Simultaneous Inversion of Layered Velocity and Density Profiles Using Direct Waveform Inversion (DWI): 1D Case

To better interpret the subsurface structures and characterize the reservoir, a depth model quantifying P-wave velocity together with additional rock’s physical parameters such as density, the S-wave velocity, and anisotropy is always preferred by geologists and engineers. Tradeoffs among different parameters can bring extra challenges to the seismic inversion process. In this study, we propose and test the Direct Waveform Inversion (DWI) scheme to simultaneously invert for 1D layered velocity and density profiles, using reflection seismic waveforms recorded on the surface. The recorded data includes primary reflections and interbed multiples. DWI is implemented in the time-space domain then followed by a wavefield extrapolation to downward continue the source and receiver. By explicitly enforcing the wavefield time-space causality, DWI can recursively determine the subsurface seismic structure in a local layer-by-layer fashion for both sharp interfaces and the properties of the layers, from shallow to deep depths. DWI is different from the layer stripping methods in the frequency domain. By not requiring a global initial model, DWI also avoids many nonlinear optimization problems, such as the local minima or the need for an accurate initial model in most waveform inversion schemes. Two numerical tests show the validity of this DWI scheme serving as a new strategy for multi-parameter seismic inversion.

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Data-driven Prestack Waveform Inversion Using Genetic Algorithm- Methodology and Examples

Interpretation ◽

10.1190/int-2020-0201.1 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-97

Author(s):

Lingxiao Jia ◽

Subhashis Mallick ◽

Cheng Wang

Keyword(s):

Genetic Algorithm ◽

Seismic Data ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

Seismic Inversion ◽

P Wave ◽

Data Driven ◽

Initial Model ◽

Reservoir Properties ◽

Well Control ◽

Seismic Waveform

The choice of an initial model for seismic waveform inversion is important. In matured exploration areas with adequate well control, we can generate a suitable initial model using well information. However, in new areas where well control is sparse or unavailable, such an initial model is compromised and/or biased by the regions with more well controls. Even in matured exploration areas, if we use time-lapse seismic data to predict dynamic reservoir properties, an initial model, that we obtain from the existing preproduction wells could be incorrect. In this work, we outline a new methodology and workflow for a nonlinear prestack isotropic elastic waveform inversion. We call this method a data driven inversion, meaning that we derive the initial model entirely from the seismic data without using any well information. By assuming a locally horizonal stratification for every common midpoint and starting from the interval P-wave velocity, estimated entirely from seismic data, our method generates pseudo wells by running a two-pass one-dimensional isotropic elastic prestack waveform inversion that uses the reflectivity method for forward modeling and genetic algorithm for optimization. We then use the estimated pseudo wells to build the initial model for seismic inversion. By applying this methodology to real seismic data from two different geological settings, we demonstrate the usefulness of our method. We believe that our new method is potentially applicable for subsurface characterization in areas where well information is sparse or unavailable. Additional research is however necessary to improve the compute-efficiency of the methodology.

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Interparameter trade-off quantification for isotropic-elastic full-waveform inversion with various model parameterizations

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2017-0832.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 84 (2) ◽

pp. R185-R206 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Wenyong Pan ◽

Kristopher A. Innanen ◽

Yu Geng ◽

Junxiao Li

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

P Wave ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Full Waveform Inversion ◽

S Wave ◽

Trade Off ◽

Full Waveform ◽

Trade Offs ◽

P Wave Velocity

Simultaneous determination of multiple physical parameters using full-waveform inversion (FWI) suffers from interparameter trade-off difficulties. Analyzing the interparameter trade-offs in different model parameterizations of isotropic-elastic FWI, and thus determining the appropriate model parameterization, are critical for efficient inversion and obtaining reliable inverted models. Five different model parameterizations are considered and compared including velocity-density, modulus-density, impedance-density, and two velocity-impedance parameterizations. The scattering radiation patterns are first used for interparameter trade-off analysis. Furthermore, a new framework is developed to evaluate the interparameter trade-off based upon multiparameter Hessian-vector products: Multiparameter point spread functions (MPSFs) and interparameter contamination sensitivity kernels (ICSKs), which provide quantitative, second-order measurements of the interparameter contaminations. In the numerical experiments, the interparameter trade-offs in various model parameterizations are evaluated using the MPSFs and ICSKs. Inversion experiments are carried out with simple Gaussian-anomaly models and a complex Marmousi model. Overall, the parameterization of the P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density, and the parameterization of the P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and S-wave impedance perform best for reconstructing all of the physical parameters. Isotropic-elastic FWI of the Hussar low-frequency data set with various model parameterizations verifies our conclusions.

