scholarly journals Local CMP stacking improvement technique for better traceability of separate reflection horizon

Author(s):  
А.А. Дробинский ◽  
О.А. Жуковская

В последние годы всё больше объектов сейсморазведочных работ относится к проблемным территориям, характеризующимся неблагоприятными поверхностными условиями и сложной геологической обстановкой. Получение качественных сейсмических изображений при обработке в таких случаях входит в число приоритетных направлений современной сейсморазведки. Одним из путей решения проблем ухудшения прослеживаемости сейсмических горизонтов в сложных условиях является оптимизированное суммирование общей средней точки (ОСТ), учитывающее качество входных сейсмических данных. Цель исследования. Настоящая работа посвящена созданию и тестированию гибкой, универсальной методики оптимизации суммирования ОСТ на конечной стадии полевой или камеральной обработки сейсмических данных метода отражённых волн общей глубинной точки (МОВ-ОГТ 2D/3D) для улучшения прослеживаемости отражающих горизонтов. При создании такой методики важным требованием являлась возможность реализации в существующем программном обеспечении (ПО), в том числе, отечественном. Методы исследования. Для исследования влияния сложных геологических объектов на распределение энергии в выборках ОСТ было выполнено построение иллюминационной модели по целевому горизонту, расположенному под эрозионным врезом. Оценка влияния рассеивающих аномалий верхней части разреза (ВЧР) проводилась с помощью двумерного лучевого моделирования с получение синтетических сейсмограмм ОПВ по горизонтально-слоистому модельному разрезу, содержащему участок палеокарста. Чтобы оценить потенциал применения предлагаемой методики были генерированы синтетические данные, содержащие сильные помехи различной природы, а также зону падения амплитуды полезного сигнала. По этим данным были разными способами получены и оценены суммарные трассы. Предлагаемая методика также была опробована на реальных данных метода общей глубинной точки (МОГТ-2D). Оценка результатов работы различных вариантов суммирования выполнялась визуально, а также количественно (с помощью атрибутного анализа). Результаты работы. Выполненное исследование показало недостаточную эффективность стандартного суммирования ОСТ для сложных сейсмических данных. Польза от применения существующих методик улучшения суммирования ОСТ очевидна, но они имеют недостатки: нарушение естественной динамики волновой картины, невозможность локального применения, необходимость реализации в специальном ПО. Предлагаемая авторами методика оптимизации суммирования даёт высокую гибкость и маневренность работы и позволяет справиться с вышеуказанными проблемами. Свободный выбор критериев взвешивания интервалов трасс на основе анализа пользовательского набора атрибутов открывает широкие возможности тонкой настройки процедуры, вводит интерпретационную составляющую в процесс оптимизации суммирования, делая его более осмысленным в геолого-геофизическом отношении. Предлагаемая методика не требует написания и опробования нового специального ПО и может быть реализована в уже имеющихся сейсмических пакетах, включая и российские программные комплексы Today increasingly more objects of prospecting seismology belong to problem areas characterized by unfavorable surface conditions and complex geological situation. Acquiring of high-quality seismic images by processing in these cases is a part of priority directions of modern prospecting seismology. One of the way to overcome the problem of seismic horizon traceability worsening in hard conditions is optimized CMP stacking, considering the quality of input seismic data. Aim. This work is devoted to generation and examination of flexible universal technique of optimized stacking on the last stage of field or final processing of 2D/3D reflection seismic data for seismic horizon traceability improvement. Creating this technique assumed important condition of embodiment ability in existing software (including Russian). Methods. Illumination model building was performed for target horizon, located beneath the erosive cut for studying of complex geological objects influence on energy distribution in CMP gathers. Scattering superficial anomalies influence was estimated by means of 2D ray tracing and synthetic shot records generation on horizontally layered model sectionconsisting near surface ancient karst spot. Synthetic data with different kinds of noise and signal amplitude decay zone war generated to appreciate implementation potential of introducing technique. Stacked traces were obtained and evaluated on this data with different methods. The introduced technique was tested on real 2D seismic data too. Evaluation of results of different kinds of stacking was performed by sight and with quantitative (attribute) analysis. Results. Performed research showed insufficient efficiency convenience CMP stacking for complex seismic data. The advantages of existing CMP stacking improvement methods are obvious but there are drawbacks too: natural wave field dynamic violation, disability of local implementation, need of special software development. Offered technique of stacking optimization gives high flexibility and mobility in work and allow overcoming the aforementioned problems. Easy choice of trace range weighting criteria based on customer attribute set analysis gives wide opportunities of fine-tuning for this procedure, bringing in interpretation term of stack optimization process and making it more sensible in geological-geophysical relation. This technique need not new software development and testing, it could be embodied in existing seismic software suites, including Russian complexes

Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. U67-U76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Ferguson

