Lecture 5

Mitchum et al., 1977b

AAPG1977 reprinted with permission of the AAPG whose permission is required for further use.

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L 5 Seismic Method

Basic Exploration Workflow

Identify Opportunities

Acquire Seismic Data

Capture Prime Areas

Process Seismic Data Assess Prospects
Failure

Drill Wildcats
Success

Interpret Seismic Data

Confirmation Well
Uneconomic
Drop Prospect

Economic Analysis

Success

To D/P
L 5 Seismic Method

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The Seismic Method

Energy Source An Explosion!

.4 s

Listening Devices

.8 s

.1 .2 0 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 0s s s

Some Energy is Reflected

Most Energy is Transmitted

Some Energy is Reflected

Most Energy is Transmitted

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L 5 Seismic Method

Raw Seismic Data

Device #1
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Device #2

For the explosion we just considered ...

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Time

Listening device #1 records a reflection starting at 0.4 seconds

Listening device #2 records a reflection starting at 0.8 seconds

To Image the Subsurface, We Use Many Shots (explosions) and Many Receivers (listening devices) Arranged in Lines either on Land or Offshore
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L 5 Seismic Method

Seismic Acquisition
A 3D survey is designed based on:
Imaging Objectives: image area, target depth, dips, velocity, size/thickness of bodies to be imaged, etc. Survey Parameters: survey area, fold, offsets, sampling, shooting direction, etc. Balance between Data Quality & $$$$$

Vibrators Generate a Disturbance Geophones Detect Motion

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Land Operations

Air Guns Generate a Disturbance Hydrophones Detect Pressure

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Marine Operations

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Raw Data - Marine

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L 5 Seismic Method

Seismic Processing

Data Processing Stream

Field Record (marine)

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Subsurface Image
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L 5 Seismic Method

Shot Gather
For Shot 1
Source S1 R1 Receivers

Direct Arrival
R2

Offset (Distance)
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5

R3

R4

R5

1
Direct Arrival

Reflections
3

For each shot, reflections are recorded in 5 receivers There are 5 bounce points along interface 3
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2 Way Travel Time

Reflection

L 5 Seismic Method

Common Midpoint Gather

For Point A
Sources S5 S4 S3 S2 S1 Receivers

CMP Gather
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5

A
We sort the shot-receiver pairs so that data from the same bounce point (e.g., at A) is captured

CMP = common mid point

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Offset Distance L 5 Seismic Method

CMP Gather
CMP Gather

The travel times differ since the path for a near offset trace is less than the path for a far offset trace With the correct velocity, we can correct for the difference in travel time for each trace.

The curvature of this hyperbola is a function of the average velocity down to the depth of the reflection
Offset Distance

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L 5 Seismic Method

With Correct Velocity, Gather is Flat

CMP Gather
Velocity Too Slow
Curves Down

Velocity Correct

Flat

Velocity Too Fast

Offset Distance

Curves Up

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L 5 Seismic Method

A Stacked Trace
CMP Gather
Moveout Corrected Midpoint Gather Stacked Trace

We stack several offset traces (# traces = fold) The geologic signal will be additive The random noise will tend to cancel Stacking greatly improves S/N

Offset Distance

10 Fold
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(signal-to-noise)
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Positioning Problems
Energy Source

0.4 s Bounce Point

The seismic ray hits an inclined surface at 90 and reflects back

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The reflection is displayed beneath the source-receiver midpoint

L 5 Seismic Method

Time for an Exercise

1 2 3 4 5 6

90 Where would the reflection lie?

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L 5 Seismic Method

Time for an Exercise

1 2 3 4 5 6

Compass

Where would the reflection lie?

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L 5 Seismic Method

Time for an Exercise

1 2 3 4 5 6

Where would the reflection lie?

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L 5 Seismic Method

Exercise Answer
1 2 3 4 5 6

The reflection is downdip and its dip is less than the interface
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L 5 Seismic Method

Migration Correcting for Location

Unmigrated energy on single trace...
S R

Sweep Ellipse S R

...spread to all possible locations of origin

Sweep Ellipse

Sweep Ellipse

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L 5 Seismic Method

Migration Power of Correlation

Two reflections on unmigrated data After spreading to all possible locations

Reflections are not positioned in the subsurface correctly since they have dip

Constructive interference occurs where the reflections are properly positioned Destructive interference dominates where the reflections are NOT properly positioned

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L 5 Seismic Method

Seismic Migration
Unmigrated Image

Positioning Problems Blur the Image

Migrated Image

Migration Reduces Positioning Problems, which Improves the Image

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L 5 Seismic Method

Seismic Interpretation
Mitchum et al., 1977

AAPG1977 reprinted with permission of the AAPG whose permission is required for further use.

Determine the local geology from the subsurface images

Map faults and other structural features Map unconformities and other major stratal surfaces Interpret depositional environments Infer lithofacies from reflection patterns & velocities Predict ages of stratal units

Examine elements of the HC systems

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L 5 Seismic Method