Prestack time migration from 3D irregular surfaces with near-surface-related deabsorption

Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. S21-S32
Author(s):  
Jincheng Xu ◽  
Jianfeng Zhang ◽  
Linong Liu ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Hui Yang

We have developed a 3D prestack time migration (PSTM) approach that can directly migrate nonplanar data with near-surface-related deabsorption using three effective parameters. The proposed scheme improves the so-called topography PSTM approach by adding a near-surface effective [Formula: see text] parameter that compensates for the absorption and dispersion of waves propagating through near-surface media. The two effective velocity parameters above and below the datum can be estimated by flattening events in imaging gathers, and the additional near-surface effective [Formula: see text] parameter can be obtained using scanning technology. Hence, no knowledge with respect to near-surface media is needed in advance for implementing the proposed scheme. The proposed topography-deabsorption PSTM method can be applied to seismic data recorded on a 3D irregular surface without statics corrections. Consequently, traveltimes are obtained with improved accuracy because the raypath bends away from the vertical in the presence of high near-surface velocities, and the absorption and dispersion caused by strong intrinsic attenuation in near-surface media are correctly compensated. Moreover, we attenuated the migrated noise by smearing each time sample only along the Fresnel zone rather than along the entire migration aperture. As a result, an image with a higher resolution and superior signal-to-noise ratio is achieved. The performance of the proposed topography-deabsorption PSTM scheme has been verified using synthetic and field data sets.

Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. S317-S331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfeng Zhang ◽  
Zhengwei Li ◽  
Linong Liu ◽  
Jin Wang ◽  
Jincheng Xu

We have improved the so-called deabsorption prestack time migration (PSTM) by introducing a dip-angle domain stationary-phase implementation. Deabsorption PSTM compensates absorption and dispersion via an actual wave propagation path using effective [Formula: see text] parameters that are obtained during migration. However, noises induced by the compensation degrade the resolution gained and deabsorption PSTM requires more computational effort than conventional PSTM. Our stationary-phase implementation improves deabsorption PSTM through the determination of an optimal migration aperture based on an estimate of the Fresnel zone. This significantly attenuates the noises and reduces the computational cost of 3D deabsorption PSTM. We have estimated the 2D Fresnel zone in terms of two dip angles through building a pair of 1D migrated dip-angle gathers using PSTM. Our stationary-phase QPSTM (deabsorption PSTM) was implemented as a two-stage process. First, we used conventional PSTM to obtain the Fresnel zones. Then, we performed deabsorption PSTM with the Fresnel-zone-based optimized migration aperture. We applied stationary-phase QPSTM to a 3D field data. Comparison with synthetic seismogram generated from well log data validates the resolution enhancements.


Geophysics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. S117-S129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfeng Zhang ◽  
Jincheng Xu ◽  
Hao Zhang

We have developed a modified 3D prestack time migration (PSTM) scheme that can handle rugged topography as well as high near-surface velocities in land seismic imaging. The proposed topography PSTM can be applied to seismic data recorded on a 3D irregular surface without static corrections. Two effective velocity parameters were found to describe wave propagation through inhomogeneous media above and below a chosen datum. As a result, wave propagation phenomena in the complex near surface, such as near-vertical incidences through a weathering layer and raypaths bending away from vertical in the presence of high near-surface velocities, are correctly considered. The two effective velocity parameters can be estimated by flattening events in imaging gathers. Hence, it is not necessary to have detailed knowledge of the near-surface velocity model and velocity field below the datum when applying topography PSTM. We integrated residual static corrections into topography PSTM. This eliminated the distortions along the events better than conventional residual static corrections, which are usually applied before migration. The computational cost of the topography PSTM was only slightly higher than that of conventional PSTM due to the use of a table-driven algorithm. Three-dimensional synthetic and field data sets were used to test the proposed topography PSTM. High-quality imaging results were obtained.


