Application of Frequency Split Structurally Oriented Filtering to Seismic Whitening and Seismic Inversion Workflows

摘要

This paper describes a new method that uses dip-steered filtering to improve the performance of subsequent seismic whitening and relative impedance inversion. Given favourable acquisition and processing parameters, the availability of high frequency signals is ultimately limited by poor Signal/Noise ratio (S/N) at high frequencies. Dealing with this noise is key to accessing the high frequency information. We show that though spatial filters applied to broadband seismic data affect mainly the central pass-band, a frequency splitting approach can benefit specifically the target high frequency parts of the spectrum. The dip-steered filters trade spatial resolution for increased S/N, but only in the frequency bands that are boosted during the whitening or inversion processes. In a similar way that the process is applied to high frequency bands, it can also be used to improve the S/N of the low frequencies during acoustic impedance inversion. Applying the technique prior to full- bandwidth inversion accesses lower seismic frequencies and reduces reliance on pre-existing background model. The value of increased resolution in the seismic data volumes is illustrated with case histories. Well ties demonstrate the validity of the technique and are used to QC the product.