Prestack AVA joint inversion of PP and PS waves using the vectorized reflectivity method

Most current prestack AVA joint inversion methods are based on the exact Zoeppritz equation and its various approximations. However, these equations only reflect the relation between reflection coefficients, incidence angles, and elastic parameters on either side of the interface, which means that wave-propagation effects, such as spherical spreading, attenuation, transmission loss, multiples, and event mismatching of P-and S-waves, are not considered and cannot accurately describe the true propagation characteristics of seismic waves. Conventional AVA inversion methods require that these wave-propagation effects have been fully corrected or attenuated before inversion but these requirements can hardly be satisfied in practice. Using a one-dimensional(1 D) earth model, the reflectivity method can simulate the full wavefield response of seismic waves. Therefore, we propose a nonlinear multicomponent prestack AVA joint inversion method based on the vectorized reflectivity method, which uses a fast nondominated sorting genetic algorithm(NSGA II) to optimize the nonlinear multiobjective function to estimate multiple parameters, such as P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density. This approach is robust because it can simultaneously cope with more than one objective function without introducing weight coefficients. Model tests prove the effectiveness of the proposed inversion method. Based on the inversion results, we find that the nonlinear prestack AVA joint inversion using the reflectivity method yields more accurate inversion results than the inversion by using the exact Zoeppritz equation when the wave-propagation effects of transmission loss and internal multiples are not completely corrected.

Multi-scale data joint inversion of minerals and porosity in altered igneous reservoirs—A case study in the South China Sea

There are abundant igneous gas reservoirs in the South China Sea with significant value of research,and lithology classification,mineral analysis and porosity inversion are important links in reservoir evaluation.However,affected by the diverse lithology,complicated mineral and widespread alteration,conventional logging lithology classification and mineral inversion become considerably difficult.At the same time,owing to the limitation of the wireline log response equation,the quantity and accuracy of minerals can hardly meet the exploration requirements of igneous formations.To overcome those issues,this study takes the South China Sea as an example,and combines multi-scale data such as micro rock slices,petrophysical experiments,wireline log and element cutting log to establish a set of joint inversion methods for minerals and porosity of altered igneous rocks.Specifically,we define the lithology and mineral characteristics through core slices and mineral data,and establish an igneous multi-mineral volumetric model.Then we determine element cutting log correction method based on core element data,and combine wireline log and corrected element cutting log to perform the lithology classification and joint inversion of minerals and porosity.However,it is always difficult to determine the elemental eigenvalues of different minerals in inversion.This paper uses multiple linear regression methods to solve this problem.Finally,an integrated inversion technique for altered igneous formations was developed.The results show that the corrected element cutting log are in good agreement with the core element data,and the mineral and porosity results obtained from the joint inversion based on the wireline log and corrected element cutting log are also in good agreement with the core data from X-ray diffraction.The results demonstrate that the inversion technique is applicable and this study provides a new direction for the mineral inversion research of altered igneous formations.

Crustal and uppermost mantle structure of the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau from joint inversion of surface wave dispersions and receiver functions with P velocity constraints

Lithospheric structure beneath the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is of vital significance for studying the geodynamic processes of crustal thickening and expansion of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. We conducted a joint inversion of receiver functions and surface wave dispersions with P-wave velocity constraints using data from the Chin Array Ⅱ temporary stations deployed across the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Prior to joint inversion, we applied the H-κ-c method(Li JT et al., 2019) to the receiver function data in order to correct for the back-azimuthal variations in the arrival times of Ps phases and crustal multiples caused by crustal anisotropy and dipping interfaces. High-resolution images of vS, crustal thickness, and vP/vSstructures in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau were simultaneously derived from the joint inversion. The seismic images reveal that crustal thickness decreases outward from the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. The stable interiors of the Ordos and Alxa blocks exhibited higher velocities and lower crustal vP/vSratios. While, lower velocities and higher vP/vSratios were observed beneath the Qilian Orogen and Songpan-Ganzi terrane(SPGZ), which are geologically active and mechanically weak, especially in the mid-lower crust.Delamination or thermal erosion of the lithosphere triggered by hot asthenospheric flow contributes to the observed uppermost mantle low-velocity zones(LVZs) in the SPGZ. The crustal thickness, vS, and vP/vSratios suggest that whole lithospheric shortening is a plausible mechanism for crustal thickening in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, supporting the idea of coupled lithospheric-scale deformation in this region.