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Multistage elastic full-waveform inversion for tilted transverse isotropic media

Geophysical Journal International ◽

10.1093/gji/ggaa295 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 223 (1) ◽

pp. 57-76

Author(s):

Ju-Won Oh ◽

Youngjae Shin ◽

Tariq Alkhalifah ◽

Dong-Joo Min

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Tilt Angle ◽

Seismic Data ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

Transversely Isotropic ◽

P Wave ◽

Simultaneous Inversion ◽

Full Waveform ◽

P Wave Velocity ◽

Tti Media

SUMMARY Seismic anisotropy is an important physical phenomenon that significantly affects wave propagation in complex sedimentary basins. When geological structures exhibit steep dips or severe folding, the symmetry axis of the transversely isotropic (TI) representation of the region can be rotated, leading to tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) media. We seek to find the optimal full-waveform inversion (FWI) strategy to estimate both the seismic velocities and the anisotropic parameters, including the tilt angle, in the presence of elastic TTI media. We first formulate the forward and inverse problems for elastic TTI media and analyse the radiation patterns of the model parameters. Based on the analyses of the radiation patterns, we propose two similar multistage FWI strategies that add inversion parameters over three stages, beginning with the isotropic parameters (horizontal P- and vertical S-wave velocity) and moving to the anisotropic parameters; the tilt angle is directly inverted in the last stage. Since diving waves, which are useful for providing long-wavelength updates, are mainly controlled by horizontal motion in anisotropic media, it is reasonable to choose the horizontal P-wave velocity rather than the vertical P-wave velocity. Then, the anisotropic parameters are inverted mainly using the reflected waves based on the isotropic background model built in the first stage. The main difference between the two multistage FWI strategies is whether the anisotropic parameter η is inverted. Comparing the two multistage FWI strategies with the simultaneous inversion strategy for a downsized version of the synthetic BP TTI model, we confirm that the multistage FWI strategies yield better inversion results than the simultaneous inversion strategy. When we compare the two multistage FWI strategies with each other for surface seismic data, ignoring η during the FWI process (focused multistage FWI) yields better inversion results for the tilt angle than those obtained with the inversion of η because η has less influence on the FWI than the other parameters and is not recovered well, which plays a role in degrading the tilt angle. Numerical examples support our conclusions that the focused multistage FWI strategy (neglecting η) is the optimal FWI strategy for TTI media and achieves computational efficiency for surface seismic data.

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Metode Seismik dalam Pemodelan Fisis Letusan Gunung Lumpur Bledug Kuwu

JURNAL PENDIDIKAN TEKNOLOGI KEJURUAN ◽

10.24036/jptk.v2i2.19423 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 61-66

Author(s):

