A wave propagation based method for improved seismic fracture prediction

Abstract

A wave propagation based method was investigated to improve the quality of seismic P-wave fracture prediction. The improvement is achieved through reducing the overburden influence superimposed onto a target layer. Rather than relying on evaluations of layer?s properties across an interface, our method predicts fractures using two ``fracture functions' estimated from the top and bottom reflections of a target layer. The two functions are firstly served as a measure of overburden influence, and then incorporated in inversion to minimize the overburden effect that results in improved fracture prediction for a target layer. Tests on physical model data suggest the viability of the method that operates on pre-stack data, and is applicable to a wide range of seismic surveys including 2D, 3D and VSP.