Diffraction imaging in depth

High resolution imaging is of great value to an interpreter, for instance to enable identification of small scale faults, and to locate formation pinch-out positions. Standard approaches to obtain high-resolution information, such as coherency analysis and structure-oriented filters, derive attributes from stacked, migrated images. Since they are image-driven, these techniques are sensitive to artifacts due to an inadequate migration velocity; in fact the attribute derivation is not based on the physics of wave propagation. Diffracted waves on the other hand have been recognized as physically reliable carriers of high- or even super-resolution structural information. However, high-resolution information, encoded in diffractions, is generally lost during the conventional processing sequence, indeed migration kernels in current migration algorithms are biased against diffractions. We propose here methods for a diffraction-based, data-oriented approach to image resolution. We also demonstrate the different behaviour of diffractions compared to specular reflections and how this can be leveraged to assess characteristics of subsurface features. In this way a rough surface such as a fault plane or unconformity may be distinguishable on a diffraction image and not on a traditional reflection image.
We outline some characteristic properties of diffractions and diffraction imaging, and present two novel approaches to diffraction imaging in the depth domain. The first technique is based on reflection focusing in the depth domain and subsequent filtering of reflections from prestack data. The second technique modifies the migration kernel and consists of a reverse application of stationary-phase migration to suppress contributions from specular reflections to the diffraction image. Both techniques are proposed as a complement to conventional full-wave pre-stack depth migration, and both assume the existence of an accurate migration velocity.     

Diffraction separation by plane-wave prediction filtering

Seismic data processing typically deals with seismic wave reflections and neglects wave diffraction that affect the resolution. As a general rule, wave diffractions are treated as noise in seismic data processing. However, wave diffractions generally originate from geological structures, such as fractures, karst caves, and faults. The wave diffraction energy is much weaker than that of the reflections. Therefore, even if wave diffractions can be traced back to their origin, their energy is masked by that of the reflections. Separating and imaging diffractions and reflections can improve the imaging accuracy of diffractive targets. Based on the geometrical differences between reflections and diffractions on the plane-wave record; that is, reflections are quasi-linear and diffractions are quasi-hyperbolic, we use plane-wave prediction filtering to separate the wave diffractions. First, we estimate the local slope of the seismic event using planewave destruction filtering and, then, we predict and extract the wave reflections based on the local slope. Thus, we obtain the diffracted wavefield by directly subtracting the reflected wavefield from the entire wavefield. Finally, we image the diffracted wavefield and obtain high-resolution diffractive target results. 2D SEG salt model data suggest that the plane-wave prediction filtering eliminates the phase reversal in the plane-wave destruction filtering and maintains the original wavefield phase, improving the accuracy of imaging heterogeneous objects.     

Common reflection surface stack using dip decomposition for rugged surface topography

We present an extension of the Common Reflection Surface （CRS） stack that provides support for an arbitrary top surface topography. CRS stacking can be applied to the original prestack data without the need for any elevation statics. The CRS-stacked zero- offset section can be corrected （redatumed） to a given planar level by kinematic wave field attributes. The seismic processing results indicate that the CRS stacked section for rugged surface topography is better than the conventional stacked section for S/N ratio and better continuity of reflection events. Considering the multiple paths of zero-offset rays, the method deals with reflection information coming from different dips and performs the stack using the method of dip decomposition, which improves the kinematic and dynamic character of CRS stacked sections.     

稳定的保幅高阶广义屏地震偏移成像方法研究

以先进的波动理论为基础的波动方程保幅地震偏移成像是在给出正确位置的同时也给出真实振幅的一种特殊完善.作者从保幅单程波动方程的非稳态相移公式出发,基于反问题求解中常用的摄动理论,利用单平方根算子的渐进展开,从而推导出保幅叠前深度偏移方程的高阶广义屏形式;针对散射波场计算项对于横向变速介质的不稳定性,通过数学近似提出一个有效提高稳定性的策略,应用到波场递归外推过程中,从而得到一种稳定的保幅高阶广义屏叠前深度偏移算子.理论模型试算和实际资料处理表明,该方法不但可以更精确地使散射能量聚焦、归位,提高成像精度;而且可以输出正确反映地下反射系数的振幅信息,使AVO响应更加清晰,提高了AVO资料的分析精度.     

