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Multidirectional component analysis-guided graph clustering for seismic fault enhancement

Yuanji Qu1 Guoquan Wang2* Qing Li1 Jiangning Jin1 Yuan Yuan1 Xian Wang1 Shuangquan Chen2
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1 Research Institute of Exploration and Development, Tarim Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Korla, Xinjiang , China
2 State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting (Theory and Technology of Drilling), China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing , China
Received: 15 June 2026 | Revised: 13 August 2026 | Accepted: 25 August 2026 | Published online: 14 September 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Fault detection from 3D seismic data is commonly performed using scalar fault attributes, such as fault likelihood, coherence, and related geometric measures. These attributes can highlight discontinuities, but the resulting fault traces often suffer from fragmentation, unstable responses near intersections, and ambiguous lateral continuity on time slices. This study proposes a graph-clustering workflow for seismic fault enhancement. The method first applies multidirectional component analysis to decompose a fault-attribute slice into local directional components, and then builds a sparse weighted graph from high-response candidate points. Edge weights integrate attribute strength, spatial distance, axial-direction consistency, multidirectional component labels, and local linear-extension compatibility. Strong-edge connected components are interpreted as fault-trace instances. A proof-of-concept test on the open F3 dataset shows that the proposed workflow suppresses isolated responses, improves trace continuity, and preserves intersecting fault trends after component-wise clustering. Application to a Tarim Basin field dataset further indicates that the enhanced results provide clearer fault patterns on time and horizon slices than the original thinned fault likelihood. The workflow provides an interpretable intermediate step between local directional fault enhancement and 3D fault surface interpretation.

Keywords
Fault enhancement
Graph clustering
Multidirectional component analysis
Fault likelihood
Seismic interpretation
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
Yuanji Qu, Qing Li, Jiangning Jin, Yuan Yuan, and Xian Wang are employees of PetroChina; however, they were not involved in any activities that could constitute a conflict of interest in relation to this study. All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Journal of Seismic Exploration, Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing