EXTRACTION OF DEPOSITIONAL SYSTEMS
A process that assists with the identification of potential hydrocarbon deposits that includes performing a structural interpretation of a three-dimensional seismic volume, transforming the three-dimensional seismic volume into a stratal-slice volume, performing a stratigraphic interpretation of the stratal-slice volume which includes the extracting of bounding surfaces and faults and transforming the stratal-slice volume into the spatial domain. As illustrated in FIGS. 24 a, b and c , an exemplary seismic volume before Domain Transformation is presented in FIG. 24 a , interpreted horizons and faults used in the transformation are presented in FIG. 24 b , and the Domain Transformed stratal-slice volume is presented in FIG. 24 c . The input seismic volume in FIG. 24 a has deformations associated with syn- and post-depositional faulting. The output Domain Transformed volume (FIG. 24 c ) is substantially free of deformations.
1 .- 112 . (canceled)
113 . A method for extracting a bounding surface in volumetric data comprising:
creating an initial bounding surface mesh having a number of vertices which either surround or are within in an element of interest;
adjusting the mesh to meet a boundary of the element of interest;
determining a projected vertex location for one or more of the vertices in the bounding surface mesh;
determining a voxel value at each of the projected vertex locations; and
one of:
moving the projected vertex to the projected vertex location if the voxel value is not within a range, and
identifying the vertex location as fixed if the voxel value is within a range.
114 . The method of claim 113 , further comprising repeating the determining steps for each vertex.
115 . The method of claim 113 , further comprising continuing to adjust the mesh to meet a boundary of the element of interest.
116 . The method of claim 113 , wherein the element of interest is a three-dimensional object.
117 . The method of claim 113 , wherein the boundary is a geophysical boundary.
118 .- 156 . (canceled)