1999 Research Report Chapters

CREWES Research Report 2000

Volume 12

Consortium for Research in Elastic Wave Exploration Seismology

Production manager: Henry Bland
Production assistants: Mark Kirtland, Joanie Whittemore

Cover photos:

Turner Valley Pump-jack – Henry Bland

Raytracing graphic – Dr. Gary Margrave

Department of Geology and Geophysics,

2500 University Drive,

Calgary, Alberta,

Canada T2N 1N4.

Phone: (403) 220-8279. Fax: (403) 284-0074.

Email:

Printed in Canada.

Preface

Just a few months ago, the excitement and anxiety of the changing millennium was upon us. And before that, the price of hydrocarbons was at a barrel-bottom low. Fortunately, no great disruptions or apocalypses occurred on January 1, 2000: the stock market soared as did oil prices. Those of us associated with hydrocarbon exploration (who don’t have to drive too far) are largely enjoying the price of natural gas and oil. Interest in geophysics is high and we are even seeing the blossoming of newspaper advertisements for geophysicists! Volatile times. Interestingly, there are precious few new geophysics graduates (Canada-wide, about four times as many geophysics students graduated in spring 1985 as compared to 2000). In addition, industry oscillation and consolidation has been difficult for many professionals, as with contractors and university consortia. Nonetheless, demand for hydrocarbons is increasing, but with additional emphasis on corporate efficiency, professional productivity, and reduced environmental impact.

University-industry projects, such as CREWES, are attempting to provide professional stability as well as technical and educational opportunities for geoscientists. Continuing education is critical in geophysics where the average age of local professionals is 45 years (young, we trust). An exciting and useful education is also crucial in attracting and keeping the interest of agile young minds. And continued resource discovery and recovery needs new and better technology. In line with changing times and personnel, CREWES has expanded its interests with new field studies and topics. The subject list from the Abstract volume of the 2000 SEG Meeting in Calgary shows which fields garnered the most papers: migration, inversion, attributes, multicomponent seismic, signal processing, 3-D seismic, interpretation, and time-lapse analysis. We are happy to be working in all of these fields.

My fellow CREWES faculty are enormously productive and delightful colleagues: thank you Drs. Gary Margrave, Don Lawton, Larry Lines, Jim Brown, Larry Bentley, John Bancroft, and Rudi Meyer. Of course, our students have contributed a great deal of effort and creativity to the work documented here. In addition, the CREWES staff do an outstanding job in supporting and managing a perpetually “evolving” research and educational flow. Much appreciation to Henry Bland, Louise Forgues, Eric Gallant, Hanxing Lu, Brian Hoffe, Mark Kirtland, Dave Henley, Pat Daley, Joanie Whittemore, Ayon Dey, Zhengsheng Yao, and Chuck Ursenbach. Thus, this document is a collaborative effort from a great many people who are striving to make a real advancement in geophysics.

Finally, we sincerely thank our CREWES sponsorship for making this work possible. We understand that research and education can often be overwhelmed by the daily demands of a busy industry. We greatly appreciate your partnership and look forward to a continued and prosperous collaboration.

Calgary, AlbertaRobert R. Stewart,

November, 2000 Director of CREWES

Page

Preface iii

Table of Contents v

CREWES Sponsors for 2000 ix

CREWES Personnel xi

Borehole

1 Single-well imaging using the full waveform of an acoustic sonic 1
Louis Chabot, David C. Henley and R. James Brown

2 Proposed design for a new borehole elastic imaging tool 11
Robert R. Stewart and Carlos Nieto

3 Direct traveltime inversion of VSP data for 19
elliptical anisotropy in layered media
R. James Brown, Michael P. Lamoureux, Michael A. Slawinski and
Raphaël A. Slawinski

4 Multicomponent VSP and lake-bottom cable surveys: 35
Pike's Peak, Saskatchewan
Robert R. Stewart, Laurence R. Lines and Lawrence E. Mewhort

5 Simultaneous anisotropic prestack depth migration of P-S VSP 43
and surface seismic data

M. Graziella Kirtland Grech and Don C. Lawton

Acquisition

6 Conversion point mapping and interpolation in P-S survey design 53
Don C. Lawton and Peter W. Cary

7 An acquisition polarity standard for multicomponent seismic data 63
R. James Brown, Robert R. Stewart, James E. Gaiser and
Don C. Lawton

8 Noise suppression on geophone data using microphone measurements 81
Ayon K. Dey, Robert R. Stewart, Laurence R. Lines and
Henry C. Bland