Geophysics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. S1-S14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianfeng Zhang ◽  
Jizhong Wu ◽  
Xueying Li

We have developed a migration scheme that can compensate absorption and dispersion caused by intrinsic attenuation in subsurface media. The scheme was developed by adapting prestack time migration (PSTM) in the frequency domain. Instead of applying a commonly used [Formula: see text] factor, we devised an effective [Formula: see text] parameter to compensate absorption and dispersion. The effective [Formula: see text] determines the frequency-dependent traveltime and amplitude at one imaging location by only one value. As a result, the effective [Formula: see text] can be estimated by scanning technology. We designed an index that can remove the effects of interferences of the reflections resulting from stacked thin layers in extracting the effective [Formula: see text] parameter from scanning results. The proposed scheme can thus determine an effective [Formula: see text] model using surface seismic data during migration. Stabilization is achieved by introducing a smooth, maximum-limited gain function that matches the exact amplitude compensation factor when it is less than the user-specified gain limit. The proposed scheme can be incorporated into conventional PSTM workflow. Synthetic and field data sets were used to test the proposed deabsorption PSTM. Higher-resolution imaging results are obtained.


Geophysics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. S235-S246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jincheng Xu ◽  
Jianfeng Zhang

We have developed a modified prestack time migration (PSTM) approach that can directly image nonplanar data by using two effective velocity parameters above and below a datum. The proposed extension improves the so-called topography PSTM by introducing a dip-angle domain stationary-phase migration (or filtering) and combining effective velocity inversion with the residual static corrections. The stationary-phase migration to constrain the imaging aperture within Fresnel zones significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the image gathers, especially in the presence of steeply dipping structures. This helps to extract an accurate residual moveout from the common shot and receiver image gathers, and the surface-consistent residual statics hidden in these image gathers can be simultaneously obtained from an inversion process. As a result, the final migrated images show higher S/N and are better focused than the conventional topography PSTM. The proposed technique can handle rugged topography, especially in the presence of high near-surface velocities, without the need for prior elevation static corrections. The SEG foothills overthrust model and a real data set acquired on a piedmont zone are used to validate the modified topography PSTM. Synthetic and field data examples are obtained with good results.


Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-72
Author(s):  
Parsa Bakhtiari Rad ◽  
Craig J. Hickey

Seismic diffractions carry the signature of near-surface high-contrast anomalies and need to be extracted from the data to complement the reflection processing and other geophysical techniques. Since diffractions are often masked by reflections, surface waves and noise, a careful diffraction separation is required as a first step for diffraction imaging. A multiparameter time-imaging method is employed to separate near-surface diffractions. The implemented scheme makes use of the wavefront attributes that are reliable fully data-derived processing parameters. To mitigate the effect of strong noise and wavefield interference in near-surface data, the proposed workflow incorporates two wavefront-based parameters, dip angle and coherence, as additional constraints. The output of the diffraction separation is a time trace-based stacked section that provides the basis for further analysis and applications such as time migration. To evaluate the performance of the proposed wavefront-based workflow, it is applied to two challenging field data sets that were collected over small culverts in very near-surface soft soil environments. The results of the proposed constrained workflow and the existing unconstrained approach are presented and compared. The proposed workflow demonstrates superiority over the existing method by attenuating more reflection and noise, leading to improved diffraction separation. The abundance of unmasked diffractions reveal that the very near-surface is highly scattering. Time migration is carried out to enhance the anomaly detection by focusing of the isolated diffractions. Although strong diffractivity is observed at the approximate location of the targets, there are other diffracting zones observed in the final sections that might bring uncertainties for interpretation.


Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. U109-U119
Author(s):  
Pengyu Yuan ◽  
Shirui Wang ◽  
Wenyi Hu ◽  
Xuqing Wu ◽  
Jiefu Chen ◽  
...  

