perform a restoration. You interpret your section in regular fashion
- StructureSolver automatically handles complex structural geometries without need for special input
- Restoration is essentially instantaneous
- You can simply perform partial restorations when your interpretation is complete
- Any errors are flagged and are simple to diagnose using interactive functions
- Restorations appear in independent fully-featured StructureSolver windows and can be saved as StructureSolver Solutions.
Together, these feature means that you can perform multiple restorations quickly and iteratively during your interpretation.
Diapir Model Structural Restoration
This example shows the end-to-end process of interpreting an image and then performing a restoration.
The background image is of a cross-sectional scale model simulating normal faulting over the crest of an active diapir . The preparation for restoration involves the following steps:
- Drawing of fault traces
- Drawing of horizon segments - ensuring that individual horizon segments do not cross faults, and that horizon segments on either side of a fault project neatly into the fault so that slip on the fault can be determined.
- Selection of horizon for "one-click" restoration.
The instantly restored structural configuration corresponds very well with the observed intermediate state of development of the model (see Nunns (1991)), particularly in the upper part of the section. There are a few complications at the bottom of the section due to artifacts associated with fault terminations.
Example from Nunns(1991).
StructureSolver restoration can handle duplicated sections, provided that the overlap is not too large. Results are satisfactory in many situations even though StructureSolver restoration does not incorporate a flexural slip mechanism. However StructureSolver cannot restore geometries with overturned beds (recumbent folds).
Alberta Triangle Zone Restoration
In this example we use StructureSolver to restore a seismic section that images a contractional triangle zone in the Alberta Foothills. There is a complex set of imbricated and intersecting faults.
Even though the restoration does not embody a flexural slip mechanism, which would be most accurate for this contractional regime, the results of the restoration are helpful in that they provide first-order unfaulting and unfolding of the seismic image.
Note that no special preparation for restoration was done, despite the complexity of the section. StructureSolver automatically connects horizon segments across faults in the correct way.
The restoration process has the following benefits:
- Shows the seismic data unfaulted and flattened
- Quickly gives an estimate of the amount of contraction and confirms line length balance between two different horizons
- Provides insight into the sequence of fault development.
Note also that StructureSolver restoration is capable of dealing reasonably well with crossing faults, provided that care is exercised.
Example courtesy of Professor Don Lawton, University of Calgary.