Diffractivity — Another attribute for the interpretation of seismic data in hard rock environment, a case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. B23-B32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Javad Khoshnavaz ◽  
Andrej Bóna ◽  
Muhammad Shahadat Hossain ◽  
Milovan Urosevic ◽  
Kit Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Hard Rock ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Seismic Exploration ◽  
Image Point ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Diffraction Imaging

The primary objective of seismic exploration in a hard rock environment is the detection of heterogeneities such as fracture zones, small-scale geobodies, intrusions, and steeply dipping structures that are often associated with mineral deposits. Prospecting in such environments using seismic-reflection methods is more challenging than in sedimentary settings due to lack of continuous reflector beds and predominance of steeply dipping hard rock formations. The heterogeneities and “fractal” aspect of hard rock geologic environment produce considerable scattering of the seismic energy in the form of diffracted waves. These scatterers can be traced back to irregular and often “sharp-shaped” mineral bodies, magmatic intrusions, faults, and complex and heterogeneous shear zones. Due to the natural lack of reflectors and abundant number of diffractors, there are only a few case studies of diffraction imaging in hard rock environments. There are almost no theoretical models or field examples of diffraction imaging in prestack domain. We have filled this gap by applying a 3D prestack diffraction imaging method to image point diffractors. We calculated the diffractivity by computing the semblance of seismic data along diffraction traveltime curves in the prestack domain. The performance of the method is evaluated on a synthetic case and a field seismic data set collected over the Kevitsa mineral deposit in northern Finland. The high-resolution results obtained by the application of prestack diffraction imaging suggest that diffractivity is a robust attribute that can be used in addition to other seismic attributes for the interpretation of seismic data in hard rock environment.

scholarly journals Diffraction imaging to understand the internal fabric of mass-transport complexes from Gulf of Cadiz, south west Iberian Margin

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ford ◽  
Roger Urgeles ◽  
Eulàlia Gràcia ◽  
Angelo Camerlenghi
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transport ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Reverse Fault ◽  
Gulf Of Cadiz ◽  
Time Migration ◽  
Gulf Of Cádiz ◽  
Diffraction Imaging

<p>Outcrop examples of mass-transport complexes (MTCs) often show a complex internal fabric which reflects disaggregation, deformation and entrainment that occurred during transport and emplacement. This can include intense folding, included blocks of substratum and internal shear zones. Seismic reflection images often cannot properly image this internal fabric as the scale of such structure is usually below the effective resolution. This can limit seismic interpretation to characterising only the overall morphology of the deposits (the top and basal reflectors).</p><p>Seismic reflections are primarily generated by smooth, laterally continuous interfaces. Discontinuities at or below the scale of the seismic wavelength instead generate seismic diffractions (“diffraction hyperbolae” in unmigrated images). Diffractions are often ignored during seismic processing as they are generally lower in amplitude than reflections, though they do not suffer from the same lateral resolution limit as reflections so are potentially sensitive to smaller scale structure. We suggest that the discontinuous internal fabric of MTCs will generate a significant amount of diffraction energy relative to unfailed sediments.</p><p>The main goal of this study is to use diffraction imaging to image the small-scale, heterogeneous internal fabric of MTCs. We demonstrate this using two high-resolution, multi-channel 2-D marine seismic profiles (3.125 m CMP spacing, 500 m maximum offset) acquired in 2018 and 2019 as part of the INSIGHT project to investigate submarine geohazards in the Gulf of Cadiz. Profile 1 intersects the Marques de Pombal reverse fault and shows a series of stacked MTCs (~1 s TWTT from top to bottom) in the footwall, thought to be related to episodic fault activity. Profile 2 is located in the Portimão Bank area and contains two large MTCs thought to be related to the mobilisation of a salt diapir. The diffraction imaging method proceeds as i) dip-guided plane-wave destruction to separate reflected and diffracted wavefields; ii) velocity analysis by cascaded constant velocity migrations of the diffraction wavefield; iii) post-stack Kirchhoff time migration of the diffraction wavefield.</p><p>The unmigrated profiles show that the MTC bodies do generate more internal diffractions than the surrounding unfailed sediments. We also observe large contributions of diffraction energy from the rugose top and base of the MTCs, the rugose top salt interface and from faults within the unfailed sediments. The migrated diffraction images reveal distinct internal structure, thought to represent rafted blocks, ramps and both extensional and compressional faulting. The envelope of the diffraction image is used as an overlay on the conventional reflection image to guide interpretation and highlight potential diffractors. This allows interpretation of thin MTCs and improved delineation of their lateral extent (runout) above conventional reflection images.</p><p>Diffraction imaging has previously been used to image heterogeneous geology such as fracture networks, channel systems and karst topography. Here we apply the technique to study the internal fabric of MTCs. The resulting images resolve small-scale internal structure that is not well resolved by conventional reflection images. Such structures can be used as kinematic indicators to constrain flow direction and emplacement dynamics, which inform the geohazard potential of future subaqueous mass-movements.</p>

