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Special Topics
Objective
• Identify problems with side swipe and oblique reflectors.
• Understand Fresnel zones and how they relate to migration.
• Know that migration lowers the frequency of dipping events.
• Define recording times and aperture length for structured sections.
• Gain insight into techniques that deal with large elevation changes that
require some form of wave equation datuming.
• Know that migration should be computed as close to the surface as possible.
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Page 6.2
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Blank page.
Page 6.3
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The output portion must be large enough to accommodate the lateral shifts that
may occur due to migration of the data.
Page 6.4
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a) b)
c)
Figure 6.2. Example of steep dip wrap around, (a) the input, (b) the migration
with unusual positioning that is due to FK window wrap around illustrated in (c).
Page 6.5
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Page 6.6
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a)
b)
Figure 6.3. Sideswipe illustration showing a) the structure and b) the resulting
reflections.
Page 6.7
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
French in 1975 [4] showed the poststack migration velocity must be increased to
focus that specific portion of the section that is oblique to the line. Other parts
of a section may have different angles of obliquity and require different
migration velocities.
Vrms
Vmig = , (6.1)
cos γ
This potential problem may be used to advantage if the line is migrated to focus
the structure and then using the migration velocity and RMS velocity to compute
the angle γ. Migration velocities up to 300% Vrms have been successfully used to
focus oblique events with γ=70°. At this velocity, only the oblique reflection is
correctly imaged. All other data will be incorrectly imaged.
Page 6.8
Chapter 6 Special Topics
2-D
line
y
a)
b)
Figure 6.4. Oblique reflector illustrated with a) the structure and b) the resulting
section.
Special prestack migration operators may also be used to focus energy from an
oblique reflector [753].
Page 6.9
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
A solution for constant velocities to apply NMO removal with the same velocity
followed by dip moveout (DMO).
In areas where the velocities vary, DMO will not solve the problem. NMO
removal still requires the RMS velocity at the respective reflection points. The
solution requires a prestack migration which estimates the “correct” velocity at
the reflection or scatter point, where there are no conflicting dips., Another
solution is Gardner’s DMO applied before NMO. (See Chapters 8, 9, and 11.)
Note that velocity errors from dipping events may have a greater range than
errors due to relative depth, thus enabling DMO to achieve good results in areas
with smoothly varying velocities.
Page 6.10
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Page 6.11
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The angle α represents the reflection and β the reflector in the following figure.
Migration aperture
T0b
The line must be extended from B to C, the distance xBC given by,
x BC = z β tan β . (6.2)
Tα =
(
2 x BC + z
2 2
b )
1
2
. (6.3)
V
Page 6.12
Chapter 6 Special Topics
The dip limit b may be computed from the two-way travel-time Tα to the vertical
two-way travel-time T0b at zβ from
T0 β 2Z β
cos β = = , (6.4)
Tα VTα
and tabulated in table 6.1.
The above information assumes constant velocities and has not taken into
account Snell's law. Consequently the recording time and aperture are
pessimistic.
However, the line needs to be extended past C for the fold to build and to
produce a reasonable signal to noise ratio. If the reflection point at B is a
discontinuity, then an additional extension to the line might be required to
image the steeper dips of the diffraction.
In typical seismic data where the velocity increases, the linear assumptions in
this section tend to compensate for the fold.
Sometimes the migration aperture may refer to the dip-limited shape of the
Kirchhoff operator as it varies with time.
Page 6.13
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
An alternate vie of Figure 6.6 is shown if Figure 6.7, which shows diffractions
and how their dips are limited by the maximum time tmax. After migration, the
dipping events will be restricted to the time or depth of the diffraction apex.
• Dips of 90 degrees are only possible at the surface.
• At the bottom of the section, only dips of 0 (zero) degrees are possible.
Migration angle b
Dip limit a
Figure 6.7 The recording time tmax or extent of the diffraction will limit the dip
angle of the migration as the depth within the section is increased.
Steeper dips may be observed in areas where the velocities increase with depth,
as the raypaths will bend according to Snell's Law. In areas with smoothly
increasing velocities, dips greater than 90-degrees are migratable.
Page 6.14
Chapter 6 Special Topics
The migrated dip angle b may be plotted a function of depth as illustrated by the
gray area in Figure 6.8. This area is bound by:
• spatial aliasing, the straight line from equation (3.23),
• the migration aperture given by equation (6.2), and
• the maximum recording time given by equation (6.4).
• The area could also be bound by a dip limit impose by the migration
algorithm of, for example, 40 degrees.
