• journal_title：The Leading Edge
• Contributor：Kathryn T. Young ; Robert H. Tatham
• Publisher：Society of Exploration Geophysicists
• Date：2007-
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• Identifier：10.1190/1.2821936
• journal_abbrev：The Leading Edge
• issn：1070-485X
• volume：26
• issue：12
• firstpage：1508
• section：Special section: AVO

Bright spot analysis of stacked seismic data has been used as an effective method of hydrocarbon exploration in many areas around the world, including Trinidad. The unconsolidated Tertiary sediments of the Columbus Basin, offshore Trinidad, create geologic conditions that are particularly favorable to the existence and detection of seismic “bright spots” associated with gas deposits. This success of the bright spot technique as a direct hydrocarbon indicator is based on the premise that gas-bearing sediments will exhibit seismic-reflection amplitudes that are anomalously higher than surrounding reflections. There are, however, several other combinations of geological conditions that can give rise to large amplitudes such as high porosity, clean sands, tuning effects, overpressured shales or anisotropy.