Numerical Modelling

9 New seismic modelling facilities in MATLAB 93
Gary F. Margrave

10 Elastic finite difference modelling with stability 139
and dispersion corrections
Peter M. Manning and Gary F. Margrave

11 Elastic wavefield modelling in 3D by the 157
Fourth-order staggered finite-difference technique
Zengsheng Yao and Gary F. Margrave

12 Tutorial: Hybrid finite difference - finite 167
transform methods for hyperbolic partial differential equations
P.F. Daley

13 Traveltime computation through isotropic media via 181
the eikonal equation
Marco A. Perez and John C. Bancroft

14 P-S polarity reversal: is it always at zero-offset? 201
M. Graziella Kirtland Grech, Don C. Lawton, Robert R. Stewart,
Saul Guevara and Gary F. Margrave

Processing

15 Source-geophone azimuth from 3-C seismic polarization 207
Saul Guevara and Robert R. Stewart

16 Noise alignment in trim statics 217
Charles P. Ursenbach and John C. Bancroft

17 Distinguishing noise alignment from signal 229
alignment in statics calculations
Charles P. Ursenbach

18 Residual statics analysis by LSQR 245
Yan Yan, Zhengsheng Yao, Gary F. Margrave and R. James Brown

19 Vibroseis deconvolution: a synthetic comparison of 257
cross correlation and frequency domain sweep deconvolution
Katherine Brittle, Laurence R. Lines and Ayon K. Dey

20 Wavefront healing operators for improving reflection coherence 267
David C. Henley

21 More radial trace domain applications 285
David C. Henley

22 Multiple attenuation via predictive deconvolution 299
in the radial domain
Marco A. Perez and David C. Henley

23 Wavelet transform filtering of seismic data by 319
semblance weighting
Victor Iliescu and Gary F. Margrave

24 Operator aliasing heuristics 347
John C. Bancroft

25 Complex seismic trace analysis and its application 355
to time-lapse seismic surveys
John Zhang and Laurence R. Bentley

26 Conversion coefficients at a liquid/solid interface 375
P.F. Daley

27 Up and down wave separation of multicomponent data 383
at the ocean bottom
Chanpen Silawongsawat and Gary F. Margrave

28 Suppression of multiples by wavefield separation techniques 395
Yan Yan and R. James Brown

29 A SEG-Y file I/O toolbox for Matlab 405
Henry C. Bland and Paul R. MacDonald

Imaging and Migration

30 A Fortran 90 implementation of symmetric 419
nonstationary phaseshift extrapolator
Yanpeng Mi and Gary F. Margrave

31 A Pade approximation to the scalar wavefield 425
extrapolator for inhomogeneous media
Yanpeng Mi, Zhengsheng Yao and Gary F. Margrave

32 Dual extrapolation algorithms towards optimum efficiency and accuracy 435
Yanpeng Mi, Gary F. Margrave and Zhengsheng Yao

33 Wavefield extrapolation by windowed nonstationary phase shift 449
Zhengsheng Yao, Yanpeng Mi and Gary F. Margrave

34 Prestack considerations for the migration of oblique reflectors 461
John C. Bancroft and Charles P. Ursenbach

35 Harsh imaging techniques for shallow high resolution seismic data 471
David C. Henley

36 Amplitude scaling for AVO analysis of CSP gathers 489
Shuang Sun and John C. Bancroft

37 A study of imaging with a synthetic Foothills dataset 501
Han-xing Lu and Gary F. Margrave

Case Studies

38 Review of Pikes Peak project 509
Laurence R. Lines

39 Acquisition and processing of the Pikes Peak 3C-2D seismic survey 511
Brian H. Hoffe, Malcolm B. Bertram, Henry C. Bland, Eric V. Gallant,
Laurence R. Lines and Lawrence E. Mewhort

40 Preliminary results of the AVO analysis at Pikes Peak 523
Jonathan E. Downton and Laurence R. Lines

41 Seismic inversion at Pikes Peak, Saskatchewan 533
Ian A. Watson and Laurence R. Lines

42 3D structural effects in the 3C-2D Stolberg seismic profiles 539
Han-xing Lu, Gary F. Margrave and Robert R. Stewart

43 Preliminary multicomponent seismic analysis over 551
the Steen River structure, northern Alberta
Robert R. Stewart, Michael J. Mazur and Alan R. Hildebrand

44 Seismic measurement of the propagation speed of a 557
fracture through a weak snowpack layer
Ben Johnson, Bruce Jamieson and Robert R. Stewart

