FAULT CRITERIA

Abstract

Examples of six criteria for fault interpretation of seismic data in East Texas and the Gulf Coast are presented on a series of maps and cross sections. The six criteria are: correlation of reflection horizons which bracket the producing objective, projection of a fault from a shallow bed with correlatable reflections to a deep producing objective, variation between geological correlations and geophysical dips, misclosure around a grid unit of seismic control, dip pattern along several lines of control, and diffraction. The diffraction example includes results of fault model experiments in the laboratory. Although each example was selected as a particularly clear illustration of one criterion, fault interpretation usually depends on a combination of several criteria. Additional criteria for fault interpretation may be used. The criteria presented are not infallible and they do not detect very small faults.