$fracture rose diagram$

$fracture rose diagram$

The maximum curvature is commonly used to map faults. Of this family of curves there exist two curves perpendicular to each other representing the maximum and minimum curvature. Curvatures measured in planes perpendicular to the surface are called normal curvature s. This intersection describes curves on the surface for which curvature can be computed as we described in 2D above. This simple definition of curvature for a two-dimensional curve can be extended to a three-dimensional surface by imagining the surface being intersected by an orthogonal set of two vertical planes.

$fracture rose diagram$

Anticlinal features have positive curvature, synclinal features have negative curvature and planar features (horizontal or dipping) have zero curvature. As a convention, anticlinal features are assigned a positive and synclinal surfaces a negative value. Curvature will be large for a curve that is tightly folded and will be zero for a straight line, whether horizontal or dipping. Curvature allows us to map stratigraphic features in addition to faults and fractures, as we shall describe here.įor a two-dimensional curve, curvature is defined as the reciprocal of the radius of a circle that is tangent to the given curve at a particular point (Figure 1). By coupling such quantitative observations of structural deformation seen as flexures and folds along with more conventional images of faults, geoscientists can use well-established models of structural deformation coupled with well control, to predict paleostress and areas favorable to natural fractures. The more deformed the surface, the larger its curvature. In a general sense, curvature is a measure of how deformed a surface is at a particular point. In this article we discuss curvature attributes and some of their applications. More recently, volumetric curvature attributes have become popular, enabling interpreters to delineate small flexures, folds, mounds, and differential compaction features on horizons that have not been explicitly picked and that are otherwise continuous and not seen by coherence. Curvature attributes were introduced in the mid 1990s as computed on horizon surfaces and shown to be highly correlated with fractures, some of them measured on outcrops (Lisle,1994 Roberts, 2001). Bahorich and Farmer’s, (1995) coherence attribute has become a common interpretation tool, being available in some form on most interpretation workstations. While seismic attributes have been used for nearly four decades, some of the most significant attribute developments and applications did not appear or gain acceptance until the pervasive use of 3D seismic technology in the early 1990s. Seismic attributes are a powerful aid to seismic interpretation, providing geoscientists with alternative images of faults and channels that can be used as components in unraveling the depositional environment structural deformation history.

$fracture rose diagram$

Fracture rose diagram