Gas hydrate is a potential energy source that has recently been the subject of much academic and industrial research. The search for deep-water gas hydrate involves many challenges that are especially apparent in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, where the sub-seafloor is a complex structure of shallow salt diapirs and sheets underlying heavily deformed shallow sediments and surrounding diverse minibasins. Here, we consider the effect these structural factors have on gas hydrate occurrence in Garden Banks and Keathley Canyon blocks of the Gulf of Mexico. This was accomplished by first mapping the salt and shallow deformation structures throughout the region using a 2D grid of seismic reflection data. In addition, major deep-rooted faults and shallow-rooted faults were mapped throughout the area. A shallow sediment deformation map was generated that defined areas of significant faulting. We then quantified the thermal impact of shallow salt to better estimate the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) thickness. The predicted base of the GHSZ was compared to the seismic data, which showed evidence for bottom simulating reflectors and gas chimneys. These BSRs and gas chimneys were used to ground-truth the calculated depth of the base of GHSZ. Finally, the calculated GHSZ thickness was used to estimate the volume of the gas hydrate reservoir in the area after determining the most reasonable gas hydrate concentrations in sediments within the GHSZ. An estimate of 5.5 trillion cubic meters of pure hydrate methane in Garden Banks and Keathley Canyon was obtained.

I have compiled digital seismic and well data over a region of approximately 700,000 km² to better improve the correlation of the Mexican sector of the Gulf of Mexico (MGOM) with the better studied and more explored U.S. sector. I have ~25,000 km of regional 2D lines that were collected by the University of Texas in the 1970's. I have digitized data from published PEMEX data from the MGOM using SEG-Y converter software and incorporated these data into my seismic grid. Using these data, I interpreted and correlated 20 surfaces that range in age from Late Jurassic to Recent. The combined shelf-slope-basin dataset from the MGOM allows for correlation of units from the deepwater MGOM, across into the Mexican Ridges passive margin foldbelt, and onto the Mexican shelf. I have also incorporated seismic data from the offshore Chicxulub crater and correlated units in the Yucatan platform area with the deepwater MGOM. This regional data set indicates that normal, growth faulting linked with downdip toe thrusts and folds of the Mexican Ridges initiated in post-Middle Miocene time and are therefore unrelated to the earlier Paleogene Laramide uplift deformation phase. Shelf-slope-deep basin seismic facies of Eocene and Oligocene units show an influx of clastic materials linked with regional uplift and volcanic events affecting central Mexico during this period. I propose that the deepwater folds of the Mexican Ridges accompanied shelf-edge gravity sliding and normal faulting activated during accelerated Oligo-Miocene uplift, regional volcanic activity, and erosion of the Mexican landmass. Downdip sliding occurred on the seaward-dipping top Cretaceous carbonate unit (7° to 13°) along with overlying horizons that range in dip from 1° to 2°. Shelf-slope-deep basin seismic facies of the Paleocene units around the Yucatan peninsula suggest a sediment-starved and slide-free carbonate margin with a current basinward dip of approximately 12° and significantly greater than those dips observed along the present-day eastern Gulf of Mexico. Based on the seismic interpretations and plate reconstructions, I propose four major tectonosequences fill the Gulf of Mexico basin: 1) A Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous passive margin phase; 2) a Late Cretaceous to Late Eocene Laramide deformational phase; 3) a Late Eocene to Middle Miocene passive margin phase; and 4) a Late Miocene to Recent Neogene deformational phase. / text

The structures along the Atwater Fold belt form important deep-water hydrocarbon traps in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of this study is to map and quantify the morphology, sedimentology and architecture of Plio-Pleistocene basin floor fan systems outboard of the Poseidon Minibasin, located along the Atwater deep-water fold belt (mid-Miocene to Pliocene), and apply that information to determine the temporal and spatial nature of the fill and its implications as a reservoir analog. The data set includes ~2200 km sq. of 3D seismic data, along with information from several wells. Wireline logs show the Tertiary age deposits outboard of the Sigsbee Escarpment to be several hundred feet thick, sharp-based, dominantly coarse-grained (sandy) but fining up cycles composed of sandy basin floor fans, mass transport complexes and leveed channels developed in a confined setting within deep-water “valleys.” The largest valley formed in five main stages: initiating from narrow channel incision, widening through lateral incision and sidewall slumping, straightening, and finally flooding and infilling. The valley system is ~20,000 feet across and ~ 1,400 feet deep, with what look like well-developed levees ranging from 700 to 1300 feet at their thickest point extending ~19000 feet away from the channel. This system is underlain by a ~700 foot thick mass transport complex and overlain by younger, low sinuosity leveed channel systems. Both of these systems appear to have been sourced by large submarine drainages, originating from a shelf edge sediment source system to feed the rugose slope with deep-water channel pathways uninhibited by salt wall inflation at the time of valley deposition. Major phases of salt thrusting along the southern edge of the Atwater were contemporaneous with the formation of these large, through-going valley system, which appear to be associated with the period of sheet thickening and development of monoclinal basinward dip related to rafted mini-basin docking. Well log signatures show evidence for armored clay drapes along the valley margins as well as a flattening of lateral accretion packages toward the distal end of the system. The flattening of these packages seems to signal proximity to the fan terminus, which would serve as an important indicator of spatial extent of plays in deep-water. / text

