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SEG Int'l Exposition and Annual Meeting * San Antonio, Texas * September 9-14, 2001
p is slope of the plane wave kn is the Nyquist wavenumber as a function of spatial sampling x kn= / x (1.2)
Aliasing will take place when the condition (1.1) is violated because either the dip range is too wide, the waveform is too high frequency or the spatial sampling is too coarse(Biondi, 1999). Anti- alias filters that are typically applied in the migration are basically high- cut filters to reduce aliasing artifacts. A stronger filter reduces more artifacts and the filter applied is at a lower frequency. Since the aliasing problem is more dramatic in the shallow section, a strong filter is required to image and reduce artifacts in the near surface. However, this strong filter tends to reduce resolution in the data and can destroy signal, thus it must be applied with caution.
Example Figure 1 shows typical results from the study area. This depth migrated section was created using a strong antialias filter. As indicated in the figure, important dipping events were filtered out. The flank of the reservoir of interest is not well imaged when the strong filter is applied.
Figure 2. Zoom of the sections demonstrating differences in results due to choice of anti- alias filter. The upper section was created using a weak anti- alias while the lower section was created using a strong antialias filter. The depth sections in Figure 3 are zoomed displays highlighting the near surface results. Due to the nature of Kirchoff migration and the low fold in the in the near surface, the upper part of the section in any dataset is where the aliasing effects are usually the most severe. In the section where a strong anti- alias was applied the data is more continuous and there are fewer migration artifacts. The fault planes are also more clearly defined and easier to interpret.
Figure 1. This depth seismic section was created using a strong filter. The lower display is the migration velocity.
SEG Int'l Exposition and Annual Meeting * San Antonio, Texas * September 9-14, 2001
Figure 3. The near surface displays improvement in the bottom section which is with a strong anti- alias filter.
Conclusion Most of the time and effort in a depth migration project is spent in building the velocity model which is recognized as critical in producing a good image. In this study it was shown that a frequently over- looked parameter, the antialias filter can also have a dramatic effect on the results. Care must be taken in designing the filter correctly in order to preserve the desired image while minimizing artifacts. It was shown that a strong filter can remove dipping events, but improve other aspects of the seismic section. Using a weak filter in migration tends to produce a very noisy shallow section and a less continuous section overall. The results for any particular dataset will vary somewhat and thus tests should be performed and analyzed with the interpreter prior to proceeding with a processing sequence. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Pemex and the Centro Nacional Procesado Sismolgico for providing the data and support necessary to present this work. References Biondi L. Biondi, 1999. 3d Seismic Imaging:Stanford Exploration Project Lumley, D.E., Claerbout, J.F., and Bevc, D., 1994, Antialiased Kirchoff 3-D migration: 64th Ann. Internat. Meeting, Soc. Expl. Geophys., Expanded Abstracts, 12821285.
SEG Int'l Exposition and Annual Meeting * San Antonio, Texas * September 9-14, 2001