Articles
The Pacific Coast Integrated Management Area: Moving Towards Modern Ocean Management
Joy Hillier and Dale Gueret
The Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) is one of five pilot Integrated Management Planning initiatives being led by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada. Based primarily on ecological characteristics including oceanic currents, physiographic considerations, the PNCIMA extends from the Canada-Alaska border in the north to…
Benefiting from 3-D AVO by using adaptive supergathers
Yong Xu and Satinder Chopra
3-D surface seismic data has many useful features that include fine sampling, better resolution, better and accurate visualization and volume interpretation of structural and stratigraphic features. All these help in providing a vivid picture of the geologic features in the subsurface. These characteristic qualities of 3D seismic data, coupled with…
Long–spreadlength approximations to NMO function for a multi-layered subsurface
Emil Blias
Conventional approximations of the NMO function assume a modest offset/depth ratio. Similarly conventional velocity analysis uses a hyperbolic approximation for the reflection traveltimes.
... 2006 Honorary Membership Recipient: Perry Kotkas
Citation by Geoffrey Wilcox
... U.K. North Sea Case Study: Seismic Interpretation Workflow for Field Development Studies and Enhanced Exploration Prospect Risking
Rainer Tonn and Kester Waters
The UKCS Central Graben plays host to some of the most prolific of the Palaeocene and Eocene North Sea turbidite systems. The interval can be broadly sub-divided into three main fan building episodes, namely Andrew/Lista, Forties/Sele and the younger Tay Fan system. This study focuses on the middle to upper…
Curvature and Iconic Coherence – Attributes adding value to 3D seismic data interpretation
Satinder Chopra
Horizon-based curvature attributes have been used in seismic data interpretation for predicting fractures ever since the correlation of curvature values to fractures measured on an outcrop was demonstrated. Different measures of curvature (Gaussian, strike, dip, etc…) have been shown by different workers to be highly correlated with fractures. However, all…
Imaging near-surface permafrost structure and characteristics with Ground-Penetrating Radar
Brian Moorman, Stephen Robinson, Margo Burgess
Three important parameters that need to be quantified for many permafrost studies are the location of ice in the ground, the position of thermal interfaces, and spatial variations of the water content in the active layer. The data from over 100 investigations in permafrost regions demonstrate that ground-penetrating radar (GPR)…
Defusing Africa’s Killer Lakes
Kevin Krajick
In a remote region of Cameroon, an international team of scientists takes extraordinary steps to prevent the recurrence of a deadly natural disaster.
... DHI / AVO best practices, methodology and applications
William Fahmy
In 1997, ExxonMobil developed a company wide best practice to evaluate and understand the risk for DHI-dependent plays. Within this best practice, a robust controlled amplitude/ phase processing stream, rigorous analysis, and a calibrated DHI-rating system using both data quality and observed DHI characteristics were designed. The methodology is not…
Risk Management in Seismic Survey Design or “You Don’t Know that You Don’t Know?”
Paul Thacker and Les Corper
Imagine you’re at the controls of an airplane. From movies and games, we all know how very easy it is to take off. You simply taxi to the end of the runway, line up, push the engine throttles forward, pull back gently on the stick and there you are, flying.…
Building the Perfect Storm
Douglas Iverson
To be truly effective, a seismic operation must look beyond the initial technical parameters of subsurface imaging. With careful consideration, operational efficiencies, cost management and the technical requirements can be aligned effectively without sacrificing data quality. In short, the relationship between the technical, economical, operational, and program timing must be…
Calibration of Geopressure Predictions using the Normal Compaction Trend: Perception and Pitfall
Selim Shaker
The prediction of pore pressure (PP) is primarily established based on the divergence of the petrophysical measurements from the normal compaction trend. In the transition zone between the hydrostatically pressured and geopressured systems, formation water is expelled gradually from sediments due to pressure gradient drop from deeper to shallower depth.…
Preparing for the Future in Geophysics
Alan Cohen
This talk was prepared for the fall 2005 CSEG DoodleTrain in Calgary, Canada as the invited lunchtime presentation . Unfortunately, in late August 2005 I evacuated New Orleans due to hurricane Katrina and then spent several months trying to recover; therefore, the talk was never given. Fortunately, I had a…
The old and the new in seismic inversion
Brian Russell and Dan Hampson
Seismic inversion is a technique that has been in use by geophysicists for over forty years. Early inversion techniques transformed the seismic data into Pimpedance (the product of density and P-wave velocity), from which we were able to make predictions about lithology and porosity. However, these predictions were somewhat ambiguous…
Geophysics and the Drilling Location. Where is it, and how big is it?
Jim Ross
So moving forward in time, where are we? The data has been shot (hopefully 3D) and has been delivered to the processing shop to begin the transformation into useable data for interpretation and while this isn’t really what we are here to talk about, it nonetheless plays a crucial role…
2006 Election of Officers Candidates
Summary of 2006 CSEG Election Candidates.
... Geophysics on the roof of the world
Martyn Unsworth
For many people the name Tibet is associated with a mysterious and distant land inhabited by monks, nomads and yaks. Made popular by recent films, and with a unique culture, this perception of Tibet is certainly true. However, Tibet is also a natural laboratory where scientists can study what happens…
Outreach at the Calgary Career Show, October 2006
Where are the geophysicists of the future to be found? Who will replace us as we retire? How do we inform people about our exciting industry and entice them to consider a career in it? The Outreach committee is trying to spread the word by visiting high schools and participating…
An HS&E Perspective on the Changing Technologies in Seismic Acquisition
Kevin Pelletier and Bob Heath
The introduction of new, light weight, cable-free seismic systems may inadvertently be increasing the risk of litigation liability for users of existing cable-based seismic systems. The latest cable-free systems offer considerable advantages in terms of Health and Safety, as well as reduced environmental impact, and may, by virtue of their…
SeisCap Duo. Seismic Record Encapsulation.
Eric Keyser
Ever since the 1960’s seismic data has been stored on magnetic tape. During the 1990’s there was recognition that tape would not last forever and data needed to be preserved in a manner that was independent of physical media. In some cases the original physical media devices that the data…
