scholarly journals Imaging complex structure in shallow seismic-reflection data using prestack depth migration

Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. B175-B181 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Bradford ◽  
Lee M. Liberty ◽  
Mitch W. Lyle ◽  
William P. Clement ◽  
Scott Hess

Prestack depth migration (PSDM) analysis has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of both shallow seismic reflection images and the measured velocity distributions. In a study designed to image faults in the Alvord Basin, Oregon, at depths from [Formula: see text], PSDM produced a detailed reflection image over the full target depth range. In contrast, poststack time migration produced significant migration artifacts in the upper [Formula: see text] that obscured reflection events and limited the structural interpretation in the shallow section. Additionally, an abrupt increase from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] in the PSDM velocity model constrained the interpretation of the transition from sedimentary basin fill to basement volcanic rocks. PSDM analysis revealed a complex extensional history with at least two distinct phases of basin growth and a midbasin basement high that forms the division between two major basin compartments.

Geophysics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1942-1944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur E. Barnes

Tygel et al. have written an excellent and rigorous discussion of pulse distortion in seismic reflection data caused by prestack depth migration. Such distortion is easily understood by recognizing that it is more or less the same effect as normal moveout (NMO) stretch combined with frequency shifting due to poststack time migration.


Geophysics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Bradford ◽  
D. S. Sawyer

It is common in shallow seismic studies for the compressional‐wave velocity in unconsolidated sediments to increase by a factor of four or more at the transition from dry or partial water saturation to full saturation. Under these conditions, conventional NMO velocity analysis fails and leads to large depth and layer thickness estimates if the Dix equation is assumed valid. Prestack depth migration (PSDM) is a means of improving image accuracy. A comparison of PSDM with conventional NMO processing for three field examples from differing hydrogeologic environments illustrates that PSDM can significantly improve image quality and accuracy.


Geophysics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 222-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Thierry ◽  
Gilles Lambaré ◽  
Pascal Podvin ◽  
Mark S. Noble

We present an algorithm based on the ray+Born approximation for 3-D preserved amplitude prestack depth migration (PAPsDM) of seismic reflection data. This ray+Born inversion scheme allows the quantitative recovery of model perturbations. The Green’s functions are estimated by dynamic ray tracing in 3-D heterogeneous smooth velocity fields with a wavefront construction (WFC) method. The PAPsDM algorithm was implemented on a single‐processor Sun Sparc 20 workstation. Special attention was paid to CPU efficiency and memory requirements. We present an application on a 3-D real marine data set (13 Gbytes). About one week of CPU time is needed to obtain a migrated image of 7 × 1 × 1 km.


Geophysics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1395-1407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Büker ◽  
Alan G. Green ◽  
Heinrich Horstmeyer

Shallow seismic reflection data were recorded along two long (>1.6 km) intersecting profiles in the glaciated Suhre Valley of northern Switzerland. Appropriate choice of source and receiver parameters resulted in a high‐fold (36–48) data set with common midpoints every 1.25 m. As for many shallow seismic reflection data sets, upper portions of the shot gathers were contaminated with high‐amplitude, source‐generated noise (e.g., direct, refracted, guided, surface, and airwaves). Spectral balancing was effective in significantly increasing the strength of the reflected signals relative to the source‐generated noise, and application of carefully selected top mutes ensured guided phases were not misprocessed and misinterpreted as reflections. Resultant processed sections were characterized by distributions of distinct seismic reflection patterns or facies that were bounded by quasi‐continuous reflection zones. The uppermost reflection zone at 20 to 50 ms (∼15 to ∼40 m depth) originated from a boundary between glaciolacustrine clays/silts and underlying glacial sands/gravels (till) deposits. Of particular importance was the discovery that the deepest part of the valley floor appeared on the seismic section at traveltimes >180 ms (∼200 m), approximately twice as deep as expected. Constrained by information from boreholes adjacent to the profiles, the various seismic units were interpreted in terms of unconsolidated glacial, glaciofluvial, and glaciolacustrine sediments deposited during two principal phases of glaciation (Riss at >100 000 and Würm at ∼18 000 years before present).


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