Broadband acquisition, deblending, and imaging employing dispersed source arrays

Abstract

With the latest advancements and improvements in recording equipment, field management systems, and vibrator mechanical and hydraulic systems, along with lighter detector/channel receiver station distributions, the quest for broadband acquisition, processing, and interpretation is more intense than ever. In an effort to reduce the acquisition cycle time and improve seismic imaging and resolution while optimizing costs, a number of unique land acquisition experiments were conducted, employing aggressive and nonaggressive blended source effort rules. The acquired data were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of source deblending technologies and full-waveform inversion (FWI) capabilities in such a unique data set. These experiments were unique in that the key field parameters needed for FWI, such as low frequencies (1.5–6 Hz), were recorded in combination with mid- and high-sweep frequency bandwidths and variable sweep lengths. This concept is described in the industry as a dispersed source array field acquisition configuration. This fit-for-purpose seismic land acquisition scheme can significantly increase field productivity and produce data that can be employed for near-surface characterization (high frequencies), accurate subsurface velocity estimation (low frequencies), and, thus, broadband high-resolution subsurface images.