Browsing by Subject "Seismic attenuation"
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Item Estimating attenuation properties of bentonite layer in Cut Bank oil field, Glacier County, Montana(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) Karakurt, NecdetAcquisition and interpretation of 3-D seismic data led DeAngelo and Hardage (2001) to describe the channel system in the south central Cut Bank area in Glacier County, Montana. The presence of a low velocity layer called Bentonite was also discovered in the area with the help of well-logs. Bentonite is a volcanic ash, which lies on both sides of the channel system and is absent within the channel. DeAngelo and Hardage (2001) shot a vertical seismic profiling (VSP) survey at well # 54-8 to analyze the formation structure in depth, since seismic signals around the reservoir area were unclear in the 3-D survey. This research attempts to estimate the attenuation properties of the Bentonite layer in the Cut Bank oil field. VSP data is processed for velocity information and estimation of seismic Q using the spectral ratios method (SRM). The SRM theoretically assumes that the propagating signal is a plane seismic wave traveling vertically from one point to another in a homogeneous model. The amplitudes at the start and end points are known and relate to each other with the attenuation coefficient in a frequency range. The relation between the seismic amplitudes at z distance from each other can be expressed as a linear function of frequency after a few modifications. SRM uses the linearity of the logarithmic ratio of the seismic amplitudes over a frequency range. In theory, ratios plotted against a frequency range must produce a flat line. However, in practice, the logarithmic ratios are expected to draw an approximate line (curve), where some of the data points deviate from the origin of the line. Thus fitting a line to the ratios curve and calculating the slope of this curve are necessary. Slope of the curve relates to the seismic attenuation coefficient and further to the seismic Q. The SRM results suggest that Bentonite may have a Q value as low as 5. This highly attenuative and thin (20 to 40 feet throughout the south central Cut Bank Unit) layer alters seismic signals propagating through it. A thorough analysis of the amplitude spectra suggests that seismic signals dramatically lose their energy when they pass through Bentonite. Low energy content of the signals below the Bentonite layer highlights that the recovery of the seismic energy is less likely despite the presence of multiples, which are known to affect the seismic signals constructively. Therefore, separation of reflected events is a greater challenge for the thin reservoir sand units lying underneath the Bentonite layer. Thus the Bentonite layer in the Cut Bank oil field has to be taken seriously and data processing should be done accordingly for better accuracy.Item Seismic modeling and imaging in complex media using low-rank approximation(2016-12) Sun, Junzhe; Fomel, Sergey B.; Biros, George; Ghattas, Omar; Sen, Mrinal K.; Zhang, YuSeismic imaging in geologically complex areas, such as sub-salt or attenuating areas, has been one of the greatest challenges in hydrocarbon exploration. Increasing the fidelity and resolution of subsurface images will lead to a better understanding of geological and geomechanical properties in these areas of interest. Wavefield time extrapolation is the kernel of wave-equation-based seismic imaging algorithms, known as reverse-time migration. In exploration seismology, traditional ways for solving wave equations mainly include finite-difference and pseudo-spectral methods, which in turn involve finite-difference approximation of spatial or temporal derivatives. These approximations may lead to dispersion artifacts as well as numerical instability, therefore imposing a strict limit on the sampling intervals in space or time. This dissertation aims at developing a general framework for wave extrapolation based on fast application of Fourier integral operators (FIOs) derived from the analytical solutions to wave equations. The proposed methods are theoretically immune to dispersion artifacts and numerical instability, and are therefore desirable for applications to seismic imaging. First, I derive a one-step acoustic wave extrapolation operator based on the analytical solution to the acoustic wave equation. The proposed operator can incorporate anisotropic phase velocity, angle-dependent absorbing boundary conditions and further improvements in phase accuracy. I also investigate the numerical stability of the method using both theoretical derivations and numerical tests. Second, to model wave propagation in attenuating media, I use a visco-acoustic dispersion relation based on a constant-Q wave equation with decoupled fractional Laplacians, which allows for separable control of amplitude loss and velocity dispersion. The proposed formulation enables accurate reverse-time migration with attenuation compensation. Third, to further improve numerical stability of Q-compensation, I introduce stable Q-compensation operators based on amplitude spectrum scaling and smooth division. Next, for applications to least-squares RTM (LSRTM) and full-waveform inversion, I derive the adjoint operator of the low-rank one-step wave extrapolation method using the theory of non-stationary filtering. To improve the convergence rate of LSRTM in attenuating media, I propose Q-compensated LSRTM by replacing the adjoint operator in LSRTM with Q-compensated RTM. Finally, I extend the low-rank one-step wave extrapolation method to general elastic anisotropic media. Using the idea of eigenvalue decomposition and matrix exponential, I study the relationship between wave propagation and wave-mode decomposition. To handle the case of strong heterogeneity, I incorporate gradients of stiffnesses in wave extrapolation. Numerous synthetic examples in both 2D and 3D are used to test the practical application and accuracy of the proposed approaches.