We propose a method for seismic data interpolation based on 1) the reformulation of the problem as a stable signal recovery problem and 2) the fact that seismic data is sparsely represented by curvelets. This method does not require information on the seismic velocities. Most importantly, this formulation potentially leads to an explicit recovery condition. We also propose a large-scale problem solver for the l1-regularization minimization involved in the recovery and successfully illustrate the performance of our algorithm on 2D synthetic and real examples.

[pt] O efeito causado por interfaces de topografias irregulares próximas à superfície nas reflexões de interesse provenientes de camadas mais profundas é um problema bem conhecido no processamento digital de dados sísmicos. Devido ao forte contraste de velocidades imposto por tais interfaces, estas reflexões perdem sua característica hiperbólica. Em conseqüência, o empilhamento CMP que possui como premissa básica reflexões aproximadamente hiperbólicas no sinal registrado, falha em seus objetivos de aumentar a razão sinal ruído da seção sísmica. Visando solucionar este problema, técnicas de pré-processamento se fazem necessárias de modo a recuperar completa ou parcialmente, o padrão hiperbólico destas reflexões. Neste contexto, este trabalho é dividido em duas partes. Na primeira, três algoritmos conhecidos para este fim, de diferentes níveis de precisão e de demanda computacional, são discutidos. A seguir um novo método, onde técnicas de traçamento de raios são integradas à mecanismos precisos de extrapolação do campo de ondas, é proposto. O seu desempenho é verificado no processamento de grupos de tiro comum e ponto médio comum sintéticos. Finalmente, estes resultados são comparados com outros obtidos de um dos algoritmos apresentados anteriormente, de forma a evidenciar as vantagens e limitações da técnica proposta. / [en] The effect of near surface interfaces with irregular topography on the target reflections from deeper layers is a well known problem in digital seismic data processing. Due to strong contrast of velocities imposed by such interfaces, theses reflections lose their hyperbolic characteristic. As a consequence, the CMP stack procedure, which main assumption is the hyperbolic shaped reflections, fails in its attempt to improve the signal to noise ratio of the seismic section. To overcome this difficulty, a preprocessing technique which recovers fully or partially the hyperbolic pattern of these reflections is necessary. In this context, this work is divided in two parts. First, three known different algorithms used for the solution of this problem, with distinct levels of precision and computational cost, are discussed. Following that, a new algorithm which integrates accurate wave field extrapolation mechanisms with ray tracing techniques, is proposed. The performance of the new method is demonstrated on synthetic common mid point gathers and common shot gathers. Finally, these results are then compared with those obtained from one of the algorithms previously described, in order to assess the limitations and advantages of the proposed technique.

[pt] A confiabilidade dos dados coletados diretamente ao longo do caminho de poços de petróleo é maior que a confiabilidade de dados sísmicos e, por isto, os primeiros podem ser utilizados para ajustar o volume de aquisição sísmica. Este trabalho propõe um ajuste dos volumes de amplitudes sísmicas através de uma algoritmo de três passos. O primeiro passo é a identificação de feições comuns através de um algoritmo de reconhecimento de padrões. O segundo passo consiste em gerar e otimizar uma malha alinhada às feições de interesse do dado sísmico voluméletrico através de um novo algoritmo baseado em processamento de imagens e inteligência computacional. E o terceiro e último passo é a realização de uma deformação volumétrica pontoa- ponto usando interpolação por funções de base radial para registrar o volume sísmico aos poços. A dissertação apresenta ainda resultados de implementações 2D e 3D dos algoritmos propostos de forma a permitir algumas conclusões e sugestões para trabalhos futuros. / [en] Data acquired directly from borehole are more reliable than seismic data, and then, the first can be used to adjust the second. This work proposes the correction of a volume of seismic amplitudes through a three step algorithm. The first step is the identification of common features in both sets using a pattern recognition algorithm. The second step consists of the generation and the optimization of a mesh aligned with the features in the volumetric data using a new algorithm based on image processing and computational intelligence. The last step is the seismic-to-well registration using a point-to-point volumetric deformation achieved by a radial basis function interpolation. The dissertation also presents some results from 2D and 3D implementations allowing conclusions and suggestions for future work.

