Fractional integration of seismic wavelets in anelastic media to recover multiscale properties of impedance discontinuities

Multiscale seismic attributes based on the wavelet transform properties have been recently introduced and successfully applied to identify the geometry of a complex seismic reflector in an elastic medium. In the present paper, we extend this quantitative approach to anelastic media where intrinsic attenuation modifies the seismic attributes and thus requires a specific processing to retrieve them properly. The method assumes both an attenuation linearly dependent with the seismic wave frequency and a seismic source wavelet approximated with a Gaussian derivative function. We highlight a quasi-conservation of the Gaussian character of the wavelet during its propagation. We show that this shape can be accurately modeled by a Gaussian derivative function characterized by both a fractional integration and a frequency shift of the seismic source and we establish the relationship between these wavelet parameters and Q. Based on this seismic wavelet modeling,  we design a time-varying shaping filter that enables to make constant the shape of the wavelet allowing to retrieve the wavelet transform properties. Introduced with a homogeneous step-like reflector, the method is first applied on a thin-bed reflector and then on a more realistic synthetic dataset based on an in situ acoustic impedance sequence and a high resolution seismic source. The results clearly highlight the efficiency of the method in restoring accurately the multiscale seismic attributes of complex seismic reflectors in anelastic media by the use of broadband seismic sources.

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Ker Stephan, Le Gonidec Yves (2018). Fractional integration of seismic wavelets in anelastic media to recover multiscale properties of impedance discontinuities. Geophysics. 83 (2). V61-V71. https://doi.org/10.1190/GEO2017-0527.1, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00409/52034/

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