Mapping of the Complex Western Boundary Fault System Using Seismic Attributes, Pattani Basin, Gulf of Thailand

Abstract

The Pattani Basin is known to be a N-S trending extensional half-graben rift basin in the Gulf of Thailand. Seismic data from a study area in the South Pattani Basin show evidences of oblique-slip deformation forming a flower structure. The method used in interpreting the faults is known as the Automatic Fault Extraction (AFE) method, which extracts faults from fault probability seismic attribute calculated using the Ant-Tracking algorithm. The method is proven to be effective in producing interpreted fault sticks/planes with less personal bias compared to manual fault interpretation and is effective in connecting faults that are hard-linked or conjugated. Like the application of seismic attributes extraction for stratigraphy, the AFE method has weaknesses associated with 3D seismic data quality. Striations are also observed in the fault planes made by the AFE method. This is a unique fault character that has yet to be published. The method is recognized to potentially aid in unearthing fault information that has been lying dormant in the seismic data, such as fault sense of motion and fault damage zone heterogeneity characterization.