The example in Figure 6.8 is taken from Margrave [691]. It used a constant
velocity of 3500 m/s, recording time of 3 sec., a migration aperture of 2500 m,
trace spacing 20 m, and a maximum frequency of 60 Hz [691].
90
Recording
time
60
Migrated Spatial aliasing
dip
angle
b
30
(degrees)
Migration aperture
0
1 2 Depth (km) 3 4 5
Page 6.15
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Figures 6.6c-d show the result of a dip limited migration aperture. Now the
maximum spatial resolution is limited by the dip b and maximum frequency.
After migration, the actual lateral resolution of a section depends on:
• the migration algorithm, and extent of the diffraction or migration aperture,
• the frequency content of the data.
It was shown in Figure 6.8 that the angle b may vary with depth. Therefore the
lateral resolution Kma will also vary with depth.
Page 6.16
Chapter 6 Special Topics
-Km Kx Km -Km Kx Km
90∞
45∞
Fm Fm
Seismic Migrated
data F data F
a) b)
Kx Kma Kx Kmb=Kma
a b
Fm Fm
Seismic Migrated
data F data F
c) d)
Figure 6.9. Seismic energy for all dips on the FK plane a) before and b) after
migration. Dip limited energy is shown in c) before migration and d) after
migration. The origin in these figures is top-center.
Page 6.17
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Time of the
polarity change
Fresnel zone
where v is the velocity, t the two-way time of interest, f the frequency of the data
(maximum or mid-band?), and 1.0 £ k £ 2.0 depending on the application.
If v = 3,000 m/sec, t = 1.0 sec, f = 30 Hz, and k = 2, then R = 387 m.
The collapsing of the Fresnel zone after 2-D migration only applies in the
direction of migration. The Fresnel zone will still apply in the orthogonal
direction to sideswipe data or in crooked line processing.
Additional information may be found in pages 17 - 20 Claerbout [294], Sheriff
[55], Deregowski [211], Eaton [107], and Knapp [108].
Page 6.18
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Migration has the potential to collapse the Fresnel zone to a spatial resolution
equivalent to the temporal resolution on the seismic trace. This requires a full
migration aperture of data with complete diffraction energy. The following
figures show input structures, modelled sections before migration with poor
lateral resolution, and the migrated results showing the recovery of the lateral
resolution.
a)
b)
c)
Figure 6.11. The structure in a) has gaps that in b) have been smeared by
modelling, and in c) the gaps have been resolved by migration.
a) b)
c)
Figure 6.12. Focusing of migration is illustrated with a) an input structure
showing a gap in the dip, b) the modelled section with a smeared gap, and c) the
migration with gap recovered.
Page 6.19
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
a)
Figure 6.13 Effects of diffraction truncation by input boarders with a) showing
the input section with diffractions, b) the migrated section, and c) zoomed
features that are identified by the boxes in (b).
These figures are taken from Margrave [691]. His paper includes additional
information such as FK plots of the above figures.
Page 6.20
Chapter 6 Special Topics
b)
c)
Page 6.21
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Page 6.22
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Kn k
CMPx
q2 q1 f
Aliased
energy
Fm
q1 q2 F1
b)
a)
Figure 6.14 Two dipping events with a) the space-time section and b) the FK
transform.
Kn k Kn k
q2 q1 f q2 q1 f
Aliased noise,
relative to q1
Fm Fm
F1 F1
a) b)
Figure 6.15 FK transforms with a) showing the conventional migration area for
q1 dips in gray, and b) the extended area that includes the aliased energy.
Page 6.23
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
What are the dips a of the events in Figure 6.18a? _____ _____ _____ _____ .
In the software used for the following figures, dips on the left side of the input
section appear as dipping events on the right side of the FK transform.
The FK transform of the input data is shown in Figure 6.16b where the origin is
center-top. Note the aliasing of the steepest events identified by E1 and E2 in
part (a) and the corresponding location of the E1 energy on part (b) of Figure
6.16, especially the aliased energy of E1.
Page 6.24
Chapter 6 Special Topics
E1
E2
a)
kx
Aliased E1 E1
Aliased E1
b)
Figure 6.16 Input model a) in (x, t) and b) the FK transform.
Page 6.25
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
When the AAF filter is not used, the summation operator is aliased, allowing the
inclusion of aliased energy with the dipping energy. In the FK domain, this
aliased operator extends beyond the Nyquist boundary to migrate the same
energy more than once: first as an extension of the dipping energy, and then as
aliased noise as evident in Figure 6.17(c).
Aliasing of the steepest dips is evident on both sides of the input data (b) and
labeled E1 and E2. The aliased energy E2 on the right side of (b) and has been
effectively removed by the AAF in (c).
