Abstract
Strong low-frequency energy beneath a hydrocarbon reservoir is called a seismic low-frequency shadow and can be used as a hydrocarbon indicator (Taner et al., 1979) but the physical mechanism of the observed low-frequency shadow is still unclear. To study the mechanism, we performed seismic numerical simulation of geological models with a hydrocarbon-bearing zone using the 2-D diffusive-viscous wave equation which can effectively model the characteristics of velocity dispersion and transform the seismic data centered in a target layer slice within a time window to the time-frequency domain by using time-frequency signal analysis and sort the frequency gathers to common frequency cubes. Then, we observe the characteristics of the seismic low-frequency shadow in the common frequency cubes. The numerical simulations reveal that the main mechanism of seismic low-frequency shadows is attributed to high attenuation of the medium to high seismic frequency components caused by absorption in the hydrocarbon-filled reservoir. Results from a practical example of seismic low-frequency shadows show that it is possible to identify the reservoir by the low-frequency shadow with high S/N seismic data.
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This work was supported by the National Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (Grant No. 2006AA0AA 02 - 2).
He Zhenhua graduated from Changchun College of Geology in 1964 and was a visiting scholar at the University of Houston from 1983 to 1985. He is a professor in Applied Geophysics, Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT). His research interests include seismic data processing, interpretation, and rock physics. He is a member of the SEG, the Chinese Geophysical Society, and the China Petroleum Association. He is also the Chief Editor of “Computing Techniques for Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration”.
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He, Z., Xiong, X. & Bian, L. Numerical simulation of seismic low-frequency shadows and its application. Appl. Geophys. 5, 301–306 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-008-0040-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-008-0040-4