The use of seismic modeling for the geologic interpretation of deep seismic reflection data with low signal-to-noise ratios

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. T23-T31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ionelia Panea ◽  
Stefan Prisacari ◽  
Victor Mocanu ◽  
Mihnea Micu ◽  
Marius Paraschivoiu
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Seismic Section ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Deep Seismic Reflection ◽  
Subsurface Geology ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Geologic Interpretation ◽  
Romanian Carpathians ◽  
Seismic Data Acquisition

We have performed a deep seismic reflection study, DACIA-PLAN, based on the data recorded along a crooked line across the southeastern Romanian Carpathians. The signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of these data varies along the seismic profile, and its variation is considered to be an effect of the rough topography, complex subsurface geology, and varying surface conditions encountered during seismic data acquisition. The migrated time section that covers the mountainous area is clear, without visible reflections, making the geologic interpretation very difficult. We used a seismic modeling technique to explain the poor S/N of the recorded data and to generate synthetic seismic sections that can be useful for the geologic interpretation of the field seismic section (migrated time section). We used ray-tracing modeling to obtain the expected seismic expression of horizons of interest. Subsurface illumination modeling indicates that the complex subsurface geology and irregularly deployed sources and receivers are responsible for the incomplete and/or uneven illumination of the subsurface and can lead to strong amplitude variations. We then used 2.5D acoustic finite-difference modeling to analyze the effect of a crooked line on seismic wave propagation. The synthetic shot gathers prove that crooked line arrival times for reflected and head waves contain static time shifts relative to a straight line regular sampling geometry. Some geologic interfaces of interest are not well-imaged on the synthetic seismic section, and this is considered to be an effect of poor positioning during seismic data acquisition. We used the velocity model from the tomographic inversion of first-arrival traveltimes and synthetic and field crooked line deep seismic reflection data to create a structural image for the southeastern Romanian Carpathians and the Focsani Basin, which tie well with the geologic model built for this area on the basis of geologic and well data only.

scholarly journals Improved Interpretation of Deep Seismic Reflection Data in Areas of Complex Geology Through Integration With Passive Seismic Data Sets

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (12) ◽  
pp. 10,810-10,830
Author(s):  
Michael Dentith ◽  
Huaiyu Yuan ◽  
Ruth Elaine Murdie ◽  
Perla Pina-Varas ◽  
Simon P. Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Deep Seismic Reflection ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Passive Seismic ◽  
Complex Geology

scholarly journals Fault interpretation in seismic reflection data: an experiment analysing the impact of conceptual model anchoring and vertical exaggeration

Solid Earth ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1651-1662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Alcalde ◽  
Clare E. Bond ◽  
Gareth Johnson ◽  
Armelle Kloppenburg ◽  
Oriol Ferrer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Seismic Section ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Reflection Seismic ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Interpretation Process ◽  
Fault Interpretation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The use of conceptual models is essential in the interpretation of reflection seismic data. It allows interpreters to make geological sense of seismic data, which carries inherent uncertainty. However, conceptual models can create powerful anchors that prevent interpreters from reassessing and adapting their interpretations as part of the interpretation process, which can subsequently lead to flawed or erroneous outcomes. It is therefore critical to understand how conceptual models are generated and applied to reduce unwanted effects in interpretation results. Here we have tested how interpretation of vertically exaggerated seismic data influenced the creation and adoption of the conceptual models of 161 participants in a paper-based interpretation experiment. Participants were asked to interpret a series of faults and a horizon, offset by those faults, in a seismic section. The seismic section was randomly presented to the participants with different horizontal–vertical exaggeration (1:4 or 1:2). Statistical analysis of the results indicates that early anchoring to specific conceptual models had the most impact on interpretation outcome, with the degree of vertical exaggeration having a subdued influence. Three different conceptual models were adopted by participants, constrained by initial observations of the seismic data. Interpreted fault dip angles show no evidence of other constraints (e.g. from the application of accepted fault dip models). Our results provide evidence of biases in interpretation of uncertain geological and geophysical data, including the use of heuristics to form initial conceptual models and anchoring to these models, confirming the need for increased understanding and mitigation of these biases to improve interpretation outcomes.

Crustal Structure of Turkey from Aeromagnetic, Gravity and Deep Seismic Reflection Data

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 869-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Ates ◽  
Funda Bilim ◽  
Aydin Buyuksarac ◽  
Attila Aydemir ◽  
Ozcan Bektas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crustal Structure ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Deep Seismic Reflection ◽  
Reflection Data

Shallow seismic reflection study of a glaciated valley

Geophysics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1395-1407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Büker ◽  
Alan G. Green ◽  
Heinrich Horstmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Seismic Section ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Northern Switzerland ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Shallow Seismic ◽  
Glaciated Valley

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).