Ahmad Fauzi Pohan ◽

Rusnoviandi Rusnoviandi

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Physical Modeling ◽

Vertical Component ◽

Dominant Frequency ◽

P Wave ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

S Wave ◽

Interesting Phenomenon ◽

Central Java ◽

P Wave Velocity

Aktivitas gunung lumpur Bledug Kuwu di Jawa Tengah merupakan fenomena yang menarik dikaji menggunakan pemodelan fisis. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui parameter dari medium gunung lumpur Bledug Kuwu. Adapun pemodelan fisis yang dilakukan dengan menggunakan media fisis akuarium berukuran 59 × 59 × 37,3 cm yang diisi material dari lumpur Bledug Kuwu. Sumber letusan dihasilkan dari tekanan kompresor yang dapat diatur kedalaman (10.5, 13, dan 15.5 cm) dan sudut (30o, 45o dan 60o) sumbernya. Sensor yang digunakan geophone komponen vertikal sebanyak 3 buah dengan durasi perekaman selama 5 dan 2,5 detik. Data diambil dengan frekuensi sampel 2 dan 4 kHz untuk masing-masing durasi perekaman. Konfigurasi sumber dan geophone dibuat sesuai dengan pemodelan fisisnya. Pengukuran desnsitas lumpur menunjukkan angka sebesar 1200 kg/m3. Berdasarkan hasil analisis seismogram model fisis diperoleh kecepatan perambatan gelombang-P pada medium lumpur Bledug Kuwu adalah sebesar 48,74 m/s,dan gelombang-S sebesar 28,14 m/s dengan frekuensi dominan antara 20 sampai 25 Hz. Bledug Kuwu mud volcano activity in Central Java is an interesting phenomenon to be studied using both physical modeling. The objective of this study was to determine the physical parameters of the medium of Bledug Kuwu. The Physical model was an aquarium with a dimension of 59 × 59 × 37.3 cm filled with Bledug Kuwu’s mud. The eruption source is generated by a compressor pressure that can be controled both the depth(10.5, 13, and 15.5 cm) and the angel of the source (30o, 45o and 60o). The resulting seismic signals were recorded by using 3 vertical component geophones for 10 and 5 seconds durations at a frequency of 2 and 4 kHz respectivel, mud density 1200 kg/m3 . The physical modeling shows that the P-wave velocity of the Bledug Kuwu’s medium is 48.7 m/s, S-wave velocity of Bledug Kuwu’s is 28,14 m/s with a dominant frequency of 20 to 25 Hz.

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Multi-parameter model building for the Qiuyue structure using four-component ocean-bottom seismometer data

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2020-0537.1 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-52

Author(s):

Yuzhu Liu ◽

Xinquan Huang ◽

Jizhong Yang ◽

Xueyi Liu ◽

Bin Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

Velocity Model ◽

P Wave ◽

Velocity Analysis ◽

Full Waveform Inversion ◽

Ocean Bottom ◽

Ocean Bottom Seismometer ◽

Full Waveform ◽

P Wave Velocity

Thin sand-mud-coal interbedded layers and multiples caused by shallow water pose great challenges to conventional 3D multi-channel seismic techniques used to detect the deeply buried reservoirs in the Qiuyue field. In 2017, a dense ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) acquisition program acquired a four-component dataset in East China Sea. To delineate the deep reservoir structures in the Qiuyue field, we applied a full-waveform inversion (FWI) workflow to this dense four-component OBS dataset. After preprocessing, including receiver geometry correction, moveout correction, component rotation, and energy transformation from 3D to 2D, a preconditioned first-arrival traveltime tomography based on an improved scattering integral algorithm is applied to construct an initial P-wave velocity model. To eliminate the influence of the wavelet estimation process, a convolutional-wavefield-based objective function for the preprocessed hydrophone component is used during acoustic FWI. By inverting the waveforms associated with early arrivals, a relatively high-resolution underground P-wave velocity model is obtained, with updates at 2.0 km and 4.7 km depth. Initial S-wave velocity and density models are then constructed based on their prior relationships to the P-wave velocity, accompanied by a reciprocal source-independent elastic full-waveform inversion to refine both velocity models. Compared to a traditional workflow, guided by stacking velocity analysis or migration velocity analysis, and using only the pressure component or other single-component, the workflow presented in this study represents a good approach for inverting the four-component OBS dataset to characterize sub-seafloor velocity structures.

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Time–frequency windowing in multiparameter elastic FWI of shallow seismic wavefield

Geophysical Journal International ◽

10.1093/gji/ggaa242 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 222 (2) ◽

pp. 1164-1177

Author(s):