Numerical tests of 3D true-amplitude zero-offset migration1

An amplitude-preserving migration aims at imaging compressional primary (zero-or) non-zero-offset reflections into 3D time or depth-migrated reflections so that the migrated wavefield amplitudes are a measure of angle-dependent reflection coeffcients. The principal objective is the removal of the geometrical-spreading factor of the primary reflections. Various migration/inversion algorithms involving weighted diffraction stacks proposed recently are based on Born or Kirchhoff approximations. Here, a 3D Kirchhoff-type zero-offset migration approach, also known as a diffraction-stack migration, is implemented in the form of a time migration. The primary reflections of the wavefield to be imaged are described a priori by the zero-order ray approximation. The aim of removing the geometrical- spreading loss can, in the zero-offset case, be achieved by not applying weights to the data before stacking them. This case alone has been implemented in this work. Application of the method to 3D synthetic zero-offset data proves that an amplitude-preserving migration can be performed in this way. Various numerical aspects of the true-amplitude zero-offset migration are discussed.     

Common-reflection-surface (CRS) stack for common offset

We provide a data-driven macro-model-independent stacking technique that migrates 2D prestack multicoverage data into a common-offset (CO) section. We call this new process the CO common-reflection-surface (CRS) stack. It can be viewed as the generalization of the zero-offset (ZO) CRS stack, by which 2D multicoverage data are stacked into a well-simulated ZO section. The CO CRS stack formula can be tailored to stack P-P, S-S reflections as well as P-S or S-P converted reflections. We point out some potential applications of the five kinematic data-derived attributes obtained by the CO CRS stack for each stack value. These include (i) the determination of the geometrical spreading factor for reflections, which plays an important role in the construction of the true-amplitude CO section, and (ii) the separation of the diffractions from reflection events. As a by-product of formulating the CO CRS stack formula, we have also derived a formula to perform a data-driven prestack time migration.     

平面声波在粗糙界面上的反射特征研究

基于有关粗糙界面的Rayleigh假设,讨论了平面声波按余弦规律快速变化的小尺度粗糙界面上的反射特征.研究表明：这类界面与位于该位置的一个过渡地层的作用相当.该过渡层的厚度为粗糙界面的起伏幅度,速度和密度为上下两层介质相应量的平均值.研究了埋藏很深的微粗糙界面所引起的地震反射（绕射）波的频散特性和走时的构成,即包含零炮检距反射时间、正常时差和界面粗糙时差三部分内容.该粗糙时差与空间坐标和时间坐标无关,与绕射波的阶次有关,绕射波尾随在反射波之后以某一固定的时差出现.且只有当界面的粗糙波长与地震波的波长相当时,才能观测到这类绕射波.该结论为粗糙界面地震反射资料的处理方法提供了理论依据.     

Handling dip discrimination phenomenon in common‐reflection‐surface stack via combination of output‐imaging‐scheme and migration/demigration

In the application of a conventional common‐reflection‐surface (CRS) stack, it is well‐known that only one optimum stacking operator is determined for each zero‐offset sample to be simulated. As a result, the conflicting dip situations are not taken into account and only the most prominent event contributes to any a particular stack sample. In this paper, we name this phenomenon caused by conflicting dip problems as ‘dip discrimination phenomenon’. This phenomenon is not welcome because it not only leads to the loss of weak reflections and tips of diffractions in the final zero‐offset‐CRS stacked section but also to a deteriorated quality in subsequent migration. The common‐reflection‐surface stack with the output imaging scheme (CRS‐OIS) is a novel technique to implement a CRS stack based on a unified Kirchhoff imaging approach. As far as dealing with conflicting dip problems is concerned, the CRS‐OIS is a better option than a conventional CRS stack. However, we think the CRS‐OIS can do more in this aspect. In this paper, we propose a workflow to handle the dip discrimination phenomenon based on a cascaded implementation of prestack time migration, CRS‐OIS and prestack time demigration. Firstly, a common offset prestack time migration is implemented. Then, a CRS‐OIS is applied to the time‐migrated common offset gather. Afterwards, a prestack time demigration is performed to reconstruct each unmigrated common offset gather with its reflections being greatly enhanced and diffractions being well preserved. Compared with existing techniques dealing with conflicting dip problems, the technique presented in this paper preserves most of the diffractions and accounts for reflections from all possible dips properly. More importantly, both the post‐stacked data set and prestacked data set can be of much better quality after the implementation of the presented scheme. It serves as a promising alternative to other techniques except that it cannot provide the typical CRS wavefield attributes. The numerical tests on a synthetic Marmousi data set and a real 2D marine data set demonstrated its effectiveness and robustness.     