An empirical method for joint inversion of wave and wind parameters based on SAR and wave spectrometer data

Synthetic aperture radar(SAR)and wave spectrometers,crucial in microwave remote sensing,play an essential role in monitoring sea surface wind and wave conditions.However,they face inherent limitations in observing sea surface phenomena.SAR systems,for instance,are hindered by an azimuth cut-off phenomenon in sea surface wind field observation.Wave spectrometers,while unaffected by the azimuth cutoff phenomenon,struggle with low azimuth resolution,impacting the capture of detailed wave and wind field data.This study utilizes SAR and surface wave investigation and monitoring(SWIM)data to initially extract key feature parameters,which are then prioritized using the extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)algorithm.The research further addresses feature collinearity through a combined analysis of feature importance and correlation,leading to the development of an inversion model for wave and wind parameters based on XGBoost.A comparative analysis of this model with ERA5 reanalysis and buoy data for of significant wave height,mean wave period,wind direction,and wind speed reveals root mean square errors of 0.212 m,0.525 s,27.446°,and 1.092 m/s,compared to 0.314 m,0.888 s,27.698°,and 1.315 m/s from buoy data,respectively.These results demonstrate the model’s effective retrieval of wave and wind parameters.Finally,the model,incorporating altimeter and scatterometer data,is evaluated against SAR/SWIM single and dual payload inversion methods across different wind speeds.This comparison highlights the model’s superior inversion accuracy over other methods.

Fast 3D joint inversion of gravity and magnetic data based on cross gradient constraint

The gravity and magnetic data can be adopted to interpret the internal structure of the Earth.To improve the calculation efficiency during the inversion process and the accuracy and reliability of the reconstructed physical property models,the triple strategy is adopted in this paper to develop a fast cross-gradient joint inversion for gravity and magnetic data.The cross-gradient constraint contains solving the gradients of the physical property models and performing the cross-product calculation of their gradients.The sparse matrices are first obtained by calculating the gradients of the physical property models derived from the first-order finite difference.Then,the triple method is applied to optimize the storages and the calculations related to the gradients of the physical property models.Therefore,the storage compression amount of the calculations related to the gradients of the physical property models and the cross-gradient constraint are reduced to one-fold of the number of grid cells at least,and the compression ratio increases with the increase of the number of grid cells.The test results from the synthetic data and field data prove that the structural coupling is achieved by using the fast cross-gradient joint inversion method to effectively reduce the multiplicity of solutions and improve the computing efficiency.

Zoeppritz equation-based prestack inversion and its application in fluid identification

Prestack seismic inversion methods adopt approximations of the Zoeppritz equations to describe the relation between reflection coefficients and P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density. However, the error in these approximations increases with increasing angle of incidence and variation of the elastic parameters, which increases the number of inversion solutions and minimizes the inversion accuracy. In this study, we explore a method for solving the reflection coefficients by using the Zoeppritz equations. To increase the accuracy of prestack inversion, the simultaneous inversion of P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density by using prestack large-angle seismic data is proposed based on generalized linear inversion theory. Moreover, we reduce the ill posedness and increase the convergence of prestack inversion by using the regularization constraint damping factor and the conjugate gradient algorithm. The proposed prestack inversion method uses prestack large-angle seismic data to obtain accurate seismic elastic parameters that conform to prestack seismic data and are consistent with logging data from wells.

Study of prestack elastic parameter consistency inversion methods

The three parameters of P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density have remarkable differences in conventional prestack inversion accuracy, so study of the consistency inversion of the ＂three parameters＂ is very important. In this paper, we present a new inversion algorithm and approach based on the in-depth analysis of the causes in their accuracy differences. With this new method, the inversion accuracy of the three parameters is improved synchronously by reasonable approximations and mutual constraint among the parameters. Theoretical model calculations and actual data applications with this method indicate that the three elastic parameters all have high inversion accuracy and maintain consistency, which also coincides with the theoretical model and actual data. This method has good application prospects.