Nikolaos Athanasopoulos ◽

Edgar Manukyan ◽

Thomas Bohlen ◽

Hansruedi Maurer

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Time Window ◽

Mass Density ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

P Wave ◽

S Wave ◽

Time Frequency ◽

Full Waveform ◽

Shallow Seismic ◽

P Wave Velocity

SUMMARY Full-waveform inversion of shallow seismic wavefields is a promising method to infer multiparameter models of elastic material properties (S-wave velocity, P-wave velocity and mass density) of the shallow subsurface with high resolution. Previous studies used either the refracted Pwaves to reconstructed models of P-wave velocity or the high-amplitude Rayleigh waves to infer the S-wave velocity structure. In this work, we propose a combination of both wavefields using continuous time–frequency windowing. We start with the contribution of refracted P waves and gradually increase the time window to account for scattered body waves, higher mode Rayleigh waves and finally the fundamental Rayleigh wave mode. The opening of the time window is combined with opening the frequency bandwidth of input signals to avoid cycle skipping. Synthetic reconstruction tests revealed that the reconstruction of P-wave velocity model and mass density can be improved. The S-wave velocity reconstruction is still accurate and robust and is slightly benefitted by time–frequency windowing. In a field data application, we observed that time–frequency windowing improves the consistency of multiparameter models. The inferred models are in good agreement with independent geophysical information obtained from ground-penetrating radar and full-waveform inversion of SH waves.

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Three-parameter prestack seismic inversion based on L1-2 minimization

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2018-0730.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 84 (5) ◽

pp. R753-R766 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lingqian Wang ◽

Hui Zhou ◽

Yufeng Wang ◽

Bo Yu ◽

Yuanpeng Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Seismic Inversion ◽

Thin Layers ◽

P Wave ◽

S Wave ◽

Reservoir Prediction ◽

Linear Inversion ◽

Prestack Inversion ◽

The Difference ◽

Predictive Filtering

Prestack inversion has become a common approach in reservoir prediction. At present, the critical issue in the application of seismic inversion is the estimation of elastic parameters in the thin layers and weak reflectors. To improve the resolution and the accuracy of the inversion results, we introduced the difference of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] norms as a nearly unbiased approximation of the sparsity of a vector, denoted as the [Formula: see text] norm, to the prestack inversion. The nonconvex penalty function of the [Formula: see text] norm can be decomposed into two convex subproblems via the difference of convex algorithm, and each subproblem can be solved efficiently by the alternating direction method of multipliers. Compared with the [Formula: see text] norm regularization, the [Formula: see text] minimization can reconstruct reflectivities more accurately. In addition, the [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] predictive filtering was introduced to guarantee the lateral continuity of the location and the amplitude of the reflectivity series. The generalized linear inversion and [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text] predictive filtering are combined for stable elastic impedance inversion results, and three parameters of P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density can be inverted with the Bayesian linearized amplitude variation with offset inversion. The inversion results of synthetic and real seismic data demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively improve the resolution and accuracy of the inversion results.

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Semiglobal viscoacoustic full-waveform inversion

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2017-0773.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 84 (2) ◽

pp. R271-R293 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Nuno V. da Silva ◽

Gang Yao ◽

Michael Warner

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Wave Velocity ◽

Seismic Data ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

P Wave ◽

Full Waveform Inversion ◽

Data Set ◽

Intrinsic Attenuation ◽

Full Waveform ◽

P Wave Velocity

Full-waveform inversion deals with estimating physical properties of the earth’s subsurface by matching simulated to recorded seismic data. Intrinsic attenuation in the medium leads to the dispersion of propagating waves and the absorption of energy — media with this type of rheology are not perfectly elastic. Accounting for that effect is necessary to simulate wave propagation in realistic geologic media, leading to the need to estimate intrinsic attenuation from the seismic data. That increases the complexity of the constitutive laws leading to additional issues related to the ill-posed nature of the inverse problem. In particular, the joint estimation of several physical properties increases the null space of the parameter space, leading to a larger domain of ambiguity and increasing the number of different models that can equally well explain the data. We have evaluated a method for the joint inversion of velocity and intrinsic attenuation using semiglobal inversion; this combines quantum particle-swarm optimization for the estimation of the intrinsic attenuation with nested gradient-descent iterations for the estimation of the P-wave velocity. This approach takes advantage of the fact that some physical properties, and in particular the intrinsic attenuation, can be represented using a reduced basis, substantially decreasing the dimension of the search space. We determine the feasibility of the method and its robustness to ambiguity with 2D synthetic examples. The 3D inversion of a field data set for a geologic medium with transversely isotropic anisotropy in velocity indicates the feasibility of the method for inverting large-scale real seismic data and improving the data fitting. The principal benefits of the semiglobal multiparameter inversion are the recovery of the intrinsic attenuation from the data and the recovery of the true undispersed infinite-frequency P-wave velocity, while mitigating ambiguity between the estimated parameters.

