Publications

Areas which are characterized by steep dips, complex geology or stratigraphic changes require special attention during data collection, pre-processing and data migration for successful interpretation.In areas where steeply dipping strata are encountered, seismic lines should be aligned perpendicular to the structures and adequately sample! spatially. High performance migration programs, such as F-K migration, are required to restore the steep dips with minimal dispersion.In areas of complex structural geology, where the folds and faults are contorted 3-D seismic data collection and migration are required to map the subsurface. If the subsurface velocity \ distribution is varying slowly, a good 3 -D time migraxon algoirthm will s&fice. If the subsurface velocity changes rapidly areally, then 3-D depth migration algorithms must be use to properly tollapse the tilted diffraction curves and to move the structure into their correct spatial position.In prospective areas where the challenge is to indentify and delineate stratigraphic hydrocarbon accumulations, high resolution field data collection is a necessity. The field recording parameters must be designed to record the broadest bandwidth possible. Wavelet compression processes are essential to further shorten the wavelet during the processing stages. To recover the horizontal resolution that is needed to delineate porous bodies, short field recording group intervals are necessary. Again a high performance time or depth migration algorithm is needed to image the data properly.Areas that are characterized by severe topography and complex subsurface geology offer a special challenge. Specialized pre-processing techniques may have to be employed prior to depth migration. In fact it may be insufficient in many of these areas to stack data before migration. The only proper processing sequence in these difficult areas is to migrate before stack.