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DECONVOLUTIONinpractice
version1.0released29/1/99

CONTENTS
Introduction
DefinitionofTermsandAssumptions
TypesofDeconvolution
PrestackapplicationsSignatureDeconvolution,DBS
PostStackapplicationsDAS

INTRODUCTION
Deconvolutionisafilteringprocesswhichremovesawaveletfromtherecordedseismictracebyreversing
theprocessofconvolution.ThecommonestwaytoperformdeconvolutionistodesignaWienerfilterto
transformonewaveletintoanotherwaveletinaleastsquaressense.Byfarthemostimportantapplicationis
predictivedeconvolutioninwhicharepeatingsignal(e.g.primariesandmultiples)isshapedtoonewhich
doesn'trepeat(primariesonly).Predictivedeconvolutionsuppressesmultiplereflectionsandoptionallyalters
thespectrumoftheinputdatatoincreaseresolution.Itisalmostalwaysappliedatleastoncetomarine
seismicdata.
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DEFINITIONOFTERMSANDASSUMPTIONS
Themathematicalassumptionsofpredictivedeconvolutionarethat:
1.Theprimaryreflectionseriesisrandom(bewarecyclotherms).
2.Thesourcewaveletisminimumphaseandisdoesn'tvarythoughtheearth(stationary).
3.Thenoiseisrandomandisofminimallevel.
4.Themultipleperiodisfixed(stationary).
5.Thedataarezerooffsetanddipisignored.
Whiletheseassumptionsarenotsatisfiedbytypicalseismicdata,extensivepracticalexperiencehasshown
thatgappedpredictivedeconvolutioncanbeveryeffectiveatsuppressingmultiplereflectionswithperiodsof
lessthanaround300ms.Thelevelofnoiseinthedatacansignificantlyaffectdeconvolutionresults.The
followingfiguresummarisesdeconvolutionparametersandresultsusingasimplesyntheticexamplewhich
consistsofawaterbottomreflectionandseriesofmultiplereflections.Theobjectiveofdeconvolutionwould
betosuppressthemultiplereflections.
Themathematicsofpredictivedeconvolutionrequirethattheautocorrelationofthesourcewaveletisknown.
Sincethisisrarelytrueinpracticetheautocorrelationoftheseismictraceisusedasanapproximation
instead.Theautocorrelationfunctioniscriticalinpickingthedeconvolutionparametersofgap(alsocalled
minimumautocorrelationlag)andoperatorlength(sometimescalledmaximumautocorrelationlag).Some
contractorsrefertothetotaloperatorlengthasthelengthofthegapplustheoperatorlength,othersrefer
(ambiguously)tothisastheoperatorlength.
Theseparametersaresummarisedintheadjacentfigure(a)andareusuallydefinedinmsasmultiplesofthe
sampleinterval.Sometimestheyaredefinedbythenumberoftimesthattheautocorrelationcrossesoverthe
zeroline(zerocrossing).Inthefigure(a)thegapindicatedwouldbethe3rdzerocrossing.Thepredictive
deconvolutionoperatorbasicallyattemptstoproduceatracewithzeroautocorrelationbetweenthegapand
operatorlength(b).Thereare 1/6
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operatorlength(b).Thereare
nofirmmathematicalrules
restrictingthegapandoperator
lengthparameters,theyare
usuallytestedextensivelyand
theprocessorandinterpreter
usetheirexperienceand
judgementtopickthemost
pleasingsection.Aspreviously
discussedacertainpercentage
ofwhitenoiseisalsorequired
tostabilisethedeconvolution
calculations.For
deconvolutiontoperform
effectivelytheautocorrelation
functionofthetraceused
shouldberepresentativeofthe
waveletwithinthedata.
Extraneousnoiseand
amplitudevariationswhich
maybiastheautocorrelation
shouldthereforebeomitted
fromthecomputation.Thisis
accomplishedbychoosinga
designwindowforthe
autocorrelationfunction.
Sometimesthewaveletvaries
sufficientlydownthetraceto
requiredifferentdeconvolution
operatorsfortheshallowerand
deeperpartsofthesection
(multiwindowdeconvolution).
AnexamplefromtheNorth
Seawouldbetodesignone
operatorfortheTertiary
sectionandoneforthedeeper
Cretaceous/JurassicsectionwiththemergezonebeingselectedabovetheBaseCretaceousreflector.This
shouldbeexpectedsinceweknowhigherfrequenciesareprogressivelyremovedfromthewaveletasit
travelsthoughtheearthbytheprocessesofattenuationandabsorption.
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TYPESOFDECONVOLUTION
GAPPEDORPREDICTIVE
GappedorPredictiveDeconvolutionisthecommonesttypeofdeconvolution.Themethodtriestoestimate
andthenremovethepredictablepartsofaseismictrace(usuallymultiples).Predictivedeconvolutioncan
alsobeusedtoincreaseresolutionbyalteringwaveletshapeandamplitudespectrum.Spikingdeconvolution
isaspecialcasewherethegapissettoonesampleandtheresultingphasespectrumiszero.