非零偏VSP弹性波叠前逆时深度偏移技术探讨

非零偏VSP地震资料是一种多分量资料,处理非零偏VSP资料,弹性波叠前逆时深度偏移技术无疑是最适合的处理技术.本文从二维各向同性介质的弹性波波动方程出发,研究了对非零偏VSP资料进行叠前逆时深度偏移的偏移算法,讨论了逆时传播过程中的边值问题和数值频散问题及其相应的解决方案;采用求解程函方程计算得到地下各点的地震波初至时间作为成像时间,实现了非零偏VSP资料的叠前逆时深度偏移.最后进行了模型试算和非零偏VSP地震资料的试处理,结果表明该方法不受地层倾角限制,较适用于高陡构造地区或介质横向速度变化较大地区的非零偏VSP地震资料处理.     

地震数据的反射波动方程最小二乘偏移

基于反射波动方程,本文提出了一种估计地下反射率分布的地震数据最小二乘偏移方法.高频近似下,非齐次的一次反射波动方程的源项是由反射率与入射波场的时间一阶导数相互作用产生的.根据反射波动方程,利用线性最小二乘反演方法由地震反射数据重建出地下产生反射波的反射源,再结合波场正演计算出的地下入射波场,得到地下反射率分布的估计.在地下反射源的线性最小二乘反演重建中,我们采用迭代求解方法,并以地震波的检波器单向地下照明强度作为最小二乘优化问题中Hessian矩阵的近似.     

MIGRATION TO ZERO OFFSET (DMO) FOR A CONSTANT VELOCITY GRADIENT: AN ANALYTICAL FORMULATION1

Migration to zero offset (MZO) is a prestack partial migration process that transforms finite-offset seismic data into a close approximation to zero-offset data, regardless of the reflector dips that are present in the data. MZO is an important step in the standard processing sequence of seismic data, but is usually restricted to constant velocity media. Thus, most MZO algorithms are unable to correct for the reflection point dispersal caused by ray bending in inhomogeneous media. We present an analytical formulation of the MZO operator for the simple possible variation of velocity within the earth, i.e. a constant gradient in the vertical direction. The derivation of the MZO operator is carried out in two steps. We first derive the equation of the constant traveltime surface for linear V(z) velocity functions and show that the isochron can be represented by a fourth-degree polynomial in x, y and z. This surface reduces to the well-known ellipsoid in the constant-velocity case, and to the spherical wavefront obtained by Slotnick in the coincident source-receiver case. We then derive the kinematic and dynamic zero-offset corrections in parametric form by using the equation of the isochron. The weighting factors are obtained in the high-frequency limit by means of a simple geometric spreading correction. Our analytical results show that the MZO operator is a multivalued, saddle-shaped operator with marked dip moveout effects in the cross-line direction. However, the amplitude analysis and the distribution of dips along the MZO impulse response show that the most important contributions of the MZO operator are concentrated in a narrow zone along the in-line direction. In practice, MZO processing requires approximately the same trace spacing in the in-line and cross-line directions to avoid spatial aliasing effects.     

