Verification of Bright Spots in the Presence of Thin Beds by AVO and Spectral Analysis in Miocene Sediments of Carpathian Foredeep

Twin structural traps that lie within the Miocene strata of the Carpathian Foredeep that are localized above Cierpisz and Mrowla-Bratkowice highs exhibit identical bright-spot seismic anomalies, but only those associated with the Cierpisz high are profitable gas reservoirs. Bright spots can be a result of weak gas or water saturation, but also seismic interference known as tuning effect. For these reasons, it is crucial to differentiate between seismic anomalies. In this article, we present the possibilities of verification of seismic anomalies that occur within the siliciclastic Miocene sediments of the Carpathian Foredeep with the application of AVO analysis and spectral decomposition. AVO methodology enabled to limit the number of anomalies that are present in the post-stack seismic data. These anomalies, however, may also be a result of tuning which is common for the heterolithic sequences in the Miocene sediments of the Carpathian Foredeep. For classification of anomalies in the view of the above, spectral decomposition based on the Basis Pursuit algorithm was applied. Spectral decomposition enabled to divide AVO anomalies in those that are the result of gas saturation and the tuning effect. Gas-saturated zones are characterized by higher spectral amplitudes of the lower frequency range, whereas tuning effect yields higher spectral amplitudes for the higher frequency content. This relation is visible for the data set and enables qualitative differentiation for the set of seismic anomalies.