The possibility of improving regularization/datuming of seismic data is investigated by treating wavefield extrapolation as an inversion problem. Weighted, damped least squares is then used to produce the regularized/datumed wavefield. Regularization/datuming is extremely costly because of computing the Hessian, so an efficient approximation is introduced. Approximation is achieved by computing a limited number of diagonals in the operators involved. Real and synthetic data examples demonstrate the utility of this approach. For synthetic data, regularization/datuming is demonstrated for large extrapolation distances using a highly irregular recording array. Without approximation, regularization/datuming returns a regularized wavefield with reduced operator artifacts when compared to a nonregularizing method such as generalized phase shift plus interpolation (PSPI). Approximate regularization/datuming returns a regularized wavefield for approximately two orders of magnitude less in cost; but it is dip limited, though in a controllable way, compared to the full method. The Foothills structural data set, a freely available data set from the Rocky Mountains of Canada, demonstrates application to real data. The data have highly irregular sampling along the shot coordinate, and they suffer from significant near-surface effects. Approximate regularization/datuming returns common receiver data that are superior in appearance compared to conventional datuming.


Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. U77-U84 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Bergman ◽  
A. Tryggvason ◽  
C. Juhlin

Reflection seismic imaging of the uppermost kilometer of crystalline bedrock is an important component in site surveys for locating potential storage sites for nuclear waste in Sweden. To obtain high-quality images, refraction statics are calculated using first-break traveltimes. These first-break picks may also be used to produce tomographic velocity images of the uppermost bedrock. In an earlier study, we presented a method applicable to data sets where the vast majority of shots are located in the bedrock below the glacial deposits, or cover, typical for northern latitudes. A by-product of this method was an estimate of the cover thickness from the receiver static that was introduced to sharpen the image. We now present a modified version of this method that is applicable for sources located in or on the cover, the general situation for nuclear waste site surveys. This modified methodalso solves for 3D velocity structure and static correctionssimultaneously in the inversion process. The static corrections can then be used to estimate the cover thickness. First, we test our tomography method on synthetic data withthe shot points in the bedrock below the cover. Next, we developa strategy for the case when the sources are within the cover. Themethod is then applied to field data from five crooked-line,high-resolution reflection seismic profiles ranging in lengthfrom 2 to [Formula: see text]. The crooked-line profiles make the study 2.5dimensional regarding bedrock velocities. The cover thicknessalong the profiles varies from 0 to [Formula: see text]. Estimated thickness ofthe cover agrees well with data from boreholes drilled near theprofiles. Low-velocity zones in the uppermost bedrock generallycorrelate with locations where reflections from the stackedsections project to the surface. Thus, the method is functional,both for imaging the uppermost bedrock velocities as well as for estimating the cover thickness.


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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 597-603
Author(s):  
Yong Fang ◽  
Wenshan Luo ◽  
Xiaoxia Luo ◽  
Xukui Feng ◽  
Bo Zhao ◽  
...  

Due to complicated near-surface conditions, including large elevation changes and complex geologic structures, accurate imaging of subsurface structures for hydrocarbon exploration in the foreland basins of western China has been challenging for many years. After decades of research and fieldwork, we developed an effective seismic exploration workflow that uses the latest technologies from acquisition to imaging. They include 3D high-density and wide-azimuth (WAZ) acquisition, 3D true-surface tilted transverse isotropy (TTI) anisotropic prestack depth migration, and dual-detachment structural modeling and interpretation. To further reduce uncertainty in velocity model building and improve imaging quality, our geologists, geophysicists, and reservoir engineers worked closely through the exploration cycle (seismic acquisition, processing, and interpretation). This exploration model has been used successfully in hydrocarbon exploration of many complex foothill areas in western China. Three-dimensional WAZ high-density seismic surveys have been conducted over 40,000 km2 of the foreland basins, greatly improving the field seismic data quality. After application of 3D true-surface TTI anisotropic depth model building and imaging with integrated structural interpretation, new discoveries of hydrocarbon reservoirs have increased. The application of new technologies not only increased drilling success but also reduced depth well-tie errors between seismic data and wells.


Geophysics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. D27-D36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Bakulin ◽  
Marta Woodward ◽  
Dave Nichols ◽  
Konstantin Osypov ◽  
Olga Zdraveva