Late Cretaceous – Cenozoic history of the transition zone between the East European Craton and the Paleozoic Platform, Polish sector of the Baltic Sea, revealed by new offshore regional seismic reflection data (BALTEC project)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Krzywiec ◽  
Łukasz Słonka ◽  
Quang Nguyen ◽  
Michał Malinowski ◽  
Mateusz Kufrasa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
East European ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Multichannel Seismic Reflection ◽  
Multichannel Seismic Reflection Data

<p>In 2016, approximately 850 km of high-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data of the BALTEC survey have been acquired offshore Poland within the transition zone between the East European Craton and the Paleozoic Platform. Data processing, focused on removal of multiples, strongly overprinting geological information at shallower intervals, included SRME, TAU-P domain deconvolution, high resolution parabolic Radon demultiple and SWDM (Shallow Water De-Multiple). Entire dataset was Kirchhoff pre-stack time migrated. Additionally, legacy shallow high-resolution multichannel seismic reflection data acquired in this zone in 1997 was also used. All this data provided new information on various aspects of the Phanerozoic evolution of this area, including Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic tectonics and sedimentation. This phase of geological evolution could be until now hardly resolved by analysis of industry seismic data as, due to limited shallow seismic imaging and very strong overprint of multiples, essentially no information could have been retrieved from this data for first 200-300 m. Western part of the BALTEC dataset is located above the offshore segment of the Mid-Polish Swell (MPS) – large anticlinorium formed due to inversion of the axial part of the Polish Basin. BALTEC seismic data proved that Late Cretaceous inversion of the Koszalin – Chojnice fault zone located along the NE border of the MPS was thick-skinned in nature and was associated with substantial syn-inversion sedimentation. Subtle thickness variations and progressive unconformities imaged by BALTEC seismic data within the Upper Cretaceous succession in vicinity of the Kamień-Adler and the Trzebiatów fault zones located within the MPS documented complex interplay of Late Cretaceous basin inversion, erosion and re-deposition. Precambrian basement of the Eastern, cratonic part of the study area is overlain by Cambro-Silurian sedimentary cover. It is dissected by a system of steep, mostly reverse faults rooted in most cases in the deep basement. This fault system has been regarded so far as having been formed mostly in Paleozoic times, due to the Caledonian orogeny. As a consequence, Upper Cretaceous succession, locally present in this area, has been vaguely defined as a post-tectonic cover, locally onlapping uplifted Paleozoic blocks. New seismic data, because of its reliable imaging of the shallowest substratum, confirmed that at least some of these deeply-rooted faults were active as a reverse faults in latest Cretaceous – earliest Paleogene. Consequently, it can be unequivocally proved that large offshore blocks of Silurian and older rocks presently located directly beneath the Cenozoic veneer must have been at least partly covered by the Upper Cretaceous succession; then, they were uplifted during the widespread inversion that affected most of Europe. Ensuing regional erosion might have at least partly provided sediments that formed Upper Cretaceous progradational wedges recently imaged within the onshore Baltic Basin by high-end PolandSPAN regional seismic data. New seismic data imaged also Paleogene and younger post-inversion cover. All these results prove that Late Cretaceous tectonics substantially affected large areas located much farther towards the East than previously assumed.</p><p>This study was funded by the Polish National Science Centre (NCN) grant no UMO-2017/27/B/ST10/02316.</p>

scholarly journals Monte Carlo reservoir analysis combining seismic reflection data and informed priors

Geophysics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. R31-R41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Zunino ◽  
Klaus Mosegaard ◽  
Katrine Lange ◽  
Yulia Melnikova ◽  
Thomas Mejer Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Multiple Point ◽  
Petroleum Reservoir ◽  
Inversion Algorithm ◽  
Reservoir Properties ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Reflection Data

Determination of a petroleum reservoir structure and rock bulk properties relies extensively on inference from reflection seismology. However, classic deterministic methods to invert seismic data for reservoir properties suffer from some limitations, among which are the difficulty of handling complex, possibly nonlinear forward models, and the lack of robust uncertainty estimations. To overcome these limitations, we studied a methodology to invert seismic reflection data in the framework of the probabilistic approach to inverse problems, using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (McMC) algorithm with the goal to directly infer the rock facies and porosity of a target reservoir zone. We thus combined a rock-physics model with seismic data in a single inversion algorithm. For large data sets, the McMC method may become computationally impractical, so we relied on multiple-point-based a priori information to quantify geologically plausible models. We tested this methodology on a synthetic reservoir model. The solution of the inverse problem was then represented by a collection of facies and porosity reservoir models, which were samples of the posterior distribution. The final product included probability maps of the reservoir properties in obtained by performing statistical analysis on the collection of solutions.

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