Introduction to this special section: Multiple attenuation

Abstract

Multiples? What multiples? This was the reply to my questioning of the seismic-to-synthetic log mis-tie shown in Figure 1. My inquiry followed a request for technical assistance in an AVO inversion project by a young entry-level geophysicist interpreting the thin tram-track reservoirs typical of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The project had been initiated with this log tie to establish the spectral characteristics of a wavelet needed for inversion and despite being at the end of the AVO-compliant processing flow, I suggested that we take a step back to deal with the obvious multiple contamination clearly visible within the zone of interest. I was met with blank stares, as there had been no discussion about multiples. It even crossed my mind that maybe multiples had not been a part of my young colleague's education and training. If this was indeed the case, then it was not her oversight, as I had seen no new technology or even convention presentations trying to address this persistently insidious land internal-multiple problem since the last time I was fully engaged in the mid 1990s.