Recognition of gas hydrate using AVO-attribute crossplots based on the porous medium theory

Abstract

Gas hydrate is gradually considered as a potential energy resource. The presence of gas hydrate is commonly inferred from the appearance of “bottom simulating reflector”(BSR) on seismic section. Understanding the properties of hydrate-bearing sediments and studying the AVO characteristics of BSR are of great significance. Although more and more domestic and international studies have been conducted on the subjects mentioned above, they are still in the primary stage and need a long way to go to be appled in practice, especially in the field of gas hydrate. Aiming at the identification of gas hydrate, we studied the characteristics of the AVO attributes based on the Biot’s theory when the sediments were bearing gas hydrate or free gas. The AVO attribute crossplots obtained from seismic sections with the forward simulation by means of staggered-grid finite-difference were compared with that of theoretic models. The coincidence shows that utilization of AVO attribute crossplots is an effective way to recognize gas hydrate and free gas.