Applications of Geophysical Inversion and Imaging

by Larry Lines and Brian Russell

Duration: Two days

Summary:
The exploration geophysicist's chief function is to describe the earth by use of geophysical data sets. Geophysical inversion and imaging provide systematic vehicles to turn observations into geologic models without the use of "trial and error" methods. This course outlines the theory behind geophysical inversion, and then demonstrates applications by showing several examples of how theory relates to various kinds of data and problems.

The course shows how inversion methods can obtain seismic velocity information and how this information may be used in the imaging procedures such as depth migration. Various case-history examples demonstrate how inversion can estimate geological models from reflection seismic, VSP, cross-borehole seismic, gravity and well-log data. The course focuses on traditional 2-D and 3-D exploration problems as well as applications to reservoir characterization. Emphasis is placed on the integration of methods which provide enhanced definition of petroleum reservoirs. Course participants are encouraged to present data examples for class discussions.

Course Outline:

• Seismic impedance estimation
• Seismic traveltime tomography and depth migration
• Reservoir characterization using borehole geophysics
• Integrated interpretation of geophysical data

Instructor Biographies:
Larry Lines
Brian Russell