45 Seismic tomography of a Maya pyramid: Chan Chich, Belize 563
Chuandong Xu and Robert R. Stewart

46 AVO for Managers: Pitfalls and solutions 577
Jonathan E. Downton, Brian H. Russell and Laurence R. Lines

47 The AVO modelling volume 599
Brian H. Russell, Laurence R. Lines, Keith W. Hirsche and

Janusz Peron

48 Converted-wave seismic exploration: Applications 611
Robert R. Stewart, James E. Gaiser, R. James Brown and
Don C. Lawton

49 Fluid flow modelling with seismic cluster analysis 633
Laurence R. Bentley, Xuri Huang and Claude Laflamme

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

- Collaborative Research and Development Grant

CREWES PERSONNEL

DIRECTORS

Robert R. Stewart

B.Sc. Physics and Mathematics, 1978, University of Toronto

Ph.D. Geophysics, 1983, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

•Work Experience: Chevron Oil Field Research Company, Arco Exploration and Production Research Centre, Chevron Geosciences Company, Veritas Software Ltd., Genix Technology Ltd.

Gary F. Margrave

B.Sc. Physics, 1975, University of Utah

M.Sc. Physics, 1977, University of Utah

Ph.D. Geophysics, 1981, University of Alberta

•Chevron Canada Resources, Chevron Geoscience Company

Larry R. Lines

B.Sc. Physics, 1971, University of Alberta

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1973, University of Alberta

Ph.D. Geophysics, 1976, University of B.C.

•Amoco Production Research, Tulsa University, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Don C. Lawton

B.Sc. (Hons. Class I) Geology, 1973, University of Auckland

Ph.D. Geophysics, 1979, University of Auckland

•New Zealand Steel Mining Ltd., Amoco Minerals (N.Z.) Ltd.

ASSOCIATED FACULTY

John C. Bancroft

B.Sc. Electrical Engineering, 1970, University of Calgary

M.Sc. Electrical Engineering, 1972, University of Calgary

Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, 1975, Brigham Young University

•Geo-X Systems Ltd., Veritas Software Ltd., Ulterra Geoscience Ltd.

R. James Brown

B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics and Mathematics, 1965, University of Manitoba

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1968, University of Manitoba

Ph.D. Seismology, 1972, Uppsala University, Sweden

•University of Manitoba, Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR), University of Luleå, Sweden, University of Sydney, Australia

Larry R. Bentley

B.A. Physics, 1971, Hamilton College

M.Sc. Geology and Geophysics, 1974, University of Hawaii

Ph.D. Civil Engineering, 1990, Princeton University

•Western Geophysical Company, University of Vermont, University of Calgary

Rudi Meyer

B.A. Geology, 1975, Lawrence University, Appleton

M.Sc. Structual Geology, 1983, Michigan State University

Ph.D. Clastic Reservoir Sedimentology, 1998, University of Calgary

•Ministry of Energy & Mines, Venezuela, Lagoven, S.A, University of Calgary

RESEARCH and ADMINISTRATION STAFF

Henry C. Bland

B.Sc. Electrical Engineering, 1990, University of Calgary

Patrick F. Daley

B.Sc. Mathematics, 1974, University of Alberta

Ph.D. Geophysics, 1979, University of Alberta

•Independent contractor associated with research centers of major oil companies in the U.S.

Ayon K. Dey

B.Sc. Applied Mathematics, 1996, Memorial University of Newfoundland

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1999, University of Calgary

I. Louise Forgues

Business Administration Certificate, 1984, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

•Kenting Exploration Services Limited, Gale Resources Ltd.

Eric V. Gallant

Journeyman Interprovincial Ticket in Electrical Construction, 1976, Cape Breton Institute of Technology

•IBEW, University of Calgary

David C. Henley

B.Sc. Physics, 1967, Colorado State University

M.Sc. Physics, 1968, University of Michigan

•Shell Oil Co., Shell Canada Ltd.

Brian H. Hoffe

B.Sc. Geology/Geophysics, 1985, Memorial University of Newfoundland

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1996, Memorial University of Newfoundland

•Petro-Canada Resources Ltd., Memorial University of Newfoundland

Mark Kirtland

B.A. Anthropology and Geography, 1994, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Programmer Analyst, CDI College, Calgary

•Bodleian Library, Oxford University, UK

Han-xing Lu

B.Sc. (equivalent) Physics, 1967, Fu Dan University, Shanghai, China

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1982, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Institute of Geophysics, Beijing, China

•Institute of Geophysics, Beijing, China, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Charles P. Ursenbach

B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemical Physics, 1987, University of Calgary

Ph.D. Theoretical Chemistry, 1992, University of British Columbia

• Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

Joanie Whittemore

B.Sc., Geophysics, 2000, University of Calgary

• NCE Resources Group Inc.