After migration, the aliased energy E1 becomes two events, E3 and E4. E3 is
migrated as an extension of the dipping event from the right side of (b) and
contributes to the amplitude and frequency of the steepest dip on the left of (a).
E4 is migrated as aliased noise on the left side of (b), and contributes to the
aliasing noise in (a).
Page 6.26
Chapter 6 Special Topics
E1
a)
kx
E2
E1
b)
kx
f
E3
E4
c)
Figure 6.17 A Kirchhoff migration that allowed parameters to vary showing in a)
the migrated section, b) the FK transform of the input section, and c) Fk
transform of (a).
Page 6.27
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
• The first method simply inserts a dead trace as discussed in Section 3.6.
• The second method used FX interpolation to create the new traces.
The following examples may contain a small view of the FK section that is
identified in the label of the figure.
Note the following:
Figure 6.18: ∑ The input model is repeated in for compatibility with the following
examples.
Figure 6.19: ∑ The FX interpolated section.
Figure 6.20: ∑ Migration of the input data.
∑ Excellent migration of the steepest dip.
∑ Aliasing noise that is usually identified by alternating amplitudes
of the sample on neighbouring traces.
Figure 6.21: ∑ Migration of dead-trace interpolation.
∑ Aliasing noise included on the newly inserted traces.
∑ The repeated image on the input FK spectrum.
∑ Removal of unwanted signal on the migrated FK spectrum.
Figure 6.22: ∑ Excellent migration with no aliasing noise.
∑ Excellent migration with no aliasing noise.
∑ Amplitude of the steepest event is not visible on the FK spectrum.
Figure 6.23: ∑ Migration of the FX interpolation showing every second trace for
comparison to the original migration in Figure 6.15.
Results in Figure 6.21 could be reproduced much faster by migrating data in the
original model directly to output traces with half the original trace interval.
Page 6.28
Chapter 6 Special Topics
z Origin
b)
a)
Figure 6.18 Original model with a) in (x, t) space, and b) the FK transform (Kx, f)
in which the origin is centered at the top.
x
b)
a)
Figure 6.19 Fx interpolated model in a) and b) its FK transform.
Page 6.29
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
x
x
z
z
b)
c)
a)
Figure 6.20 Images of a) the migration of original model, b) a close up of the
center area showing the aliasing noise, and c) the FK transform of (a).
x
b)
c)
a)
Figure 6.21 Images of a) migration after dead trace interpolation, b) FK
transform of the dead trace interpolation before migration, and c) after
migration.
Page 6.30
Chapter 6 Special Topics
b)
c)
a)
Figure 6.22 Images of a) the migration of Fx interpolated data, b) the FK
transform of the input, and c) the migrated FK transform.
Figure 6.23 The same migration of Figure 6.22, but only showing every second
trace for comparison with the migration of the original data in Figure 6.15a.
Page 6.31
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
If the velocity is assumed to increase with depth, the bottom portion of a section
will be stretched while the upper portion of a section will be contracted.
Figure 6.24. An increasing velocity function is shown in a) with the time section
in (b). The time section is stretched to c) with the shallow depth increment
equivalent to the time sample interval. In (d) the depth section is converted to
have the same number of samples as in the original time section in (b).
Page 6.32
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Choosing the depth increment to be equivalent to the time sampling rate at the
top of a section will prevent aliasing, but may require too many samples.
Reducing the number of samples may cause aliasing at the shallow depths that
usually contain higher frequencies.
where δz is the largest possible value, and should even be reduced by a factor
of three or four if simple linear interpolation methods are used.
This same principle applies when choosing the depth increment in the Phase
shift or related downward continuation depth migrations.
Page 6.33
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
• After migration, the “width” of the wavelet (when measured orthogonal to the
event as in (c)) is independent of dip.
Figures (f) and (g) are equivalent pre- and post migration wiggle trace plots for a
horizontal and dipping event with a = 43.22∞ and b = 70∞. The black circles in
each figure are the same size and represent the period of the recorded wavelet
or all wavelets in f).
• The period of the wavelet in the vertical traces of (f) is the same for both
horizontal and dipping events.
• The dipping event in (f) has a higher resolution when measured orthogonal to
the event; i.e. the width of the event is indicated by the gray circle and is
smaller than the black circle.
• After migration, the vertical period of the dipping event in (g) is increased by
a factor of three or the trace frequency reduced by three, {Fb = Fm cos(b)} as
identified the gray circle. The resolution, when measured orthogonal to the
event with the black circle, remains the same as the horizontal event.
