3-D moveout inversion in azimuthally anisotropic media with lateral velocity variation: Theory and a case study
Reflection moveout recorded over an azimuthally anisotropic medium (e.g., caused by vertical or dipping fractures) varies with the azimuth of the source-receiver line. Normal-moveout (NMO) velocity, responsible for the reflection traveltimes on conventional-length spreads, forms an elliptical curve in the horizontal plane. While this result remains valid in the presence of arbitrary anisotropy and heterogeneity, the inversion of the NMO ellipse for the medium parameters has been discussed so far only for horizontally homogeneous models above a horizontal or dipping reflector. Here, the authors develop an analytic moveout correction for weak lateral velocity variation in horizontally layered azimuthally anisotropic media. The correction term is proportional to the curvature of the zero-offset travel-time surface at the common midpoint and, therefore, can be estimated from surface seismic data. After the influence of lateral velocity variation on the effective NMO ellipses has been stripped, the generalized Dix equation can be used to compute the interval ellipses and evaluate the magnitude of azimuthal anisotropy (measured by P-wave NMO velocity) within the layer of interest. This methodology was applied to a 3-D wide-azimuth data set acquired over a fractured reservoir in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming. The processing sequence included 3-D semblance analysis (based on the elliptical NMO equation) for a grid of common-midpoint supergathers, spatial smoothing of the effective NMO ellipses and zero-offset traveltimes, correction for lateral velocity variation, and generalized Dix differentiation. The estimates of depth-varying fracture trends in the survey area, based on the interval P-wave NMO ellipses, are in good agreement with the results of outcrop and borehole measurements and the rotational analysis of four component S-wave data.
- Research Organization:
- Colorado School of Mines (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy
- OSTI ID:
- 20000507
- Journal Information:
- Geophysics, Journal Name: Geophysics Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 64; ISSN GPYSA7; ISSN 0016-8033
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
3-D moveout velocity analysis and parameter estimation for orthorhombic media
Feasibility of nonhyperbolic moveout inversion in transversely isotropic media