A method for presenting seismic data in a multidimensional visualization. Specifically,
in the visualization technique of the current invention, seismic data is displayed
in a multidimensional plan view utilizing at least four dimensions associated with
the seismic data, such as for example, x, y, time/depth and offset. In the method
of the invention, a plurality of time or depth windows are defined along a reflector
or any other time or depth surface of interest on the prestack data as presented
in standard CMP displays. In one embodiment of the invention, for each CMP gather,
a window is defined around the data representing the reflector of interest. Passing
through each window are individual seismic traces. The window, being defined on
the seismic display, is associated with a finite time/depth segment and will contain
several offsets. In addition, since each CMP gather has a constant x and y coordinate,
the window is associated with specific spatial coordinates. These spatial coordinates
are used to plot the window on an x-y plan view. Each window represents a segment
of the seismic data associated with a reflector or other time/depth window. The
data within each window can be analyzed to determine such things as, for example,
the accuracy of the particular velocity model selected for data processing methods,
such a migration. Furthermore, as multiple windows are plotted on the plan view,
trends in the data become more prevalent to an observer. The resulting multidimensional
plan view thereby permits presentation of the data utilizing at least four dimensions
of the data. In another embodiment, additional information can be extracted from
the multidimensional plan view by overlaying this plan view on additional representations
of the data, such as for example, the underlying seismic structure. In addition,
the visualization techniques could be used on poststack data to visualize several
stacked traces around a point of interest.