Page 6.34
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a)
b) c)
kxm kx kxm kx
Fm b
a f f
fb
Fm Fm
d) e)
x x
t t
a
b
f) g)
Figure 6.25 Linear reflectors with a) a geological structure, b) a seismic section,
c) a migration of the seismic section, d) the FK transform of (b), and e) the
migrated FK transform of (c). Wiggle trace examples show f) a section before
and g) after migration that illustrate preservation of reflector resolution.
Caution should be used when filtering after migration. A low cut filter may
attenuate the energy of steeply dipping events. Why?
What about prestack migration?
Page 6.35
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The final migration interval velocity, at a given time, is the square root of the
sum of the interval velocities squared, i.e.
Vfinal
Vfinal = V12 + V22 + V32 + ...+Vn2 or Vmig = (6.9)
n
Page 6.36
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Velocity Velocity
tim e tim e
V int V final
n=4
V m ig
V1 V2 V3 V4
a) b
Figure 6.26 Interval velocities, and the sub-interval velocities used in cascade
migrations, with a) different, and b) the same velocities.
This process was developed in papers by Larner and Beasley [85] and [99], and
should not be confused with prestack partial migration (DMO) that partially
migrates prestack variable-offset data to be equivalent to zero-offset data.
Page 6.37
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Normal processing techniques correct the vertical distortion on the time section
with vertical elevation statics. These statics, or small time shifts, are applied to
the traces to compensate for the differences between a datum and the actual
surface elevation. A replacement velocity may be chosen to minimize error in
the depth to time conversion.
Floating datums
Areas with large elevation changes may use floating datums that are found by
spatial filtering the surface elevations. The floating datum is closer to the
surface elevation and the vertical elevation statics are now smaller than those
using a horizontal datum.
The floating datums for NMO and stacking may use a boxcar filter with a width
of three to five acquisition spread lengths. This type of datum assumes
negligible slope across the traces in a CMP gather and that the normal moveout
(NMO) is hyperbolic. This datum should only be used for NMO and stacking.
Migration should be performed from the surface or a horizontal datum and
algorithms are available to convert data stacked with floating datums to a
horizontal datum. In practice, floating datums are also used for migration. The
floating datum for migration must now use a filter width of three to five times the
migration aperture to minimize distortion to the diffraction shapes.
If using a combined floating datum for NMO and migration, the datum should be
defined using the migration aperture.
Many serious problems of migration can be attributed to poor choice of datums.
Page 6.38
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a)
b)
Figure 6.27. A geological structure (a) with a large elevation change, and (b) the
resulting zero-offset time section. Time migration of this section will create
large errors in the flat reflections.
Page 6.39
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Figure 6.28 shows the datum at the maximum elevation in (a) and the resultant
time section in (b). Note the large differences in the diffraction shapes. Which
diffraction will migrate correctly?
In Figure 6.29, the datum is placed at the minimum elevation (a) with the time
section in (b). Note again the large differences in the diffraction shapes and the
potential error in migration.
A datum chosen in the center would also correct the horizontal reflectors to
horizontal events in the time section, but the diffraction shapes are still miss-
positioned.
Page 6.40
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a)
b)
Figure 6.28. The maximum elevation datum in (a), and (b) the time section.
a)
b)
Figure 6.29 The minimum elevation datum in (a), and (b) the time section.
Page 6.41
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Consider Figure 6.30 in which the lower elevations have been filled in with
material of similar velocity. Data arriving at position "A" on the structure is
propagated as a wave front to the new datum at the maximum elevation.
The shape of the shallow reflection is now corrected to be compatible with the
deeper diffraction as indicated in part c, and the horizontal reflector is also a
horizontal reflection.
The size of Kirchhoff operator is defined by the vertical shift and velocity at each
spatial position x. This operator will be the same for all times at this spatial
position.
When the datum is closer to the surface the energy dispersion will be smaller
and the processing time will be smaller. The processing time will be larger
when the datum is farther from the surface. Consequently bulk shifts should
still be delayed until after migration.
This discussion has been limited to poststack gathers [6], but a similar process
may be applied to prestack traces that disperse the energy of the receivers and
sources to the datum, [158] and [201]. Note that additional source locations will
be created and increase the data volume. Wave equation datuming may not be
practical for prestack 3-D data.
Page 6.42
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a)
b)
c)
Figure 6.30. Wave equation datum modelling with (a) the geological structure,
(b) the shape of the dispersion diffraction, and (c) the time response at the new
datum.
Page 6.43
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The results are similar to the previous example, but now the data is migrated
with the operator in part (b), to produce the results in part (c). Energy from the
surface will be gathered from the neighboring traces with varying time shifts as
indicated on the time section. All the samples on the resulting time trace will be
summed with this same shape and energy distribution that is similar to
Kirchhoff migration.