Footstep detection in urban seismic data with a convolutional neural network

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 654-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srikanth Jakkampudi ◽  
Junzhu Shen ◽  
Weichen Li ◽  
Ayush Dev ◽  
Tieyuan Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Convolutional Neural Network ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Earthquake Hazard ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
State University ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Seismic Arrays

Seismic data for studying the near surface have historically been extremely sparse in cities, limiting our ability to understand small-scale processes, locate small-scale geohazards, and develop earthquake hazard microzonation at the scale of buildings. In recent years, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology has enabled the use of existing underground telecommunications fibers as dense seismic arrays, requiring little manual labor or energy to maintain. At the Fiber-Optic foR Environmental SEnsEing array under Pennsylvania State University, we detected weak slow-moving signals in pedestrian-only areas of campus. These signals were clear in the 1 to 5 Hz range. We verified that they were caused by footsteps. As part of a broader scheme to remove and obscure these footsteps in the data, we developed a convolutional neural network to detect them automatically. We created a data set of more than 4000 windows of data labeled with or without footsteps for this development process. We describe improvements to the data input and architecture, leading to approximately 84% accuracy on the test data. Performance of the network was better for individual walkers and worse when there were multiple walkers. We believe the privacy concerns of individual walkers are likely to be highest priority. Community buy-in will be required for these technologies to be deployed at a larger scale. Hence, we should continue to proactively develop the tools to ensure city residents are comfortable with all geophysical data that may be acquired.

Diffraction imaging of ground-penetrating radar data

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. H1-H12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemin Yuan ◽  
Mahboubeh Montazeri ◽  
Majken C. Looms ◽  
Lars Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Ground Penetrating Radar ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Velocity Structure ◽  
Velocity Estimation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Surface Reflection ◽  
Diffraction Imaging ◽  
Saturated Media ◽  
Ground Penetrating

Diffractions caused by, e.g., faults, fractures, and small-scale heterogeneity localized near the surface are often used in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) reflection studies to constrain the subsurface velocity distribution using simple hyperbola fitting. Interference with reflected energy makes the identification of diffractions difficult. We have tailored and applied a diffraction imaging method to improve imaging for surface reflection GPR data. Based on a plane-wave destruction algorithm, the method can separate reflections from diffractions. Thereby, a better identification of diffractions facilitates an improved determination of GPR wave velocities and an optimized migration result. We determined the potential of this approach using synthetic and field data, and, for the field study, we also compare the estimated velocity structure with crosshole GPR results. For the field data example, we find that the velocity structure estimated using the diffraction-based process correlates well with results from crosshole GPR velocity estimation. Such improved velocity estimation may have important implications for using surface reflection GPR to map, e.g., porosity for fully saturated media or soil moisture changes in partially saturated media because these physical properties depend on the dielectric permittivity and thereby also the GPR wave velocity.