A deep-learning-based workflow is proposed in this paper to solve the first-arrival picking problem for near-surface velocity model building. Traditional methods, such as the short-term average/long-term average method, perform poorly when the signal-to-noise ratio is low or near-surface geologic structures are complex. This challenging task is formulated as a segmentation problem accompanied by a novel postprocessing approach to identify pickings along the segmentation boundary. The workflow includes three parts: a deep U-net for segmentation, a recurrent neural network (RNN) for picking, and a weight adaptation approach to be generalized for new data sets. In particular, we have evaluated the importance of selecting a proper loss function for training the network. Instead of taking an end-to-end approach to solve the picking problem, we emphasize the performance gain obtained by using an RNN to optimize the picking. Finally, we adopt a simple transfer learning scheme and test its robustness via a weight adaptation approach to maintain the picking performance on new data sets. Our tests on synthetic data sets reveal the advantage of our workflow compared with existing deep-learning methods that focus only on segmentation performance. Our tests on field data sets illustrate that a good postprocessing picking step is essential for correcting the segmentation errors and that the overall workflow is efficient in minimizing human interventions for the first-arrival picking task.


Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. R625-R640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bowu Jiang ◽  
Jianfeng Zhang

We have developed an explicit inverse approach with a Hessian matrix for the least-squares (LS) implementation of prestack time migration (PSTM). A full Hessian matrix is divided into a series of computationally tractable small-sized matrices using a localized approach, thus significantly reducing the size of the inversion. The scheme is implemented by dividing the imaging volume into a series of subvolumes related to the blockwise Hessian matrices that govern the mapping relationship between the migrated result and corresponding reflectivity. The proposed blockwise LS-PSTM can be implemented in a target-oriented fashion. The localized approach that we use to modify the Hessian matrix can eliminate the boundary effects originating from the blockwise implementation. We derive the explicit formula of the offset-dependent Hessian matrix using the deconvolution imaging condition with an analytical Green’s function of PSTM. This avoids the challenging task of estimating the source wavelet. Moreover, migrated gathers can be generated with the proposed scheme. The smaller size of the blockwise Hessian matrix makes it possible to incorporate the total-variation regularization into the inversion, thus attenuating noises significantly. We revealed the proposed blockwise LS-PSTM with synthetic and field data sets. Higher quality common-reflection-point gathers of the field data are obtained.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-303
Author(s):  
Changshan Han ◽  
Linong Liu ◽  
Zelin Liu ◽  
Zhengwei Li

Abstract We developed a modified topography prestack time migration (PSTM) scheme that can improve the imaging resolution by applying effective Q to topography migration. The computation of the traveltime at each imaging location in the migration is based on the floating datum smoothed by rugged topography. Unlike the common quality factor Q, the effective Q only determines the frequency-dependent amplitude and the traveltime at a single imaging location, which enables us to establish a Q model in an inhomogeneous medium. Hence, we can acquire the effective Q using a scanning technology according to the width of the frequency band and signal-to-noise ratio of the imaging gathers. The proposed migration method can be integrated into the conventional topography migration workflow. Synthetic and three-dimensional (3D) field datasets indicate that the proposed deabsorption PSTM from rugged topography is effective.


Geophysics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. C37-C47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuekai Sun ◽  
Sam Zandong Sun

Considering that geologic structures disturb prestack amplitude relationships, anisotropic migration is thus advocated not only for extracting azimuth-preserved common image gathers (CIGs), but also for preserving fracture-induced amplitude responses. However, most conventional anisotropic migration methods are hindered by their inefficiency in either modeling azimuthal traveltime variations at large offsets or characterizing subsurface reflections. Given that prestack time migration is widely applied for most practical purposes, we began with reformulations on a quartic traveltime formula, through which a new set of anisotropic parameters was developed. Then, an anisotropic migration method was established in the local-angle domain (LAD) for more reasonable uses of subsurface wavefield information. We also used a traveltime inversion scheme to estimate those anisotropic parameters required by anisotropic migration. Using this methodology on a physical model with a fracture medium, we derived better focused CIGs by thoroughly correcting the anisotropic effects of overburden. As a result, predicted properties of the fracture medium showed fewer interventions of geologic impacts. In a field example, a comprehensive study was performed on a deep carbonate reservoir to examine influences of different anisotropic migration algorithms on ultimate fracture prediction. Comparisons of the signal-to-noise ratio and agreements with formation microimage information reconfirmed the superiority of LAD anisotropic migration in recovering true properties of subsurface fractures, relative to routine methods (i.e., azimuth-sectored migration and anisotropic migration in the surface-offset domain).


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