Nonhyperbolic reflection moveout for horizontal transverse isotropy
- Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Center for Wave Phenomena
The transversely isotropic model with a horizontal axis of symmetry (HTI) has been used extensively in studies of shear-wave splitting to describe fractured formations with a single system of parallel vertical penny-shaped cracks. Here, the authors present an analytic description of long-spread reflection moveout in horizontally layered HTI media with arbitrary strength of anisotropy. To account for nonhyperbolic moveout, the authors have derived an exact expression for the azimuthally dependent quartic term of the Taylor series traveltime expansion valid for any pure mode in an HTI layer. The quartic moveout coefficient and the NMO velocity are then substituted into the nonhyperbolic moveout equation of Tsvankin and Thomsen, originally designed for vertical transverse isotropy (VTI). In multilayered HTI media, the NMO velocity and the quartic moveout coefficient reflect the influence of layering as well as azimuthal anisotropy. The authors show that the conventional Dix equation for NMO velocity remains entirely valid for any azimuth in HTI media if the group-velocity vectors (rays) for data in a common-midpoint (CMP) gather do not deviate from the vertical incidence plane. Although this condition is not exactly satisfied in the presence of azimuthal velocity variations, rms averaging of the interval NMO velocities represents a good approximation for models with moderate azimuthal anisotropy. Furthermore, the quartic moveout coefficient for multilayered HTI media can also be calculated with acceptable accuracy using the known averaging equations for vertical transverse isotropy. This allows one to extend the nonhyperbolic moveout equation to horizontally stratified media composed of any combination of isotropic, VTI, and HTI layers.
- OSTI ID:
- 669965
- Journal Information:
- Geophysics, Vol. 63, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: Sep-Oct 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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