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arXiv · 1906.00279

NMO-velocity surfaces and Dix-type formulae in anisotropic heterogeneous media

Vladimir Grechka·Ilya Tsvankin
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Abstract

Reflection moveout of pure modes recorded on conventional-length spreads is described by a normal-moveout (NMO) velocity that depends on the orientation of the common-midpoint (CMP) line. Here, we introduce the concept of NMO-velocity surfaces, obtained by plotting the NMO velocity as the radius-vector along all possible directions in 3-D space, and use it to develop Dix-type averaging and differentiation algorithms in anisotropic heterogeneous media. The intersection of the NMO-velocity surface with the horizontal plane represents the NMO ellipse that can be estimated from wide-azimuth reflection data. We demonstrate that the NMO ellipse and conventional-spread moveout as a whole can be modeled by Dix-type averaging of specifically oriented cross-sections of the NMO-velocity surfaces along the zero-offset reflection raypath. This formalism is particularly simple to implement for a stack of homogeneous anisotropic layers separated by plane dipping boundaries. Since our method involves computing just a single (zero-offset) ray for a given reflection event, it can be efficiently used in anisotropic stacking-velocity tomography.

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BibTeXRIS

Vladimir Grechka, Ilya Tsvankin. 2019-06-01. NMO-velocity surfaces and Dix-type formulae in anisotropic heterogeneous media. https://doi.org/10.1190/1.1484536

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