APPLIED GEOPHYSICS, Vol.2, No.

l(January 2005)

2D Seismic Data Processing for Straight Lines

in the Loess Plateaus in Fuxian of Shanbei
Li Minjie1, ChenYequan1,Zhang HaP, Pang Shangming1, and Deng Guozhen1

Abstract: The crooked seismic lines along valleys were irregular previously in Fuxian of Shanbei,
showing an irregular branch in plane, and hard to complete close grids. Therefore, it's difficult to
conduct reservoir inversion of 2D seismic data. In 2001, Zhongyuan Oilfield Company carried out the
study on field acquisition methods and seismic processing technology in Fuxian. Straight lines were
passing through plateaus and formed seismic grids by using flexible geometry with variable linear bins.
Data processing involved model-inversion based refraction static correction, surface consistent am-
plitude compensation, deconvolution, and pre-stack noise attenuation. As the result, seismic data
with a high fidelity was provided for the subsequent reservoir predictions, small-amplitude structure
interpretation and integrative geologic study. Because all lines were jointed to form grids, comprehen-
sive interpretation of reservoir inversion could be finally implemented by using the pseudo logging
method to control lines without wells.
Keywords: refraction statics, surface consistent, noise attenuation, forward modling, and inversion

The surface of the work area was char-
acterized with rugged hills and
branching valleys. The complex topog-
raphy generated strong noises so that
it's difficult to deploy geophones in
regular patterns. Dry and loose loess
100-200 m thick attenuated seismic
waves seriously. Reflections acquired
on dry loess were weak and noises were strong.
Meanwhile, the upholes and LVL could not solve the near-
surface structures. In addition, the burial depth to the water
table was 10-100 m so it's difficult to explode the subsur-
face below the water table. The field static problem was
outstanding due to the great variations in surface elevation,
the instability of the low-velocity layer and the rapid varia-
tions in lateral velocity. The surface was covered with not
only alluvial soil but also gravels and even outcrops of
bedrocks so that the acquisition conditions were complex.
Most of river channels in valleys were covered with sands
and gravels. The center of the loess plateau was covered
with loess in a great thickness. The dry loose loess layer
on the top absorbed seismic waves seriously and gener-
ated different kinds of noises. Therefore, the acquired seis-
mic signals were very different in terms of phase,
frequency, amplitude and energy. At the same time, the S/
N was low and the wavelets were distorted obviously.
How to solve the static problem was the key to the suc-
cess of exploration when adequate LVL data was
unavailable.
The main geological targets included Mesozoic, Up-
per Paleozoic and Lower Paleozoic formations, among
which the H8-$2 segment of Upper Paleozoic was the
prospective gas-bearing strata. Interfaces with strong
acoustic impedances existed in the Yanchang group of
Jurassic, Liujiagou group of Triassic, Sbanxi group of
Permian, Taiyuan group and Benxi group of Carboniferous,
and at the top of Ordovician.
Seismic data processing
Statics method
The static problem was very serious (Figure 1) for
reasons mentioned above, which became the bottleneck

Manuscript received by the Editor November 23, 2003; revised manuscript received October 4, 2004.
1.Geophysical Research Institute of Zhongyuan Oil Field, Puyang 457001, China.

46
 2D Seismic Data Processingfor Straight Lines
restricting the development of seismic exploration in this The main methods adopted in processing were as
area. Without adequate and reliable LVL or uphole data, follows.
the effective way of solving the static problem in seismic Near-surfacestructure investigation
data processing was by means of the refraction static cor-
It's helpful to build up a reasonable near-surface geo-
rection based on model inversion of raw data (Xiong, logic mode] by investigating the near-surface structure in
2002). The basic principle was to calculate an accurate details. Different refractions could be identified on the raw
near-surface geologic model and then verify the reason- data. Assuming that the aforementioned refractions could
ability of this model using different ways of quality con- be easily identified, parameters of the near-surface model
trois so as to obtain accurate static corrections. could be approximately computed and then the near-sur-
face refraction inversion could be conducted with the ini-
tim model. A relatively stable refractor would be delin-
eated through analyzing the relationships among the time-
distance curves of different refractors, and the results could
0.5 be used to guide us picking refractors (Docherty., ] 992).
Computation of model parameters
With proper approaches, model parameters (including
1.0 velocity, and delay time) could be calculated using an it-
erative algorithm and the reasonability of results were con-
trolled in different ways.
Selection of an appropriate replacementvelocity
1.5 Static corrections could be computed from an appro-
priate replacement velocity and a final datum. The replace-
ment velocity should be chosen from the refraction ve-
locities which are locally stable.
2.0
The velocity and morphological variations of a refrac-
S tor could be imaged with the combination of the first breaks
and refraction static correction, which was a powerful
Fig. 1 Raw shot record. way to solve the moderate and long wavelength static
problem. Good results were obtained (Figure 2, Figure 3).

