Geological and Rock Physics Constraints in Anisotropic Tomography

Woodward, Marta; Yang, Yi; Osypov, Konstantin; Bachrach, Ran; Nichols, David M.; Zdraveva, Olga; Liu, Y.; Fournier, A.

doi:10.3997/2214-4609.20140599

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

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Integrated VTI model building with seismic data, geologic information, and rock-physics modeling — Part 1: Theory and synthetic test

Biondi

Clapp

et al. 2016

GEOPHYSICS

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Seismic anisotropy plays an important role in structural imaging and lithologic interpretation. However, anisotropic model building is a challenging underdetermined inverse problem. It is well-understood that single component pressure wave seismic data recorded on the upper surface are insufficient to resolve a unique solution for velocity and anisotropy parameters. To overcome the limitations of seismic data, we have developed an integrated model building scheme based on Bayesian inference to consider seismic data, geologic information, and rock-physics knowledge simultaneously. We have performed the prestack seismic inversion using wave-equation migration velocity analysis (WEMVA) for vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) models. This image-space method enabled automatic geologic interpretation. We have integrated the geologic information as spatial model correlations, applied on each parameter individually. We integrate the rock-physics information as lithologic model correlations, bringing additional information, so that the parameters weakly constrained by seismic are updated as well as the strongly constrained parameters. The constraints provided by the additional information help the inversion converge faster, mitigate the ambiguities among the parameters, and yield VTI models that were consistent with the underlying geologic and lithologic assumptions. We have developed the theoretical framework for the proposed integrated WEMVA for VTI models and determined the added information contained in the regularization terms, especially the rock-physics constraints.

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