基于倾角-偏移距域道集的绕射波成像

地震绕射波是地下非连续性地质体的地震响应,绕射波成像对地下断层、尖灭和小尺度绕射体的识别具有重要的意义.在倾角域共成像点道集中,反射波同相轴表现为一条下凸曲线,能量主要集中在菲涅耳带内,绕射波能量则比较发散.由于倾角域菲涅耳带随偏移距变化而存在差异,因此本文提出一种在倾角-偏移距域道集中精确估计菲涅耳带的方法,在各偏移距的倾角域共成像点道集中实现菲涅耳带的精确切除,从而压制反射波.在倾角-偏移距域道集中还可以分别实现绕射波增强,绕射波同相轴相位校正,因此能量弱的绕射波可以清晰地成像.在倾角域共成像点道集中,反射波同相轴的最低点对应于菲涅耳带估计所用的倾角,因此本文提出一种在倾角域共成像点道集中直接自动拾取倾角场的方法.理论与实际资料试算验证了本文绕射波成像方法的有效性.     

Migration to multiple offset and velocity analysis1

The stacking velocity best characterizes the normal moveout curves in a common-mid-point gather, while the migration velocity characterizes the diffraction curves in a zero-offset section as well as in a common-midpoint gather. For horizontally layered media, the two velocity types coincide due to the conformance of the normal and the image ray. In the case of dipping subsurface structures, stacking velocities depend on the dip of the reflector and relate to normal rays, but with a dip-dependent lateral smear of the reflection point. After dip-moveout correction, the stacking velocities are reduced while the reflection-point smear vanishes, focusing the rays on the common reflection points. For homogeneous media the dip-moveout correction is independent of the actual velocity and can be applied as a dip-moveout correction to multiple offset before velocity analysis. Migration to multiple offset is a prestack, time-migration technique, which presents data sets which mimic high-fold, bin-centre adjusted, common-midpoint gathers. This method is independent of velocity and can migrate any 2D or 3D data set with arbitrary acquisition geometry. The gathers generated can be analysed for normal-moveout velocities using traditional methods such as the interpretation of multivelocity-function stacks. These stacks, however, are equivalent to multi-velocity-function time migrations and the derived velocities are migration velocities.     

Generalized migration in frequency-wavenumber domain (MGF-K) in anisotropic media

In this paper, the background of MGF-K migration in dual domain (wavenumber-frequency K-F and space-time) in anisotropic media is presented. Algorithms for poststack (zero-offset) and prestack migration are based on downward extrapolation of acoustic wavefield by shift-phase with correction filter for lateral variability of medium’s parameters. In anisotropic media, the vertical wavenumber was determined from full elastic wavefield equations for two dimensional (2D) tilted transverse isotropy (TTI) model. The method was tested on a synthetic wavefield for TTI anticlinal model (zero-offset section) and on strongly inhomogeneous vertical transverse isotropy (VTI) Marmousi model. In both cases, the proper imaging of assumed media was obtained.     

Image‐ray Tomography

Seismic tomography is a well‐established approach to invert smooth macro‐velocity models from kinematic parameters, such as traveltimes and their derivatives, which can be directly estimated from data. Tomographic methods differ more with respect to data domains than in the specifications of inverse‐problem solving schemes. Typical examples are stereotomography, which is applied to prestack data and Normal‐Incidence‐Point‐wave tomography, which is applied to common midpoint stacked data. One of the main challenges within the tomographic approach is the reliable estimation of the kinematic attributes from the data that are used in the inversion process. Estimations in the prestack domain (weak and noisy signals), as well as in the post‐stack domain (occurrence of triplications and diffractions leading to numerous conflicting dip situations) may lead to parameter inaccuracies that will adversely impact the resulting velocity models. To overcome the above limitations, a new tomographic procedure applied in the time‐migrated domain is proposed. We call this method Image‐Incident‐Point‐wave tomography. The new scheme can be seen as an alternative to Normal‐Incidence‐Point‐wave tomography. The latter method is based on traveltime attributes associated with normal rays, whereas the Image‐Incidence‐Point‐wave technique is based on the corresponding quantities for the image rays. Compared to Normal‐Incidence‐Point‐wave tomography the proposed method eases the selection of the tomography attributes, which is shown by synthetic and field data examples. Moreover, the method provides a direct way to convert time‐migration velocities into depth‐migration velocities without the need of any Dix‐style inversion.     

