3-D seismic data views

Vertical slices

As it arrives on tape from the processor, 3-D seismic data are organized into lines composed of traces. In the computer these are all merged into a dense cube of data. The data cube can be sectioned, or sliced, in several ways. Vertical cuts through the data cube are called lines or sections. For marine surveys, in-line is the direction of boat movement (parallel to receivers) and cross-line is perpendicular to boat movement. For land surveys, there is no uniform definition of in-line and cross-line. A vertical section that is neither in-line nor cross-line is an arbitrary line and may be oriented very irregularly as needed to pass through locations of interest.

Figure 1 shows how the vertical slices are labeled, depending on their orientation.

Figure 1 Examples of vertical and horizontal slices. From Liner. Courtesy PennWell.

Horizontal slices

Horizontal or subhorizontal cuts through a seismic data cube are called horizontal slices. As illustrated in Figure 1, horizontal slices can be

• Time slices (horizontal cuts of a time cube)
• Depth slices (horizontal cuts of a depth cube)
• Horizon slices (from tracking)
• Fault slices

Depth slices are only available if the data delivered from the processor are converted to depth. Fault slices require very high-quality data with clear, mappable fault surfaces. Both are rarely encountered.

See also

• Phases of a seismic project
• Recurring themes
• 3-D seismic: the data cube
• Components of a 3-D seismic survey

External links

find literature about 3-D seismic data views

• Original content in Datapages
• Find the book in the AAPG Store