From seismic interpretation to 3D earth model

There is currently a rapid growth in computer tools for 3D seismic interpretation and for 3D geological modelling. However, difficulties are still often experienced in the transition between the 3D seismic interpretation and the construction of horizons and faults in the 3D earth model. In the following, two methods are compared, which each assume that the seismic interpretation is recovered in a different format. The first method tests the idea of directly constructing the 3D surfacic model from the time picks of the horizons and of the faults, as read from the seismic interpretation workstation. The second approach assumes that the results of the seismic interpretation have been mapped in depth and hand-edited by the geologist. Then the question is that of constructing a 3D geological model from the 2D information provided by depth maps. The two methods were developed and tested on the Satire Field (North Sea). The GOCAD tool, developed at the Ecole de Geologie de Nancy, was used to build the 3D models.