Zhengsheng Yao

B.Sc. Physics, 1981, Anhui Labour University, China

M.Sc. Seismology, 1984, State Seismological Bureau, China

Ph.D. Geophysics, 1998, Uppsala University, Sweden

•Uppsala University, Sweden, Lanzhou Seismological Institute, China,

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Katherine F. Brittle

B.Sc. Geological Engineering, 1999, University of Waterloo

Louis Chabot

B.Eng., 1984, McGill University

M.Eng., 1992, McGill University

•Quebec Ministry of the Environment

Maria S. Donati

B.Sc. Physics, 1988, Simon Bolivar University, Venezuela

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1996, University of Calgary

•Seismoven C.A. (SSC), PDVSA-Intevep, Venezuela

Jonathan E. Downton

B.Sc. (Hons.)Geophysics, 1985, University of Alberta

•Landmark ITA, Integra Scott Pickford

Pavan K. Elapavuluri

B.Sc. Math Physics, 1996, Nagarjuna University, India

M.Sc. Applied Geophysics, 2000, Indian School of Mines

Jeffrey P. Grossman

B.Sc. Mathematics, 1996, University of Calgary

M.Sc. Mathematics, 1999, University of Calgary

•Geomatics Project, University of Calgary

Saul E. Guevara

B.Sc. Engineering, 1984, National University of Colombia

•Ecopetrol, ICP, Columbia

Victor Iliescu

B.Sc. Geophysics, 1992, University of Bucharest, Romania

•Continental Laboratories Ltd., Mcleay Geological Consultants Ltd.

Peter M. Manning

B.Sc. Mathematics, 1961, University of British Columbia

•Mobil Oil Canada

Michael J. Mazur

B.Sc. Astrophysics, 1995, University of Calgary

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1999, University of Calgary

Yanpeng Mi

B.Sc. Geology, 1995, Peking University, China

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1998, University of Victoria

•Qi Tian Energy Inc.

Carlos E. Nieto

B.Eng. Geoph. Eng., 1999, Universidad Central de Venezuela

•Suelopetrol, C.A.S.A.C.A.

Marco A. Perez

B.Sc. Physics, 1999, McGill University

Brian H. Russell

B.Sc., 1972, University of Saskatchewan

M.Sc, 1978, University of Durham, UK

•Chevron Corporation, Veritas Seismic Software Ltd., Hampson-Russell Software Ltd.

Chanpen Silawongsawat

B.Sc. Physics, 1993, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1998, University of Calgary

Shuang Sun

B.Sc. Environmental Science, 1994, Northeast Normal University, China

•Changchun Petroleum Company, China

Alexandru Vant

B.Sc. 1999, University of Bucharest

•Belevion Group, Bucharest

Graeme D. Warren

B.Sc. Geol. Eng., 1989, University of British Columbia

•Geo-X Systems Ltd., Union Pacific Resources Inc.

Ian A. Watson

B.Sc. Geol. Eng. 1995, Queen’s University

•Imperial Oil Limited

Chuandong Xu

B.Sc. Geophysics, 1990, Petroleum University, East China

•China Offshore Oil Logging Corporation

Yan Yan

B.Sc. Geophysics, 1990, Petroleum University of China

•Xinjiang Petroleum Exploration Company, Seismic Data Processing Center, China

Jianli Yang

B.Sc. 1997, University of Petroleum (East China)

M.Sc. 2000, University of Petroleum (Beijing)

John J. Zhang

B.Sc. 1985, Wuhan College of Geology, China`

M.Sc. 1988, China University of Geosciences

•China University of Geosciences, Acme Analytical Labs Ltd.

Hongbo Zhang

B.Sc. Eng., 1996, Petroleum University of China (Dongying, Shandong)

•China Offshore Oil Corporation

Ye Zheng

B.Sc. Explosion Mechanics, 1982, University of Science and Technology of China

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1988, University of Science and Technology of China

M.Sc. Geophysics, 1995, University of Calgary

•Institute of Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, University of Manitoba, Veritas GeoServices

Ying Zou

B.Sc., University of Science and Technology of China

M.Ph., University of Luton, UK

•Institute of Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Science, Veritas GeoServices, Kelman Seismic Processing