Bandwidth and vertical

resolution
Truong Vu – 1552441
Lecturer: Truong Quoc Thanh
Table of contents
1. Resolution bandwidth

2. Vertical resolution

3. Factor affecting resolution

4. The problem of thin beds

5. Role of the Sampling Period in Vertical Resolution

6. Time – variant filtering

7. Conclusion

8. References
 Resolution bandwidth

 The resolution bandwidth is the width of the bandpass filter that is swept across the frequency range.

Decreasing the resolution bandwidth increases the ability of the spectrum analyzer to resolve signals at discrete
frequencies and causes the sweep rate to take a longer period of time.

Resolution bandwidth selected for good Resolution bandwidth selected for poor
resolution of signals (the resolution resolution of signals (the resolution
bandwidth is set small enough to allow bandwidth is set too wide to allow proper
proper resolving of discrete frequency resolution of the frequency components (i.e.,
components (i.e., 150 Hz)) 1200 Hz).)
 Vertical resolution
 Vertical resolution of seismic reflection events, is defined as the minimum vertical distance between two
interfaces that give two distinct reflection events on a seismic section. It is basically governed by the
wavelength of the seismic signal. The shorter the wavelength (i.e. the higher the frequency) the greater
the vertical resolution.

 The vertical resolution is governed by the ratio of the depth separation-distance of the reflectors
(Δz) to the wavelength () of the incident seismic signal. The lowest limit (resolution limit) of
this ratio; (Δz/) is found to be (1/4).

The seismic vertical resolution.

Minimum reflector separation (Δz) is

equal to ( /4).
Factors Affecting Resolution
 In general the higher the frequency content of the seismic trace the better is the resolution power.
Well logs (wireline logs) have greater resolution power than seismic traces since well logs are
generated by high frequency sources.
These logs can resolve beds on centimeter-meter scale while seismic reflection records cannot resolve
so-much detailed variations.
Reflection survey data can resolve reflectors at depth-separation of about 10 m at its best.

 The main factors affecting resolution are reflector spacing, reflector depth, and reflection signal
frequency.
 The problem of Thin Beds
 A special
case, related to the subject of resolution which brought appreciable attention by geophysicists, is the
problem of resolving thin beds. Two reflectors spaced by less than quarter of a wavelength, have reflection
responses depending on the layering model.
 Considera thin bed of thickness of (/4) and of velocity (V2), sandwiched between two layers of velocities
(V1 and V3).
 Role of the Sampling Period in Vertical Resolution
 Useof a sampling period (Δt) which gives a Nyquist frequency (1/2*Δt) higher than the cut-off frequency of the
highest frequency component of the seismic signal, will avoid aliasing effect.
 Examples of minimum depth interval (Δz) for a layer having velocity of 2500 m/s.
Two wavelets (top row) with the same bandwidth (bottom row). The passband of wavelet
(a) is centered at 15 Hz, while that of wavelet (b) is centered at 35 Hz. Both wavelets
have ripples, although one is low and the other is high frequency in character. Just having
low or high frequencies does not suffice; both are needed to increase temporal resolution.
 The top section is the same reflectivity model as in Figure. Reflectors with
large separation (48 ms) are resolvable with a bandwidth as low as 10 to
30 Hz. However, reflectors with smaller separation (24 and 12 ms) require
increasingly larger bandwidths for resolution.

 The 10-to-50-Hz bandwidth is sufficient to resolve the reflectors with 24-

ms separation.

 Finally, the 10-to-100-Hz bandwidth is needed to resolve the reflectors

that are separated by 12 ms. There is a close relationship between the
amount of separation and the desired bandwidth
 Time-variant filtering
The seismic spectrum, especially the high-frequency end, is subject to absorption
along the propagation path because of the intrinsic attenuation of the earth (
gain applications).
From a practical standpoint, the time-variant character of the signal bandwidth
requires an application of frequency filters in a time-varying manner. By so
doing, the ambient noise, which begins to dominate the signal at late times, is
excluded and a section with a higher signal-to-noise ratio is obtained. Table 1-11
lists the time-variant filter (TVF) parameters selected from the panels in
Figure 1.1-31
  A signal is present from top to bottom
within the 10-to-20-, 20-to-30-, 30-to-
40-, and 40-to-50-Hz bands.

 Not much signal is noted below 3.5 s in

the 50-to-60-Hz band.

 Nevertheless, the signal content appears

to be retained down to 3.5 s with the 60-
to-70-Hz band. Finally, the 70-to-80-Hz
band shows signal down to 2.5 s

Figure 1.1-31  The far left panel is a portion of a CMP stack

without filtering. The following panels show the same data
with different narrow band-pass filters. Appropriate slopes
were assigned to both low- and high-frequency ends of each
passband. The far right panel is the same section as that in the
far left panel after the application of the time-variant filter
specified in Table 1-11.
 A second band-pass series of filter scans, which
is shown in Figure 1.1-32, allows an assessment
of the right choice of the bandwidth for a given
time gate.

 Here, we start with a narrow band-pass filter at

the low-frequency end of the spectrum and
gradually broaden the passband by including
higher frequencies.

For some data, the bandwidth may be kept quite

large from top to bottom. The stacked section in
Figure 1.1-32 can tolerate wide-band filtering
from early to late times.
Figure 1.1-32  The far left panel is a portion of a CMP
stack without filtering. The remaining panels show the
same data with different band-pass filters which have
increasingly wider passbands. Appropriate slopes were
assigned to both low- and high-frequency ends of each
passband.
 The filter panels for the stacked section in Figure
1.1-33, however, indicate that the signal band
rapidly becomes confined to lower frequencies at
late times.

A signal is present from top to bottom within the

frequency bands up to 40 Hz. Noise is noted below
2.5 s in the 40-to-50-Hz band. This noise quickly
builds up to shallower times at a higher frequency
band.

Figure 1.1-33  The upper far left panel is a portion

of a CMP stack without filtering. The remaining
panels show the same data with different narrow
band-pass filters.
 Conclusion
 Time-variant filters typically are applied on stacked data. A uniform bandwidth must be established when filtering
two sets of data that may have different vintages, source types, or noise levels.
 This is especially significant when trying to tie two lines and follow a reflector across them. The interpreter uses
the frequency character of a marker horizon as a reference in the tracking procedure.
 Therefore, two intersecting lines should be filtered so that the reflection character is consistent from one to the
other, thus simplifying the interpretation.
 References

 "Time-Variant Filtering - SEG Wiki". Wiki.Seg.Org, 2020,

https://wiki.seg.org/wiki/Time-variant_filtering.

 "Resolution Bandwidth - An Overview | Sciencedirect Topics". Sciencedirect.Com,

2020, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/resolution-bandwidth.

 Seismic data processing and interpretation of seismic data /Oz Yilmaz,

Stephen.M.Doherty.1987