Complex seismic trace attributes from theoretical and scaled physical model data

Complex seismic trace attributes including the amplitude of the envelope, instantaneous phase, instantaneous frequency, and apparent polarity are computed and displayed from theoretical and scaled physical model data. The models were chosen so the seismic data from them could demonstrate the utility of attribute displays and their analysis when developing an interpretation. Vertical and horizontal attribute sections are presented which show their possible uses for delineating unconformities and fault blocks and generating isochron contour maps. The instantaneous frequency attribute is shown to be sensitive to waveform interference and produces characteristic patterns for "pinch out" models. The importance of source wavelets, color codes and threshold parameters are demonstrated. Evaluation of elastic wave equation modeling programs is carried out by comparing complex trace attributes from synthetic and scaled physical model data. Lithologies of exploration interest are modeled using an elastic modeling program and their complex trace attributes are examined. Attribute displays are shown to aid the analysis of waveshape variation with angle of incidence in pre-stack common midpoint gathers. These variations might be able to be used for predicting lithologies and porefill material.