Prestack inversion based on anisotropic Markov random field-maximum posterior probability inversion and its application to identify shale gas sweet spots

Economic shale gas production requires hydraulic fracture stimulation to increase the formation permeability. Hydraulic fracturing strongly depends on geomechanical parameters such as Young＇s modulus and Poisson＇s ratio. Fracture-prone sweet spots can be predicted by prestack inversion, which is an ill-posed problem; thus, regularization is needed to obtain unique and stable solutions. To characterize gas-bearing shale sedimentary bodies, elastic parameter variations are regarded as an anisotropic Markov random field. Bayesian statistics are adopted for transforming prestack inversion to the maximum posterior probability. Two energy functions for the lateral and vertical directions are used to describe the distribution, and the expectation-maximization algorithm is used to estimate the hyperparameters of the prior probability of elastic parameters. Finally, the inversion yields clear geological boundaries, high vertical resolution, and reasonable lateral continuity using the conjugate gradient method to minimize the objective function. Antinoise and imaging ability of the method were tested using synthetic and real data.

Detection of gas hydrate sediments using prestack seismic AVA inversion

Bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs) in seismic profile always indicate the bottom of gas hydrate stability zone, but is difficult to determine the distribution and features of gas hydrate sediments (GHS). In this study, based on AVA forward modeling and angle-domain common-image gathers we use prestack AVA parameters consistency inversion in predicting gas hydrate sediments in the Shenhu area at northern slope of South China Sea, and obtain the vertical and lateral features and saturation of GHS.

Curupira V1.0: Joint Inversion of VES and TEM for Environmental and Mass Movements Studies

An innovative inversion code, named “Curupira v1.0”, has been developed using Matlab to determine the vertical distribution of resistivity beneath the subsoil. The program integrates Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES), successful in shallow subsurface exploration and Time Domain Electromagnetic (TEM) techniques, better suited for deeper exploration, both of which are widely employed in geophysical exploration. These methodologies involve calculating subsurface resistivity through appropriate inversion processes. To address the ill-posed nature of inverse problems in geophysics, a joint inversion scheme combining VES and TEM data has been incorporated into Curupira v1.0. The software has been tested on both synthetic and real-world data, the latter of which was acquired from the Parana sedimentary basin which we summarise here. The results indicate that the joint inversion of VES and TEM techniques offers improved recovery of simulated models and demonstrates significant potential for hydrogeological studies.

Effect of inaccurate wavelet phase on prestack waveform inversion

Wavelets are critical to inversion methods. Incorrect phase estimation will affect the objective function and cause convergence to local minima, and thus produce biased or incorrect results. Based on two simple models and ignoring all other factors, we studied the variation of the wavelet phase as a function of frequency and its effect on the prestack waveform inversion. Numerical experiments show that an incorrect phase may result in large deviations from the real solution, even if there is a high similarity between the model and real wavelets. The precision of the inversion slightly improves by using the constant-phase rotation; however, the effect of phase inaccuracy is not eliminated, which limits the precision of prestack inversion.

Bayesian prestack seismic inversion with a self-adaptive Huber-Markov random-field edge protection scheme

Seismic inversion is a highly ill-posed problem, due to many factors such as the limited seismic frequency bandwidth and inappropriate forward modeling. To obtain a unique solution, some smoothing constraints, e.g., the Tikhonov regularization are usually applied. The Tikhonov method can maintain a global smooth solution, but cause a fuzzy structure edge. In this paper we use Huber-Markov random-field edge protection method in the procedure of inverting three parameters, P-velocity, S-velocity and density. The method can avoid blurring the structure edge and resist noise. For the parameter to be inverted, the Huber- Markov random-field constructs a neighborhood system, which further acts as the vertical and lateral constraints. We use a quadratic Huber edge penalty function within the layer to suppress noise and a linear one on the edges to avoid a fuzzy result. The effectiveness of our method is proved by inverting the synthetic data without and with noises. The relationship between the adopted constraints and the inversion results is analyzed as well.

