Viability of fracture characterization using seismic attributes through seismic physical modeling

Abstract Seismic attributes have been widely utilized for fault detection; however, accurately characterizing mesoscale fractures (1/10 to 1/4 wavelength) using these attributes remains challenging, particularly in complex geological setting. To explicitly reveal the effectiveness of seismic attributes in fracture characterization, we constructed a realistic physical model based on the stratigraphic structure of a real shale-gas play. This model incorporates several faults and six fracture zones containing vertically aligned mesoscale fractures of varying fracture densities, embedded in a target layer of 40 m equivalent thickness. Through a comprehensive evaluation of various seismic attributes, we demonstrate that, while these attributes effectively map faults or macroscale fractures, they are less reliable for characterizing mesoscale fractures. Although mesoscale fractures induce anomalies in seismic amplitude and attributes, the magnitude of these anomalies does not correlate with the fracture density. To address this limitation, we introduce the amplitude at the dominant frequency (ADF) attribute, designed to characterize fracture density in thin beds with mesoscale fractures. A strong relationship is observed between fracture density and the ADF attribute, with a correlation coefficient of 0.8067. Thus, the ADF attribute serves as a valuable tool for interpreting seismic data in the context of mesoscale fracture density.