Seismic surveying is used for identifying subterranean elements, such as hydrocarbon reservoirs, fresh water aquifers, gas injection reservoirs, and so forth. In performing seismic surveying, seismic sources are placed at various locations on an earth surface, sea floor or at a sea surface (or in a wellbore), with the seismic sources activated to generate seismic waves directed into a subterranean structure. Examples of seismic sources include air guns, vibrators, explosives, or other sources that generate seismic waves.
The seismic waves generated by a seismic source travel into the subterranean structure, with a portion of the seismic waves reflected back to the surface (earth surface, sea floor, sea surface, or wellbore surface) for receipt by seismic sensors (e.g., geophones). These seismic sensors produce signals that represent detected seismic waves. Data from the seismic sensors is processed to yield information about the content and characteristic of the subterranean structure (e.g., reservoir).
Based on the seismic survey data, an image of the reservoir can be generated. Using such image, geologists can map faults by observing where a displacement between reflection layers has taken place. A fault in the reservoir refers to a fracture in a portion of the reservoir that shows evidence of relative movement. Certain faults can present barriers to migration of fluids (e.g., hydrocarbon fluids, etc.) within the reservoir. In some cases, the mapping of faults within a reservoir is performed manually by geologists. Because there can be huge amounts of seismic survey data, such manual fault interpretation is a tedious and difficult task.
Automated fault extraction algorithms have also been developed for extracting faults from an image of a subterranean structure. However, although faults can be detected, it is desirable to further characterize the faults to provide additional useful information.