Seismic velocity model building using neural networks: Training data design and learning generalization

Abstract

Data-driven artificial neural networks (ANNs) offer several advantages over conventional deterministic methods in a wide range of geophysical problems. For seismic velocity model building, judiciously trained ANNs offer the possibility of estimating high-resolution subsurface velocity models. However, a significant challenge of ANNs is training generalization, which is the ability of an ANN to apply the learning from the training process to test data not previously encountered. In the context of velocity model building, this means learning the relationship between velocity models and the corresponding seismic data from a set of training data, and then using acquired seismic data to accurately estimate unknown velocity models. We have asked the following question: What types of velocity model structures need to be included in the training process so that the trained ANN can invert seismic data from a different (hypothetical) geologic setting? To address this question, we create four sets of training models: geologically inspired and purely geometric, with and without background velocity gradients. We find that using geologically inspired training data produces models with well-delineated layer interfaces and fewer intralayer velocity variations. The absence of a certain geologic structure in training models, however, hinders the ANN’s ability to recover it in the testing data. We use purely geometric training models consisting of square blocks of varying size to demonstrate the ability of ANNs to recover reasonable approximations of flat, dipping, and curved interfaces. However, the predicted models suffer from intralayer velocity variations and nonphysical artifacts. Overall, the results successfully determine the use of ANNs in recovering accurate velocity model estimates and highlight the possibility of using such an approach for the generalized seismic velocity inversion problem.