A comprehensive study on traveltime approximations and their impact on the quality of

prestack time imaging and amplitude variation with offset (AVO) in the Cauvery
Offshore Basin, India.
Asharaf A1*, M Nagendra Babu1
1
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Chennai, India
*Corresponding Author: asharafwyd@gmail.com
Abstract
This study analysed the improvement of imaging of the subsurface using the curved-ray
travel time approximation along with interval velocities inverted from RMS velocity using
Constrained Velocity Inversion (CVI) method in prestack time migration and compared the
results of this with other conventional approaches, such as 2nd-order and 4th-order travel time
approximations. The migration procedure involves the computation of two-way travel times
from imaging points to sources and receivers. The most conventional methodology for travel
time approximation in the seismic migration is the curve-fitting methodology based on Taylor
expansion of traveltimes for short offsets where large offset travel time errors are controlled
by fourth-order effective velocity. In this method, the actual interval parameters are unknown
and optimal effective velocity parameters at each grid point are directly scanned from the
seismic time gathers. So this method is limited to moderate lateral distances. Another
approach, the curved-ray travel time method, involves the solution of ray tracing equations
for laterally invariant (1D) velocity media and this method requires interval velocity
parameters, usually inverted from RMS velocities using the Dix-type inversions. RMS
velocities and eff are very sensitive to noise in the seismic data, which affects the estimation
of interval velocities. Instead of the Dix-type inversion, this study applied Constrained
Velocity Inversion (CVI) to generate the interval velocities for the curved-ray travel time
approximation and formation-based smoothing was applied before updating the velocity. In
comparison to internal Dix inversion for the curved ray method, geologically constrained
interval velocity, generated before migration, helps in the quality analysis of suitable interval
velocities for seismic imaging. Finally, the results from the 2nd-order travel time
approximation (hyperbolic), 4th-order travel time approximation (nonhyperbolic), and curved-
ray travel time approximation methods were compared, and the results were substantiated
that improvement in the imaging of subsurface with the present methodology.