0.5 :).5

N!?r:~'i~*'~i;!:~i!~;;i::!~);q'l~/*i';;;?l;:Sli:;:ii;i ~'!21i;%
:!~i;?~
?~1~
",;2, :~,,~i!,,~:,t,, ;*::7,:": : ,:o~,%',.,"., '!'~'~'~',!1,~i~. ,~'~/~'J:,~(',/i ~, ~'% ~,~I ~:~:'~:~'J~',,,::.,,:';,:.~ ,:
1.0 1.0

1.5 1.5

Fig.2 Shot records before(left) and after(right) refraction statics.

47
 Li Minjie et. al.
Pre-stack noise attenuation
Noise attenuation was a global process in processing.
Regular noises such as the ground roll, tens times stron-
0.5
ger than primaries, affected subsequent processing seri-
ously and needed to be removed firstly. The complexity
1.0 of the surface condition deteriorated the linearity of the
uncorrected ground roll so that the ground roll should be
1.5 removed after statics. The main methods to attenuate
S ground rolls were the local filtering and dip filtering (Figure
4).

0.5 Surface-consistent processes

The great lateral variations near the surface generated
1.0 great differences in energy from different shots or traces.
The differences could be eliminated using surface-consis-
1.5 tent amplitude processing. After spherical divergence com-
S pensation and absorption compensation, the surface con-
sistent amplitude compensation guaranteed the consistency
Fig.3 Stacked sections before(top) and after(bottom) of energy in the CDP, CSP, CRP, and offset domains.
refraction static correction The great lateral variations in acquisition condition gen-
erated great differences in energy and frequency from dif-

0.5

1.0

1.5

Fig.4 Shot records before(left) and after(right) noise attenuation.

ferent shots or traces. The conventional single-trace
deconvolution could not produce good results. The S/N
ratios of different traces in autocorrelation windows were
different, so were the autocorrelation functions. The
deconvolution operators were different from trace to trace,
so were the resultant results. Surface consistent
deconvolution may overcome the shortcomings of single-
trace deconvolution. The differences of near-surface con-
ditions among shots and receivers affected not only the
seismic energy on different records but also the frequency
spectra and phase spectra of seismic wavelets, resulting
in waveform distortion of wavelets. The surface consis-
tent deconvolution generated a uniform deconvolution
operator in the given window from high-S/N data by us-
ing multi-trace autocorrelation. The DECON results were
more consistent (Figure 5).

48
 2D Seismic Data Processing for Straight Lines

0.5

1.0

1.5
S

Fig. 5 Stacked sections before(left) and after(right) surface consistent deconvolution.

Seismic data interpretation and $2 were carried out with the method of seismic char-
acter inversion. The seismic grid consisted of all lines so
The processing and interpretation of all the crooked
that the comprehensive interpretation of reservoir inver-
lines and straight lines showed that a structural nose with
sion could be finally implemented by using the pseudo-
the strikes of NNW, NW and nearly WE developed in a
logging method to control lines without wells. Two growth
west-dipping monocline. Five local structures on the struc-
sand belts, the H8 sand 34 m thick and the $2 sand 32 m
tural nose were developed, which displayed as a stripe
thick, were identified in the northwest and southeast parts
trending NW. The structural relief was about 20 - 30 m
of the survey area (Figure 6). The reflections of straight
and the trapping areas of H8 and $2 were 21.78 and 17
lines presented good continuity, clear features, higher S/N
km 2 respectively. Variable velocity mapping was used to
and high resolutions. The dominant frequency of main tar-
eliminate the effect of the lateral velocity variations on the
gets increased from 30 Hz to 40-50 Hz. The improvement
location and relief of structure. The reliability of structure
was especially evident in depth (Figure 7).
was improved. The inversion of the two main targets H8

Fig. 6 The structural map with thickness of sand on the bottom of H8.

49
 Li Minjie et. al.

/:L , . . . . . . . . . . . =

- ,~ l' I: il I I f II I i [ I II I I'111 ]111 I ,~7 = ; =

0.5

1.5

Fig.7 Seismic section of straight line.

Geophysical Research Institute of Zhongyuan Oilfield for

Conclusions their assistance in writing this paper.

It was realistic to make straight lines cross the plateau

by using flexible linear-bin geometry to deploy shotpoints.
The processing sequence including surface-consistent
processing, model-inversion based refraction static cor-
rection and pre-stack noise attenuation improved the
fidelity, S/N and resolution of seismic data and provided
reliable data for the interpretation of small-amplitude
structures. The seismic grid consisted of all lines so that
seismic and inversion data could be continuously corre-
lated on a plane, which provided a sound basis for integra-
tive geology research, reservoir prediction and favorable
target evaluation.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Cai Qixin, Zhang Shuhai, Pan
Wenfeng, Wang Xiwen, Han Fumin and Long Liping from
References
Docherty P., 1992, Solving for the thickness and velocity of
the weathering layer using 2-D refraction tomography:
Geophysics, 57 (10), 307~318
Xiongzhu, 2002, Ideas of seismic data processing in complex
area: China Petroleum Industry Press
First author:
Li Minjie, Senier Engineer, graduated from the Geophysics
Department of Huadong University of Petroleum in 1988.
He has won the prize of the scientific and technological
progress from the Bureau and Ministries several times.
Now he engages in the acquisition, processing and meth-
odology research on the seismic data in the Geophysical
Research Institute of Zhongyuan Oilfield.

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