Simultaneous prestack inversion of variable-depth streamer seismic data

Variable-depth streamer seismic data are characterized by low and high frequencies and can be used to obtain high-quality and resolution images of complex subsurface structures. Taking advantage of the frequency range in the variable-depth streamer data, we propose the simultaneous inversion of prestack data from variable-offset stack gathers to obtain the P-wave impedance, S-wave impedance, and density. Next, we validate the method by using model and actual variable-depth streamer data from the Huizhou block. The results suggest that the broadband data recorded by variable-depth streamers improve the signal-to-noise ratio and quality of the inversion results and outperform the constant-depth streamer data in delineating the underground stratigraphy.

Inversion of shear wave interval velocity on prestack converted wave data

Seismic velocity is important to migration of seismic data, interpretation of lithology and lithofacies as well as prediction of reservoir. The information of shear wave velocity is required to reduce the uncertainty for discriminating lithology, identifying fluid type in porous material and calculating gas saturation in reservoir prediction. Based on Zoeppritz equations, a numeral and scanning method was proposed in this paper. Shear wave velocity can be calculated with prestack converted wave data. The effects were demonstrated by inversion of theoretical and real seismic data.

Study of the Sensitive Properties of Marine Gas Hydrate Based on the Prestack Elastic Inversion

Using a bottom simulating reflector(BSR)on a seismic profile to identify marine gas hydrate is a traditional seismic exploration method.However,owing to the abundance differences between the gas hydrate and free gas in different regions,the BSR may be unremarkable on the seismic profile and invisible in certain cases.With the improvement of exploration precision,difficulty arises in meeting the requirements of distinguishing the abundance differences in the gas hydrate based on BSR.Hence,we studied other sensitive attributes to ascertain the existence of gas hydrate and its abundance variations,eventually improving the success rate of drilling and productivity.In this paper,we analyzed the contradiction between the seismic profile data and drilling sampling data from the Blake Ridge.We extracted different attributes and performed multi-parameter constraint analysis based on the prestack elastic wave impedance inversion.Then,we compared the analysis results with the drilling sampling data.Eventually,we determined five sensitive attributes that can better indicate the existence of gas hydrate and its abundance variations.This method overcomes the limitations of recognizing the gas hydrate methods based on BSR or single inversion attribute.Moreover,the conclusions can notably improve the identification accuracy of marine gas hydrate and provide excellent reference significance for the recognition of marine gas hydrate.Notably,the different geological features of reservoirs feature different sensitivities to the prestacking attributes when using the prestack elastic inversion in different areas.

Prestack inversion identification of organic reef gas reservoirs of Permian Changxing Formation in Damaoping area, Sichuan Basin, SW China

Organic reef reservoirs in the platform margin of Kaijiang-Liangping trough in Damaoping area, Sichuan Basin are thin in single layer, fast in lateral variation, and have small P-impedance difference from the surrounding rock, it is difficult to identify and predict the reservoirs and fluid properties by conventional post-stack inversion. Through correlation analysis of core test data and logging P-S wave velocity, this work proposed a formula to calculate the shear wave velocity in different porosity ranges, and solved the issue that some wells in the study area have no S-wave data. AVO forward analysis reveals that formation porosity is the main factor affecting the variation of AVO type, the change of water saturation cannot affect the AVO type, but it has an effect on the change range of AVO. Through cross-plotting analysis of elastic parameters, it is found that fluid factor is a parameter sensitive to gas-bearing property of organic reef reservoir in the study area. By comparing results of post-stack impedance inversion, post-stack high frequency attenuation property, pre-stack simultaneous inversion and AVO anomaly analysis of angle gathers, it is found that the gas-bearing prediction of organic reef reservoirs by using fluid factor derived from simultaneous pre-stack inversion had the highest coincidence rate with actual drilling data. At last, according to the characteristics of fluid factor distribution, the favorable gas-bearing area of the organic reef reservoir in Changxing Formation was predicted, and the organic reef trap at the top of Changxing Formation in Block A of Damaoping area was sorted out as the next exploration target.