Accurate velocities are required to compute the travel-times, and Snell's law
should be obeyed. (This is in contrast to the modelling method where a
constant velocity may be used).
The size of Kirchhoff operator is defined by the vertical shift and velocity at each
spatial position x. This operator will be the same for all time at each x location.
It should be noted that Snell's law causes raypaths close to the surface to be
nearly vertical, allowing the original replacement velocity method to achieve
reasonable results in marginal areas.
Page 6.44
Chapter 6 Special Topics
b)
x
t
c)
Figure 6.31 Wave equation datum migration with (a) the geological structure, (b)
the shape of the summation diffraction, and (c) the time response at the new
datum.
Page 6.45
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The following depth migrations from an irregular surface assume that the data
has been processed (stacked) to surface (or to a floating datum) and that time
zero on all traces is at the surface (or floating datum).
Page 6.46
Chapter 6 Special Topics
x
V=0
Downward level
Area on section
to be migrated
Migrated
portion
a)
b)
Figure 6.32. Illustration of depth migrations from irregular surfaces showing (a)
downward continuation depth level and the corresponding portion of the time
section to be migrated, and (b) wave fronts on the depth section that are emitted
from the surface for a Kirchhoff depth migration.
Page 6.47
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Elevation statics are computed and applied by the normal method from a datum
with zero time at the maximum elevation. The surface is now defined by these
elevation statics on the time section. The velocity model (also modified by the
elevation statics) sets all velocities within the elevation statics to zero, similar to
the gray area as illustrated in (a). This zero velocity indicates to the downward
continuation algorithm to simply copy the previous layer.
The times on the left side have been pushed down and the horizontal events are
now horizontal again on the time section (b).
Downward continuation starts at the top of (b), but only traces on the right side
will be effected (as the velocity on the left is zero). Consequently, the diffraction
on the right side will be modified, and will gradually collapse towards its apex
while the diffraction on the left remains unaltered. When the downward
continuation level reaches the time of the lowest elevation (identified as Tmin),
the right diffraction will have collapsed to the shape of the left diffraction as
illustrated in (c).
At this time, the section has removed the time distortions due to elevation and
could be considered migrated to a datum at the lowest elevation. (The migration
time Tmin would be adjusted to zero).
Below the time of Tmin all the traces contain normal velocities and the migration
continues as normal, collapsing all diffractions to their apex.
Page 6.48
Chapter 6 Special Topics
a)
b)
c)
Figure 6.33. Irregular surface time migration with (a) indicating the zero velocity
layer in gray, (b) the time section with elevation statics, and (c) the time section
after downward continuation to the minimum elevation.
Page 6.49
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The projected surface of data from Figure 6.27b is illustrated in Figure 6.34a.
The volume is suitable for a depth migration that would proceed from the
maximum elevation.
Time migration requires vertical elevation statics to shift zero-time from the
surface to the maximum elevation as illustrated in Figure 6.34b that is similar to
the time data in Figure 6.28b. Downward continuation would collapse the
diffractions at the appropriate rate until they are below the minimum elevation.
Below the minimum elevation, diffractions from scatterpoints at the same
elevation, will have the same shape (assuming V(z) velocities).
The phase shift method of downward continuation is ideal for velocities V(z) that
vary only with depth. When the velocities vary laterally V(x, z), extension to the
phase shift method are require such as the phaseshift plus interpolation (PSPI)
method. Margrave [728] presented an alternate method for laterally varying
velocities. This method has also been adapted [729] for rugged topography and
is very efficient when the velocity is constant. The constant velocity allows very
large depth increments to be used, but when the surface to migration depth dx is
less than the depth increment Dx, only the smaller depth increment dx is used
for the migration as illustrated in Figure 6.34a.
Page 6.50
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Dx z
dx
a)
z
Static
b)
Figure 6.34 Migration volumes (x, z, t) containing a projection of the stacked
section onto a depth surface for a) a depth migration, and b) a time migration in
which the data corrected with a vertical static from the surface to the maximum
elevation. The data is similar to that in Figure 6.27.
Page 6.51
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
The grid is 500 by 500 meters, and the velocity is constant at 3000 m/s.
a) How far does the line need to be extended to image the dipping line?
b) How much farther does the line need to be extended if the end of the
event at Zβ is a discontinuity and is required to be imaged with a
migration algorithm up to 80 degrees?
c) How much farther again, does the line need to be extended to build the
line up to full fold at the farthest point of interest?
d) What is the required recording time in seconds for each of the above?
Page 6.52
Chapter 6 Special Topics
Work page.
Page 6.53
A Practical Understanding of Pre- and Poststack Migrations
Page 6.54