Depth-consistent reflection tomography using PP and PS seismic data

Geophysics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. U51-U65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stig-Kyrre Foss ◽  
Bjørn Ursin ◽  
Maarten V. de Hoop
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Optimization Procedure ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Data Depth ◽  
Image Point ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Scattering Angle ◽  
Velocity Models ◽  
Reflection Tomography

We present a method of reflection tomography for anisotropic elastic parameters from PP and PS reflection seismic data. The method is based upon the differential semblance misfit functional in scattering angle and azimuth (DSA) acting on common-image-point gathers (CIGs) to find fitting velocity models. The CIGs are amplitude corrected using a generalized Radon transform applied to the data. Depth consistency between the PP and PS images is enforced by penalizing any mis-tie between imaged key reflectors. The mis-tie is evaluated by means of map migration-demigration applied to the geometric information (times and slopes) contained in the data. In our implementation, we simplify the codepthing approach to zero-scattering-angle data only. The resulting measure is incorporated as a regularization in the DSA misfit functional. We then resort to an optimization procedure, restricting ourselves to transversely isotropic (TI) velocity models. In principle, depending on the available surface-offset range and orientation of reflectors in the subsurface, by combining the DSA with codepthing, the anisotropic parameters for TI models can be determined, provided the orientation of the symmetry axis is known. A proposed strategy is applied to an ocean-bottom-seismic field data set from the North Sea.

scholarly journals Diffraction imaging using geometric-mean reverse time migration and common-reflection surface

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. S355-S364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhang Yin ◽  
Nori Nakata
Keyword(s):  
Geometric Mean ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Seismic Exploration ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Reverse Time ◽  
Reverse Time Migration ◽  
Time Migration ◽  
Diffracted Waves ◽  
Common Reflection Surface ◽  
Diffraction Imaging

Diffracted waves contain a great deal of valuable information about small-scale subsurface structure such as faults, pinch-outs, karsts, and fractures, which are closely related to hydrocarbon accumulation and production. Therefore, diffraction separation and imaging with high spatial resolution play an increasingly critical role in seismic exploration. We have applied the geometric-mean reverse time migration (GmRTM) method to diffracted waves for imaging only subsurface diffractors based on the difference of the wave phenomena between diffracted and reflected waves. Numerical tests prove the advantages of this method on diffraction imaging with higher resolution as well as fewer artifacts compared to conventional RTM even when we only have a small number of receivers. Then, we developed a workflow to extract diffraction information using a fully data-driven method, called common-reflection surface (CRS), before we applied GmRTM. Application of this workflow indicates that GmRTM further improves the quality of the image by combining with the diffraction-separation technique CRS in the data domain.

Case Study: Improving the quality of the seismic reflection image for a Fujian mineral exploration data set with offset-domain common-image gathers

Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
Guofeng Liu ◽  
Xiaohong Meng ◽  
Johanes Gedo Sea
Keyword(s):  
Wave Equation ◽  
Image Quality ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
Image Point ◽  
Single Shot ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Depth Migration

Seismic reflection is a proven and effective method commonly used during the exploration of deep mineral deposits in Fujian, China. In seismic data processing, rugged depth migration based on wave-equation migration can play a key role in handling surface fluctuations and complex underground structures. Because wave-equation migration in the shot domain cannot output offset-domain common-image gathers in a straightforward way, the use of traditional tools for updating the velocity model and improving image quality can be quite challenging. To overcome this problem, we employed the attribute migration method. This worked by sorting the migrated stack results for every single-shot gather into the offset gathers. The value of the offset that corresponded to each image point was obtained from the ratio of the original migration results to the offset-modulated shot-data migration results. A Gaussian function was proposed to map every image point to a certain range of offsets. This helped improve the signal-to-noise ratio, which was especially important in handing low quality seismic data obtained during mineral exploration. Residual velocity analysis was applied to these gathers to update the velocity model and improve image quality. The offset-domain common-image gathers were also used directly for real mineral exploration seismic data with rugged depth migration. After several iterations of migration and updating the velocity, the proposed procedure achieved an image quality better than the one obtained with the initial velocity model. The results can help with the interpretation of thrust faults and deep deposit exploration.

