Ch6 Statics 2014
Ch6 Statics 2014
Ch6 Statics 2014
Chapter 6
Static corrections
o Residual static correction, which accounts for lateral variations in the velocity
Common weathering layers in arid areas include: sand dunes, sabkhas, gravel plains,
The weathering layer velocity is usually much less than those of the underlying sub-
Therefore, the weathering layer produces large contribution to the overall traveltime
of rays.
Figure 6.1 shows the effect of noise versus statics on T-X curves.
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It involves the computation and removal of the effect of different source and receiver
elevations.
This involves bringing the sources and receivers to a common datum, preferably
below the elevation of the lowest source or receiver.
For this, we need a replacement velocity (Vr) for the material between the elevation
of the datum and that of the source or receiver.
The replacement velocity is either assumed from prior knowledge of the area or can
be estimated from uphole times or direct arrivals.
( ES Z S ED ) ( ER Z R ED )
TD , (1)
Vr
where, ES: ground elevation at shot location (from mean sea level),
TD is always subtracted from the two-way traveltime of the trace belonging to that
particular source-receiver pair.
After elevation static correction, it is important to correct for the effect of variable
thickness and lateral velocity variation of the weathering layer.
Figure 6.3 shows the difference between elevation and residual static corrections.
Refraction statics.
Surface-consistent statics.
Uphole surveys
A fairly shallow hole (100-200 m) that penetrates the weathering layer and the upper
part of the sub-weathering layer is drilled for this purpose.
Several geophones are placed at various (known) depths in the hole. The geophone
locations must span the weathering and sub-weathering layers.
A shot is fired at the surface near the hole and the direct traveltimes to the geophones
are recorded.
A plot of the direct traveltimes versus the geophone depths can be used to compute
the velocities of the weathering and sub-weathering layers as well as the thickness of
Figure 6.5 shows an example of a real uphole survey and its analysis.
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This method attempts to construct a model of the weathering layer by estimating the
velocity and thickness of the weathering layer at several locations and interpolating
This method has the advantage of providing highly accurate near-surface velocities
and thicknesses. However, it is very costly if high lateral resolution is required.
Wavelength of statics refers to the width of the lateral (velocity or thickness) change
in the weathering layer relative to the spread length (maximum offset).
Refraction statics
This method is used to construct a model of the weathering layer (WL) by estimating
the velocity and thickness of the WL.
These methods require picking first breaks, which is time consuming and inaccurate.
The following are standard methods used for refraction statics calculation:
1. Delay-time Method:
It uses the slopes of the direct and head waves as well as the head wave’s
intercept time of many shot records along the profile to estimate the WL
2. Best-fit Methods:
Tomographic methods are often employed to invert the observed first arrivals
The surface-consistent assumption considers static shifts as time delays that depend
only on the source and receiver locations on the surface, not on raypaths in the
subsurface.
This assumption is valid only if all raypaths are vertical in the near surface, regardless
of source-receiver offset and refractor depth (Figure 6.7).
The total residual static time shift on any trace can be expressed as:
where:
Ri: is the residual static time shift associated with the ith receiver position (i = 1, …, I,
Sj: is the residual static time shift associated with the jth source position (j = 1, …, J,
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Gk: is the difference in two-way traveltime (due to structure) at a reference CMP and
survey), and
M k : is the residual NMO associated with the trace generated by the jth source
and recorded by the ith receiver and it accounts for possible imperfect NMO
correction due to using imperfect NMO velocities for the kth CMP. Why is Mk
Generally, we have more equations than unknowns for typical seismic surveys (Is this
true for your line?). This is a typical least-squares problem.
Our objective is to find those Ri, Sj, Gk, and Mk that will minimize the following error-
energy between observed and calculated time shifts using model parameters in
equation (2):
I J K
E [( Ri S j Gk M k X ij2 ) Tijk ]2 . (3)
i 1 j 1 k 1
calculated Tijk observed Tijk
imperfect-NMO terms.
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(3) Application of only source and receiver terms to the traces of pre-NMO-corrected
CMP gathers.
(1) Picking:
It means estimating the observed time shifts Tijk from the data.
The most widely used method is the pilot trace method, which consists of the
following steps:
(1) A CMP with good S/N ratio is gained and NMO-corrected using a preliminary
velocity function.
(2) The CMP gather is stacked to produce the first pilot trace.
(3) Each individual trace in this CMP gather is crosscorrelated with the first pilot
trace.
(4) Time shifts Tijk' , which correspond to maximum crosscorrelations, are picked.
(5) Shift each original trace by its corresponding time shift Tijk' .
(6) A second pilot trace is constructed by stacking the once-shifted traces in the
gather.
(7) The second pilot trace is, in turn, crosscorrelated with the once-shifted traces
in the gather and new time shifts Tijk'' are computed. Naturally, Tijk'' < Tijk' .
(8) Shift each once shifted-trace by its corresponding new time shift Tijk'' .
(9) The total time shift is given as: Tijk = Tijk' + Tijk'' .
(10) A third pilot trace is constructed again by stacking the twice-shifted traces.
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(11) The third pilot trace is crosscorrelated with the third pilot trace of the next
(12) The process is performed this way on all CMP gathers moving to left and/or
(13) The picked total time shifts (Tijk) are passed to the next phase
(decomposition).
The following parameters are important when picking the time shifts in practice:
It should be greater than all possible combined shot and receiver shifts at
It should be less than the dominant period of the data in poor S/N ratio
data (why?).
possible.
The residual-NMO term (Mk) should not be large within the correlation
window. Therefore, you should have done your best effort with the NMO
correction.
1. Do velocity analysis.
(2) Decomposition:
phase (1) into source, receiver, structural, and residual-NMO terms using equation
(3).
The procedure most widely used for solving the resulting system of linear
(3) Application: The individual static shifts associated with each source and receiver
Appendix A
Elevation Statics
ES
Ground surface
ZS
ER
ZR
Vr
ES - ZS - ED
ER – ZR - ED
ED
( ES Z S E D ) ( E R Z R E D )
TD
Vr
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