Professional Documents
Culture Documents
6 Resolution PDF
6 Resolution PDF
Resolution
75
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/
4 ms
200 Hz
50 Hz
Figure 1. A 200-Hz sine wave that aliases as a 50-Hz sine wave when sampled at 4 ms.
The Nyquist frequency in this case is 125 Hz, so a 125-Hz antialias filter used during
recording would attenuate the 200-Hz signal.
V = fl .
The dominant frequency in this equation can be estimated easily from the
time separation between adjacent peak and trough reflections on a seismic
section (see Figure 5 in Chapter 3); in general, the dominant frequency
changes vertically and laterally on a seismic section.
Given estimates of the dominant frequency of the data and the vertical
propagation velocity in the vicinity of the features to be resolved, you can
calculate the wavelength of the seismic signal from the preceding equa-
tion, from which the Rayleigh limit of vertical resolution is derived as l/4.
Because propagation velocity and the dominant frequency of the seismic
signal change vertically and laterally throughout the subsurface, it follows
that temporal resolving power will vary across a given area of investigation.
Tuning thickness usually is visualized with the aid of a diagram known
as a wedge or tuning model (Figure 2). The purpose of such a model is to
illustrate the seismic response to the wedge and determine the thickness
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/
Distance (ft)
VP = 7000 ft/s
Depth (ft)
VP = 6000 ft/s
V=f
No density contrast Tuning thickness = 50 ft
TWT (ms)
Figure 2. Wedge model using a 30-Hz Ricker wavelet and P-wave velocities VP
of 6000 and 7000 ft/s (1800 and 2100 m/s) for the wedge (in blue) and encasing
medium, respectively. Using the formula V = f, the tuning thickness for this
model is calculated to be 50 ft (15 m), which corresponds to the point on the
model (red line) at which the trough-peak amplitude response is greatest.
for which the amplitude response is maximum, that is, for which construc-
tive interference of the individual responses from the top and base of the
wedge is maximum. The point at which this composite amplitude response
is maximum is the tuning thickness for the model, with given input wavelet,
wedge geometry, and layer impedances. Notice that above the tuning thick-
ness, the seismic responses from the top and base of the wedge are separate
and distinct (the bed thickness is resolved by the time separation between
these individual responses). Below the tuning thickness, the waveform of
the composite response does not change, but its amplitude decreases as the
bed thickness decreases. These observations suggest that with good data
quality (based on seismic processing from which wavelet phase and true rel-
ative amplitudes can be reliably determined), careful horizon interpretation,
and available well data for calibration, you can use seismic data to estimate
layer thicknesses, a study commonly referred to as tuning or time-amplitude
(time-amp) analysis (see Chapter 3).
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/
Z = depth
Z + /4
Z
Reflector
defines the radius of the first Fresnel zone Fr in terms of the two-way travel-
time (TWT) to a reflector, the average propagation velocity V to that reflec-
tor, and the dominant frequency f of the seismic signal impinging on the
reflector. This formula implies that the size of the first Fresnel zone almost
always increases with depth (corresponding to increasing propagation veloc-
ity and two-way time) and decreasing dominant frequency of signal (owing
to attenuation). Fresnel zones are measured with respect to unmigrated seis-
mic data. Seismic migration collapses these zones; however, 2D migration
collapses the zones only in the direction of shooting of the 2D line. For 3D
data, a full 3D migration collapses the first Fresnel zone to a circle with a
diameter of l/2 (radius = l/4), where l is the dominant wavelength of the
seismic signal.
Spatial sampling is an important consideration when designing 3D seis-
mic surveys. The size of the unit of area into which a 3D survey is subdi-
vided, called a 3D bin, ideally should be sufficient in terms of the Nyquist
theorem, to properly sample the dip of the steepest reflector and/or the area of
the smallest feature of interest within the survey. Figure 4, which represents
a 2.5D model of the subsurface (the third dimension in the strike direction
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/
Bin at surface
q = True dip
4
q
is perpendicular to the plane of the page), illustrates how the required bin
size is related to the average velocity Vavg to the target reflectors, the maxi-
mum dip q of those reflectors, and the dominant frequency f of the seismic
signal. Notice that the Rayleigh resolution limit (the tuning thickness) also
appears in this relationship. It is important to realize that 3D survey design,
in addition to addressing technical requirements such as maximum dip and
minimum area to be imaged, must also take into account economic consid-
erations that can balance or even outweigh technical factors.
Seismic trace displays can exhibit aliasing related to spatial sampling,
as shown in Figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 shows four arrays, each consisting of
four identical variable-area wiggle traces. Traces in Figure 5a are aligned
such that the zero crossing marked in red (the red horizon) is correlated
horizontally from trace to trace. On the succeeding arrays (Figure 5b5d),
each trace within the array is shifted downward by a constant amount from
the trace on its left, with the amount of shift increasing from array to array.
The dip of the red horizon increases in direct proportion to the amount of
trace-to-trace shift in each array and in the direction of the shift (from left to
right). In Figure 5c and 5d, the dashed blue horizon that dips from right to
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/
a) b) c) d)
Figure 5. Aliasing in an array of four identical traces. The red horizon is the
correct trace-to-trace correlation; with increasing vertical shift of adjacent traces,
another possible correlation, marked by the dashed blue horizon, appears.
a) b)
Figure 6. Aliasing caused by deleting every other trace from the original four-trace
array in Figure 5. The red horizon is the correct trace-to-trace correlation; the
dashed blue horizon is an aliased correlation.
left is marked as a possible correlation of the same zero crossing; note that
as the dip of the red horizon increases, the dip of the dashed blue horizon
decreases, and vice versa. This correlation ambiguity is a manifestation of
aliasing, which in this example is related to the trace spacing and the mag-
nitude of the dip (the trace-to-trace shift) of the red horizon.
Figure 6 illustrates aliasing behavior by changing the interval between
traces (effectively, the trace-to-trace sample rate) rather than by trace-to-
trace vertical shift, as done in Figure 5. The array of traces in Figure 6a is
identical to Figure 5b. In Figure 6b, every other trace has been dropped,
effectively doubling the trace interval and halving the trace sample rate (the
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/
Downloaded 17 Feb 2012 to 198.3.68.20. Redistribution subject to SEG license or copyright; Terms of Use: http://segdl.org/