New tools for seismic stratigraphie interpretation: Strata! convergence and instantaneous isochron attribute cubes derived from volumetric flattening of experimental strata

Interpreting seismic data requires inferences to be made from the geometry, character, and spatial association of seismic re-flections. Seismic attributes that highlight such associations are essential for understanding basin-fill histories. In this arti-cle, we describe two novel attributes obtained from an auto-matic full-volume-flattening algorithm and apply them to a synthetic seismic volume of experimental strata. The stratal convergence attribute colors reflections according to their de-gree of convergence, which is commonly high in areas where strata thin because of erosion or nondeposition. The instanta-neous isochron attribute measures thickness between reflec-tions and is therefore generally proportional to sediment accumulation rate. These attributes distinguish bounding sur-faces and depocenter migration in well-constrained experimental strata. By showing the diagnostic value of each attribute, our study motivates field-based applications of full-volume flat-tening and attribute co-rendering for seismic stratigraphie interpretation.