Tilted transverse isotropy (TTI) is increasingly recognized as a more geologically plausible description of anisotropy in sedimentary formations than vertical transverse isotropy (VTI). Although model-building approaches for VTI media are well understood, similar approaches for TTI media are in their infancy, even when the symmetry-axis direction is assumed known. We describe a tomographic approach that builds localized anisotropic models by jointly inverting surface-seismic and well data. We present a synthetic data example of anisotropic tomography applied to a layered TTI model with a symmetry-axis tilt of 45 degrees. We demonstrate three scenarios for constraining the solution. In the first scenario, velocity along the symmetry axis is known and tomography inverts for Thomsen’s [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] parame-ters. In the second scenario, tomography inverts for [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and velocity, using surface-seismic data and vertical check-shot traveltimes. In contrast to the VTI case, both these inversions are nonunique. To combat nonuniqueness, in the third scenario, we supplement check-shot and seismic data with the [Formula: see text] profile from an offset well. This allows recovery of the correct profiles for velocity along the symmetry axis and [Formula: see text]. We conclude that TTI is more ambiguous than VTI for model building. Additional well data or rock-physics assumptions may be required to constrain the tomography and arrive at geologically plausible TTI models. Furthermore, we demonstrate that VTI models with atypical Thomsen parameters can also fit the same joint seismic and check-shot data set. In this case, although imaging with VTI models can focus the TTI data and match vertical event depths, it leads to substantial lateral mispositioning of the reflections.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Gareth Venfield ◽  
Michael Townsend ◽  
Paul Cattermole ◽  
Tony Martin ◽  
Stuart Fairhead

Evaluating, planning, and forecasting are integral parts of asset development and continue throughout the life cycle of a producing field. The right decisions are required to lower risk and maximize economic recovery in challenging environments. The Claymore Complex is located in the North Sea and was discovered in 1977. A number of geologic challenges affect the imaging and hence field development including a system of shallow interweaving Quaternary channels, numerous high-contrast layers of varying composition, overburden structural complexity, and a sequence of tilted fault blocks containing the main reservoir systems. Historically, seismic processing over the area has not fully solved these challenges, resulting in significant imaging uncertainty. The Claymore Complex has an abundance of data including a large population of well information and interpretation. As part of a data revitalization process, geostatistical integration of these auxiliary data into a velocity model building sequence using full-waveform inversion and wavelet shift tomography enabled the generation of an accurate high-resolution velocity model. Access to a recent 3D survey acquired obliquely to existing data improved subsurface illumination for both the model building and imaging phases. Near-surface imaging effects and their impact on reservoir positioning and clarity were improved using the upgraded velocity model and dual-azimuth data. Shallow imaging challenges were mitigated by utilizing the additional illumination and angular diversity contained within the multiple reverberations. The revitalization of the Claymore area seismic data has challenged the current understanding of the geologic framework. Confidence has been improved by solving depth conversion problems and increasing the understanding of fault positioning and reservoir connectivity, which are invaluable for future field development.


Geophysics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. B269-B285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai-Britt Jensen ◽  
Artem Kashubin ◽  
Christopher Juhlin ◽  
Sten-Åke Elming

Potential weakness zones due to mining-related fracture development under the town of Kiruna, Sweden, have been investigated by integration of seismic, gravity, and petrophysical data. Reflection seismic data were acquired along two subparallel 2D profiles within the residential area of the town. The profiles of [Formula: see text], each oriented approximately east–west, nearly perpendicular to the general strike of the local geology, crossed several contact zones between quartz-bearing porphyries, a sequence of interchanging sedimentary rocks (siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate, and agglomerate), and metabasalt. The resulting reflection seismic sections revealed a strong east-dipping reflectivity that is imaged down to approximately 1.5 km. The location and orientation of major features agree well between the profiles and with the surface geology and known contact zones between the different rock types. Our imaging results, supported by traveltime modelling, indicate that the contact zones dip 40°–50° to the east. The deepest and the weakest reflections are associated with a [Formula: see text] dipping structure that is presumably related to the Kiirunavaara iron mineralization. Tomographic inversion of refracted arrivals revealed a more detailed image of the velocity distribution in the upper 100–200 m along the profiles, enabling us to identify near-surface low velocity zones. These could be possible weakness zones developed along the lithological contacts and within the geologic units. The structural image obtained from the seismic data was used to constrain data inversion along a 28 km long east–northeast to west–southwest-oriented gravity profile. The resulting density model indicates that the quartz-bearing porphyry in the hanging wall of the Kiirunavaara mineralization can be separated into two blocks oriented parallel to the ore body. One block has an unexpected low density, which could be an indication of extensive fracturing and deformation.


Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Heloise Lynn ◽  
Colin M. Sayers ◽  
Benjamin Roure

The SEAM Barrett model was designed to model typical land basins found in the North American mid-continent that host unconventional reservoirs, such as fractured shale reservoirs. This model was used recently in several studies to assess whether shale bodies could be resolved using azimuthal 3D P-P reflection seismic data. In one study it was claimed that near-surface complexity prevents the identification of the shale bodies using azimuthal analysis and concluded that VVAz (Velocity Variation with Azimuth) and AVAz (Amplitude Variation with Azimuth) are not worth running in the Permian basin. However, another study by different authors applied a different seismic processing sequence to successfully resolve the reservoir geobodies and showed promising AVAz and VVAz results. This paper focuses on the SEAM Barrett model itself. Despite some advantages, the limitations of the Barrett model prevent conclusions to be drawn about the usefulness of VVAz and AVAz to characterize fractured reservoirs in other situations, such as the Permian Basin.


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