Analysis of complicated structure seismic wave fields

Abstract

In western China seismic wave fields are very complicated and have low signal to noise ratio. In this paper, we focus on complex wave field research by forward modeling and indicate that density should not be ignored in wave field simulation if the subsurface physical properties are quite different. We use the acoustic wave equation with density in the staggered finite-difference method to simulate the wave fields. For this purpose a complicated geologic structural model with rugged surfaces, near-surface low-velocity layers, and high-velocity outcropping layers was designed. Based on the instantaneous wave field distribution, we analyzed the mechanism forming complex wave fields. The influence of low velocity layers on the wave field is very strong. A strong waveguide occurs between the top and base of a low velocity layer, producing multiples which penetrate into the earth and form strong complex wave fields in addition to reflections from subsurface interfaces. For verifying the correctness of the simulated wave fields, prestack depth migration was performed using different algorithms from the forward modeling. The structure revealed by the stacked migration profile is same as the known structure.