Diffraction imaging using a mathematical morphological filter with a time-varying structuring element

Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-51
Author(s):  
Chuangjian Li ◽  
Jingtao Zhao ◽  
Suping Peng ◽  
Yanxin Zhou
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Stationary Point ◽  
Energy Band ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Morphological Filter ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Structuring Element ◽  
Diffraction Imaging

Diffraction imaging is an important technique for high-resolution imaging because of the close relationship between diffractions and small-scale discontinuities. Therefore, we propose a diffraction imaging method using a mathematical morphological filter (MMF). In a common-image gather (CIG), reflections have an evident energy band associated with the Fresnel zone and stationary point, whereas diffractions can be observed in a wide illumination direction and therefore has no energy band. Based on these phenomena, we analyze the amplitude distributions of the diffractions and reflections, and propose a time-varying structuring element (SE) in the MMF. Based on the time-varying SE, the proposed method can effectively suppress reflections and has the advantage of automatically preserving the diffractions energy near the stationary point. Numerical and field experiments demonstrate the efficient performance of the proposed method in imaging diffractions and obtaining high-resolution information.

3D diffraction imaging with Kirchhoff time migration using vertical traveltime difference gathers

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. S555-S566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengwei Li ◽  
Jianfeng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Fresnel Zone ◽  
Lateral Position ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Time Migration ◽  
Diffraction Imaging ◽  
Dip Angle ◽  
Angle Gather

We have built a vertical traveltime difference (VTD) gather to image diffractions in the 3D time domain. This significantly improves detection of small-scale faults and heterogeneities in 3D seismic data. The VTD gather is obtained using 3D Kirchhoff prestack time migration based on the traveltime-related inline and crossline dip angles, which is closely related to the 2D dip-angle gather. In VTD gathers, diffraction events exhibit flattening, whereas reflection events have convex upward-sloping shapes. Different from the 2D dip-angle gather, Fresnel zone-related specular reflections are precisely focused on the given regions over all offsets and azimuths, thus leaving more diffraction energy after muting. To image linear diffractors, such as faults in three dimensions, the VTD gather can be extended into two dimensions by adding a dip-azimuth dimension. This makes it possible to correct phases of edge diffractions and detect the orientations of the linear diffractors. The memory requirement of the VTD or VTD plus azimuth gathers is much less than that of the 2D dip-angle gathers. We can store the gathers at each lateral position and then correct the phase and enhance the weak diffractions in 3D cases. Synthetic and field data tests demonstrate the effectiveness of our 3D diffraction imaging method.

Detecting small scale heterogeneities through the application of multifocusing 3D diffraction imaging using pre-existing seismic data

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Rauch-Davies* ◽  
Kostya Deev ◽  
Maria Kachkachev-Shuifer ◽  
Alex Berkovitch
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Diffraction Imaging

Accurate diffraction imaging for detecting small-scale geologic discontinuities

Geophysics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. S447-S457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Lin ◽  
Suping Peng ◽  
Jingtao Zhao ◽  
Xiaoqin Cui ◽  
Wenfeng Du
Keyword(s):  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Migration Velocity ◽  
Minimum Variance ◽  
Seismic Interpretation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Velocity Analysis ◽  
Diffraction Imaging ◽  
Correlation Properties ◽  
Beamforming Technique

Seismic diffractions contain valuable information regarding small-scale inhomogeneities or discontinuities, and therefore they can be used for seismic interpretation in the exploitation of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Velocity analysis is a necessary step for accurate imaging of these diffractions. A new method for diffraction velocity analysis and imaging is proposed that uses an improved adaptive minimum variance beamforming technique. This method incorporates the minimum variance, coherence factor, and correlation properties to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and enhance correlations. Our method can make seismic diffractions become better focused in semblance panels, allowing for the optimal migration velocity for diffractions to be accurately picked. Synthetic and field examples demonstrate that the migration velocity for the diffractions can differ from that for the reflections. The results suggest that the diffraction velocity analysis and imaging method is feasible for accurately locating and identifying small-scale discontinuities, which leads to the possibility of using this approach for practical application and seismic interpretation.

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