This research has been focused on the characterisation and analysis of the deposits of large-scale mass movement events that shaped the North Sea Fan since the Mid-Pleistocene. Located at the mouth of the cross-shelf trough Norwegian Channel, the North Sea Fan is one of the largest through-mouth fans in the glaciated european margin with an area of approximately 142,000 km2. Submarine mass movement processed have occurred intermittenrly throughout the Quarternary history of the North Sea Fan, related to recurrent climate-related episodes of growth and retreat of the ice sheets. These processes can transport large amounts of sediment from the upper shelf up to the abyssal basins, playing an important role on the evolution of continental margins and can also reporesnet major geological hazards. This thesis uses mainly 3D seismic data to investigate the external geometry and internal structure of large-scale mass movement deposits. The high spatial resolution provided by the 3D seismic data has allowed a detailed geomorpholocial analysis of these deposits, This study involved the interpretation of the seismic data and the detailed pickling of key reflectors followed by tge extraction of both horizon and window-based seismic attributes. Digital elevation models of the key reflectors and their seismic attribute maps were then transferred to a geographical information system (GIS) where they were interactively interpreted using spatial analysis tools and the full visualisation potential of the software. The outcomes of this study highlight the importance of detailed horizon pickling and interactice interpretation followed by spatial analysis and visualisation in GIS environment. The identification of acoustic patterns within deposits that are normally described from 2D seismic as chaotic or acoustically transparent emphasizes the potential of detailed analysis of 3D seismic data. It gives an example of how this type of data can provide new insights into the mechanisms and processes associated with mass movements. In particular, amplitude and RMS amplitude maps provide remarkable detailed information of internal deformation structures whereas slope, shaded-relief and thickness maps allowed detailed characterisation of the external geometry. Various types of kinematic indicators can be recognized within the mass movement deposits through combined seismic analysis and detaield morphological mapping.

[pt] Este trabalho propõe uma técnica chamada de Opacidade 3D para visualização volumétrica de dados sísmicos. O grande desafio da visualização volumétrica é definir uma função de transferência multidimensional que melhor se adapte ao dado que se deseja visualizar. Será apresentada uma função de transferência que utiliza três tabelas de cores 1D para compor a uma tabela de cores 3D. O trabalho de Silva[30] sobre opacidade 2D serviu de motivação para o desenvolvimento da técnica de opacidade 3D e ao longo deste trabalho são feitas comparações entre ambos. São apresentados exemplos reproduzindo a opacidade 2D e outros mostrando como a técnica proposta pode auxiliar no estudo de determinados eventos sísmicos. / [en] This work proposes a 3D opacity technique for the volume rendering of seismic data. The greater challenge of volume rendering is to define a multidimensional transfer function better adapted to the data to be visualized. This work presents a transfer function that uses three 1D color tables to compose a 3D color table. The work from Silva[30] about 2D opacity has served as a motivation for the development of the 3D opacity technique and, hence, some comparisons are made between them. Some examples are presented in order to reproduce the 2D opacity technique and to show how the proposed technique can improve the visualization of specific seismic events.

In this abstract, we present a nonlinear curvelet-based sparsity-promoting formulation of a seismic processing flow, consisting of the following steps: seismic data regularization and the restoration of migration amplitudes. We show that the curvelet's wavefront detection capability and invariance under the migration-demigration operator lead to a formulation that is stable under noise and missing data.

Neste trabalho apresentamos um novo método de compressão, com perda controlada de dados, que tem a vantagem de ter uma taxa significativa de compressão sem introduzir nenhuma perda superior a um parâmetro escolhido pelo usuário. Esta abordagem é uma abordagem mista, pois usa técnicas de compactação de dados tanto com perda quanto sem perda. Isto quer dizer que conseguimos um método que alia as vantagens da alta compressão, sem introduzir distorções indesejáveis nos dados. Mostramos como a massa de dados utilizada nos nossos estudos é obtida e a sua importância na prospecção de depósitos de hidrocarbonetos. É apresentado um levantamento bibliográfico com técnicas de compressão aplicadas a dados sísmicos tipicamente utilizadas em aplicações comerciais. Por fim, apresentamos os resultados da compressão utilizando o método em conjuntos de dados sísmicos reais. Para 1% de erro, os arquivos de dados sísmicos compactados passaram a ter algo próximo a 25% de seus tamanhos originais, o que representa um fator de compressão de aproximadamente 4 / This work presents a new compression method with controlled loss of data, which has the advantage of having a significant compression ratio without introducing to the data a loss higher than a parameter chosen by the user. This approach is a mixed approach, as it uses lossy and lossless data compression techniques. This means that we have achieved a method that combines the advantages of high compression without introducing undesirable distortions in the data. We show how the mass of data used in our studies is obtained and its importance in the exploration of hydrocarbon deposits. A literature review is presented with compression techniques applied to seismic data typically used in commercial applications. Finally, we present the results of compression using the method on real seismic data sets. For 1% error, the archives of seismic data now have close to 25% of their original size, which represents a compression factor of about 4