A Workflow for Running Seismic Modelling on Stratigraphic Models

Seismic interpretation provides basic, and sometimes sparse, information about the architecture of a basin in terms of stratigraphic surfaces, structural discontinuities at Present, and hypotheses on the sedimentological history. <br><br>Stratigraphic modelling provides a quantified description of the basin architecture and lithology distribution as a function of time, accordingly to hypotheses on paleogeography, sediment flux at the basin boundaries, subsidence and eustatism. The stratigraphic model produced in this way is supposed to be consistent with our knowledge of sedimentary processes. <br><br>In this paper, we introduce a methodology to use stratigraphic modelling as a validation tool for seismic interpretation. It consists in running and calibrating a stratigraphic model according to the seismic interpretation, running synthetic seismic on the stratigraphic model obtained in this way, and comparing the synthetic seismic to the real one. <br><br>The workflow workflow presented here overcomes the problem of the difference of resolution between the basin stratigraphic model and the resolution required for running the seismic modelling. It shows the sensitivity of the seismic image to subtle features of the geologic model. It also gives us some keys to better understand the link between geologic features and the way they are imaged by the seismic.