Abstract

Volumetric, multi-trace 3-D seismic attributes provide an unconventional means of imaging detail previously unattainable inside broad re-activated fault zones, such as those present in the pre-Permian of much of West Texas. The geological meaning of these images relies on calibration and verification by rock, log, and engineering data. Image logs, in particular, provide valuable information for quantifying the structural and textural meaning of modern attribute images. Resistivity-based XRMI image logs provide details of dip and texture that allow us to locally interpret the horizontal component of maximum and minimum stress, strike and dip of open and healed natural fractures, faults, and drilling-induced fractures, and to delimit the extent and intensity of brittle and plastic deformation intersected by the wellbore. Wellbore breakout parallels the azimuth of the horizontal component of minimum stress; the strike of induced fractures gives the azimuth of the horizontal component of maximum stress. Strike, dip, and sense of slip can be determined for faults that cut a given wellbore. When calibrated with image log data, seismic attributes allow us to interpret interwell and field scale structural details. We present our investigation of the details of a broad polyphase, 1500’ (457 m) wide fault zone in Crane County, on the Central Basin Platform (Figure 1), and integrate image log data with modern multi-trace seismic attributes to illustrate new technology for the investigation of complex structures.