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Elastic reflection traveltime inversion with decoupled wave equation

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2017-0631.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 83 (5) ◽

pp. R463-R474 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Guanchao Wang ◽

Shangxu Wang ◽

Jianyong Song ◽

Chunhui Dong ◽

Mingqiang Zhang

Keyword(s):

Wave Equation ◽

Wave Velocity ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

P Wave ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Local Minima ◽

S Wave ◽

Traveltime Inversion ◽

Velocity Models ◽

Elastic Reflection

Elastic full-waveform inversion (FWI) updates high-resolution model parameters by minimizing the residuals of multicomponent seismic records between the field and model data. FWI suffers from the potential to converge to local minima and more serious nonlinearity than acoustic FWI mainly due to the absence of low frequencies in seismograms and the extended model domain (P- and S-velocities). Reflection waveform inversion can relax the nonlinearity by relying on the tomographic components, which can be used to update the low-wavenumber components of the model. Hence, we have developed an elastic reflection traveltime inversion (ERTI) approach to update the low-wavenumber component of the velocity models for the P- and S-waves. In our ERTI algorithm, we took the P- and S-wave impedance perturbations as elastic reflectivity to generate reflections and a weighted crosscorrelation as the misfit function. Moreover, considering the higher wavenumbers (lower velocity value) of the S-wave velocity compared with the P-wave case, optimizing the low-wavenumber components for the S-wave velocity is even more crucial in preventing the elastic FWI from converging to local minima. We have evaluated an equivalent decoupled velocity-stress wave equation to ERTI to reduce the coupling effects of different wave modes and to improve the inversion result of ERTI, especially for the S-wave velocity. The subsequent application on the Sigsbee2A model demonstrates that our ERTI method with the decoupled wave equation can efficiently update the low-wavenumber parts of the model and improve the precision of the S-wave velocity.

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Seismic characterization of submarine gas-hydrate deposits in the Western Black Sea by acoustic full-waveform inversion of ocean-bottom seismic data

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2018-0622.1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 84 (5) ◽

pp. B311-B324 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laura Gassner ◽

Tobias Gerach ◽

Thomas Hertweck ◽

Thomas Bohlen

Keyword(s):

Wave Velocity ◽

Black Sea ◽

Gas Hydrate ◽

Seismic Data ◽

Field Data ◽

Waveform Inversion ◽

P Wave ◽

Full Waveform Inversion ◽

Ocean Bottom ◽

Full Waveform

Evidence for gas-hydrate occurrence in the Western Black Sea is found from seismic measurements revealing bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs) of varying distinctness. From an ocean-bottom seismic data set, low-resolution traveltime-tomography models of P-wave velocity [Formula: see text] are constructed. They serve as input for acoustic full-waveform inversion (FWI), which we apply to derive high-resolution parameter models aiding the interpretation of the seismic data for potential hydrate and gas deposits. Synthetic tests indicate the applicability of the FWI approach to robustly reconstruct [Formula: see text] models with a typical hydrate and gas signature. Models of S-wave velocity [Formula: see text] containing a hydrate signature can only be reconstructed when the parameter distribution of [Formula: see text] is already well-known. When we add noise to the modeled data to simulate field-data conditions, it prevents the reconstruction of [Formula: see text] completely, justifying the application of an acoustic approach. We invert for [Formula: see text] models from field data of two parallel profiles of 14 km length with a distance of 1 km. Results indicate a characteristic velocity trend for hydrate and gas occurrence at BSR depth in the first of the analyzed profiles. We find no indications for gas accumulations below the BSR on the second profile and only weak indications for hydrate. These differences in the [Formula: see text] signature are consistent with the reflectivity behavior of the migrated seismic streamer data of both profiles in which a zone of high-reflectivity amplitudes is coincident with the potential gas zone derived from the FWI result. Calculating saturation estimates for the potential hydrate and gas zones yields values of up to 30% and 1.2%, respectively.

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