Stacking and Velocity Analysis

The data are stacked to emulate a

common source receiver geometry.
Data traces from common midpoints are
added to improve the signal to noise ratio.
To do this, the seismic velocity must first
be found.

The CMP section

Stacking creates a seismic section that emulates
a common source-receiver geometry that can be
interpreted.
Shot and receiver in same spot!
Works best if layer is flat.

Constant Velocity Stack

Lets assume the rocks all have the same
seismic velocity constant velocity assumption.
What is the travel time for a raypath bouncing off
a flat layer at depth?
x

The hyperbolic travel-time

2

x
Total raypath distance = 2 +d 2 = x 2 + (2d ) 2
2
2
2
2
1 2
x
2
d
x

2
Total raypath traveltime =
x +(2d) 2 = +
t
=
+
0

v
d
v
d

d
where t 0 =2 is the zero offset traveltime
v

So the normal move out equation is

x
t = t0 +
v

Hyperbolic
Moveout

Near shot trace,

intercept is t0

Moveout is the way the

reflection appears at later
times for more distant traces.
This is the equation of a
hyperbola. with its apex at t=t0

x
t = t0 +
v
2

Hyperbolas flatten
at longer times

Hyperbolic
Moveout
The amount of moveout
determines what velocity
should be used.
This is called the
stacking velocity
The best stacking velocity
is the one that produces
the most coherent
reflections after stack!

Near shot trace,

intercept is t0

Hyperbolas flatten
at longer times

NMO correction
x

The travel time is: t = t0 +

v

So, to correct, we adjust each point on

each trace by:
2

x
t = t ( x) t0 = t0 + t0
v
2

NMO correction

NMO correction

Velocity varies with depth

If the velocity varies with depth, we must
adjust the stacking velocity to vary as a
function of time: v(t)
We still use a modified stacking equation:

x
t = t0 +

v(t )
2

Stacking velocity
Stacking velocity is the best apparent
velocity to stack with.
It depends on all the layer velocities above
the reflector so it is an average velocity
that turns out to be the rms velocity

1 N 2
vstack = vrms =
vi ti

t0 i =1

where t i is the two-way travel time in layer i

Dipping layer velocity

x

Dipping layer velocity

Modify velocity by
dividing by cos

x cos
t = t0 +

3D dipping layer velocity

Must modify even more if layer is
dipping in 3D

vstacking = v /(1 sin 2 cos 2 )

Finding the stacking velocity

If we know the velocities and dips, we can
find the nmo correction for the reflection
hyperbola
But we dont know either the velocities or
dips.
We try different stacking velocities and use
the one that works best.

Methods to find stacking velocity

Try different stacking velocities on cmp
gathers and pick the best one
Try different stacking velocities on cmp
stacked section and pick the best one
Try measuring the coherency of the
reflections for different stacking velocities
and plot them

Effect of stacking velocity on cmp

gathers

Effect of stacking velocity on cmp

gathers

Effect of stacking velocities on

stacked section

Constant velocity stacks

Velocity spectrums
We can estimate the stacked trace strength for
different stacking velocities and then plot them
To do this for a specific cmp gather
Take gather and make nmo correction for a specific
velocity
Measure the rms (root-mean-square) of cmp gather at
specific times
Do this for different velocities
Plot these up and contour

Velocity
spectrum
For each velocity
NMO is applied to flatten reflectors
RMS strength is found at each time
strength is plotted and contoured

Velocity spectrum

Velocity spectrum

Velocity spectrum for different line

lengths

Velocity analysis processing

The velocity
analysis is
typically carried
out for every
100 or so
midpoints and
then the model
is interpolated
to get a
regionally
varying model
that is used to
stack the cmp
data.