AVO approximation for PS-wave and its application in PP/PS joint inversion

Multi-component exploration has many advantages over ordinary P-wave exploration. PP/PS joint AVO analysis and inversion are useful and powerful methods to discriminate between reservoir and non-productive lithology. In this paper, we derive a new PS-wave reflection coefficient approximation equation which is more accurate at larger incidence angles. The equation is simplified for small incidence angles, which makes AVO analysis clearer and easier for angles less than 30 degrees. Based on this approximation, a PP/PS joint inversion is introduced. A real data example shows that oil sands, brine sands and shales can be differentiated based on the P- to S-wave velocity ratio from the PP/PS joint inversion. Fluid factors and Poisson＇s ratio also indicate an anomaly in the target zone at the oil well location.

3D joint inversion of controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric and magnetotelluric data

Different geophysical exploration methods have significant differences in terms of exploration depth,especially in frequency domain electromagnetic(EM)exploration.According to the definition of skin depth,this difference will increase with the effective detection frequency of the method.As a result,when performing three-dimensional inversion on single type of EM data,it is not possible to effectively distinguish the subsurface geoelectric structure at the full scale.Therefore,it is necessary to perform joint inversion on different type of EM data.In this paper we combine the magnetotelluric method(MT)with the controlled-source audio-magnetotelluric method(CSAMT)to study the frequency-domain three-dimensional(3D)joint inversions,and we use the unstructured finite-element method to do the forward modeling for them,so that the numerical simulation accuracies of different electromagnetic methods can be satisfied.By combining the two sets of data,we can obtain the sensitivity of the electrical structure at different depths,and depict the full-scale subsurface geoelectric structures.In actual mineral exploration,the 3D joint inversion is more useful for identifying subsurface veins in the shallow part and blind mines in the deep part.It can delineate the morphological distribution of ore bodies more completely and provide reliable EM interpretations to guide the mining of minerals.

Application of multi-component joint inversion in oil and gas exploration:A case study of reservoir and gas saturation prediction of the Xujiahe formation in the PLN area of the central Sichuan Basin

Multi-component seismic exploration is an important technique in the utilization of P-waves and converted S-waves for oil and gas exploration.It has unique advantages in the structural imaging of gas zones,reservoir prediction,lithology,and gas-water identifi cation,and the development direction and degree of fractures.Multi-component joint inversion is one of the most important steps in multi-component exploration.In this paper,starting from the basic principle of multi-component joint inversion,the diff erences between the method and single P-wave inversion are introduced.Next,the technique is applied to the PLN area of the Sichuan Basin,and the P-wave impedance,S-wave impedance,and density are obtained based on multi-component joint inversion.Through the velocity and lithology,porosity,and gas saturation fi tting formulas,prediction results are calculated,and the results are analyzed.Finally,multi-component joint inversion and single P-wave inversion are compared in eff ective reservoir prediction.The results show that multi-component joint inversion increases the constraints on the inversion conditions,reduces the multi-solution of a single P-wave inversion,and is more objective and reliable for the identification of reservoirs,effectively improving the accuracy of oil and gas reservoir prediction and development.

Stepwise joint inversion of surface wave dispersion,Rayleigh wave ZH ratio,and receiver function data for 1D crustal shear wave velocity structure

Accurate determination of seismic velocity of the crust is important for understanding regional tectonics and crustal evolution of the Earth. We propose a stepwise joint linearized inversion method using surface wave dispersion, Rayleigh wave ZH ratio （i.e., ellipticity）, and receiver function data to better resolve 1D crustal shear wave velocity （Vs） structure. Surface wave dispersion and Rayleigh wave ZH ratio data are more sensitive to absolute variations of shear wave speed at depths, but their sensi- tivity kernels to shear wave speeds are different and complimentary. However, receiver function data are more sensitive to sharp velocity contrast （e.g., due to the existence of crustal interfaces） and Vp/Vs ratios. The stepwise inversion method takes advantages of the complementary sensitivities of each dataset to better constrain the Vs model in the crust. We firstly invert surface wave dispersion and ZH ratio data to obtain a 1D smooth absolute vs model and then incorporate receiver function data in the joint inver- sion to obtain a finer Vs model with better constraints on interface structures. Through synthetic tests, Monte Carlo error analyses, and application to real data, we demonstrate that the proposed joint inversion method can resolve robust crustal Vs structures and with little initial model dependency.