Seismic Thin Bed Interpretation Supported by Seismic Modelling On Inyan Kara Group, North Dakota, USA

The combination of tuning and response window effects in the cases where different thin beds are closer than their response windows create complex reflections interferences making seismic interpretation particularly challenging.

To address these complex cases Zeng (2015) proposed a seismic sedimentology-based approach for interpreting the spatial geometry and the stacking pattern of superimposed seismically thin beds. In this study I present the application of this workflow to the Cretaceous Inyan Kara Group (Bolyard and McGregor, 1966) in North Dakota State, USA, complementing it with the use of geologic and seismic modelling to validate and improve the interpretation iteratively.

The thin bed interpretation workflow allowed to interpret six different reservoir units in the Inyan Kara group in the study area. The geologic and seismic modelling and the comparison of the later with the original seismic data allowed to improve iteratively the thin bed interpretation increasing its accuracy. The comparison of the interpreted geologic model with well data show correlation between the low acoustic impedance sand prone facies in the model and the sand layers in the existing wells.