Common-reflection-surface stack — a real data example

The simulation of a zero-offset (ZO) stack section from multi-coverage reflection data is a standard imaging method in seismic processing. It significantly reduces the amount of data and increases the signal-to-noise ratio due to constructive interference of correlated events. Conventional imaging methods, e.g., normal moveout (NMO)/dip moveout (DMO)/stack or pre-stack migration, require a sufficiently accurate macro-velocity model to yield appropriate results, whereas the recently introduced common-reflection-surface stack does not depend on a macro-velocity model. For two-dimensional seismic acquisition, its stacking operator depends on three wavefield attributes and approximates the kinematic multi-coverage reflection response of curved interfaces in laterally inhomogeneous media. The common-reflection-surface stack moveout formula defines a stacking surface for each particular sample in the ZO section to be simulated. The stacking surfaces that fit best to actual events in the multi-coverage data set are determined by means of coherency analysis. In this way, we obtain a coherency section and a section of each of the three wavefield attributes defining the stacking operator. These wavefield attributes characterize the curved interfaces and, thus, can be used for a subsequent inversion. In this paper, we focus on an application to a real land data set acquired over a salt dome. We propose three separate one-parametric search and coherency analyses to determine initial common-reflection-surface stack parameters. Optionally, a subsequent optimization algorithm can be performed to refine these initial parameters. The simulated ZO section obtained by the common-reflection-surface stack is compared to the result of a conventional NMO/DMO/stack processing sequence. We observe an increased signal-to-noise ratio and an improved continuity along the events for our proposed method — without loss of lateral resolution.     

面炮叠前深度偏移与控制照明技术

基于波场延拓的叠前深度偏移是实现复杂构造地质体成像的最可靠方法,但存在着计算量大、对观测系统适应性差等缺点。面炮偏移是波动方程实现精确叠前成像的另一类方法,具有较高的计算效率,不存在偏移孔径问题,而且可以通过控制照明方法,解决平面波在目标区域的能量补偿问题。本文采用面炮成像技术进行叠前深度偏移成像,通过对面炮震源下行波场的质量控制以及射线参数的个数和范围的选取,以达到最佳的成像效果。采用不同深度点上的控制照明技术,较大地提高了目标地层的成像精度。数据实验表明面炮成像技术是一种快速有效的方法,其成像精度与单平方根算子的共炮点道集偏移和双平方根算子的共中心点道集偏移相当,但在计算速度上要快得多,而且易于并行计算。     

Common-Reflection-Surface Stack for Converted Waves

The finite-offset (FO) common-reflection-surface (CRS) stack has been shown to be able to handle not only P-P or S-S but also arbitrarily converted reflections. It can provide different stack sections such as common-offset (CO), common-midpoint (CMP) and common-shot (CS) sections with significantly increased signal-to-noise ratio from the multi-coverage pre-stack seismic data in a data-driven way. It is our purpose in this paper to demonstrate the performance of the FO CRS stack on data involving converted waves in inhomogeneous layered media. In order to do this we apply the FO CRS stack for common-offset to a synthetic seismic data set involving P-P as well as P-S converted primary reflections. We show that the FO CRS stack yields convincing improvement of the image quality in the presence of noisy data and successfully extracts kinematic wavefield attributes useful for further analyses. The extracted emergence angle information is used to achieve a complete separation of the wavefield into its P-P and P-S wave components, given the FO CRS stacked horizontal and vertical component sections.     

逆时偏移中用Poynting矢量高效地提取角道集

逆时偏移在提高复杂介质的成像质量方面表现出了优越的性能,但逆时偏移对速度精度的要求比较高.共成像点道集是一种非常重要的叠前深度偏移输出,它除了能为深度偏移处理提供速度信息外,还能够提供振幅和相位等信息,为后续的属性解释提供依据.本文提出一种在逆时偏移成像过程中提取角度域共成像点道集的方法,该方法采用矢量波动方程进行波场传播,并用能流密度矢量(Poynting vector)计算反射角,最后应用互相关成像条件输出角度域共成像点道集.该方法简单易于实现,且几乎不需要额外的计算量和存储量,非常适合于进行逆时偏移速度分析,同时提出的角道集也能用于进行AVA等分析.最后通过模型算例和实际数据检验了方法的有效性和优越性.