WAVESHAPING
Waveshapingdeconvolutionisdesignedtoconvertonewaveletintoanother.Examplesincludesignature
deconvolutionwhereamixedphasesourcesignatureisconvertedtoit'sminimumphaseequivalent)and
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zerophaseconversion.

OTHERS
ADAPTIVEDECONVOLUTION:isatypeofdeconvolutionwherethegapandoperatorare
automaticallyallowedtovarysamplebysampledownthetraceaccordingtovariationsintheprevious
deconvolutionperformance.Thisdangerousprocessisnowrarelyapplied.
HOMOMORPHICdeconvolutiontransformsthedatatothecepstrumdomainwherewaveletand
earthreflectivitycanbeseparated.
MAXIMUMENTROPYorBURGdeconvolutionusesanentropycriteriontoproducethe
predictableandrandomelementsofthedataandisastrongspectralbalance.
MINIMUMENTROPYdeconvolutionattemptstoreducethedisorderofasignalandperformsa
zerophaseconversioncalledPhaseDeconvolutioninPROMAX.
DIPDEPENDANT:Inareasofstrongdipandstructurethemultipleperiodisnotstationaryalongthe
tracebutmaybestationaryinotherdipdirections.Mostusuallythedataarecomposedintoseveraldip
limitedsectionsbyFKdipfiltering,thedeconvolutionisappliedtoeachdipcomponentandthe
resultingsectionsareaddedtogether.
TAUP:deconvolutionisanemergingprocessinwhichsomedipandnonstationaryelementsare
removedfromthedatapriortodeconvolutionbytransformationintothetaupdomain.
SURFACECONSISTENT:deconvolutioniscommonlyappliedtolandseismicdataandinAVO
processing.Thetechniqueensuresthattracesfromthesamesurfacesourceandreceiverlocation(or
CMP,offsetinaddition)havethesame,consistent,operatorapplied.
SPACEAVERAGE:orensembledeconvolutioninPROMAXisusedtoapplyasingledeconvolution
operatortoagroupoftracessuchasashotrecord.Conventionaldeconvolutionwillapplyadifferent
operatorforeachtrace.
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PRESTACKAPPLICATIONS
SIGNATUREDECONVOLUTION
Sincegappedpredictivedeconvolutionrequiresaminimumphaseinputitiscommontoattempttoconvert
thedatatominimumphasebeforefurtherdeconvolutionisattempted.Ifthesourcewaveletwereknownor
measuredthenthiswouldbeatrivialproblem.Inpractisethesourcecomponentsareusuallymeasuredinthe
nearfieldthatisveryclosetotheairgunarray.Thesemeasurementsaresometimesincludedasauxiliary
traces.Whatisrequiredduringprocessingisthesignaturerecordedatthehydrophonethesocalledfar
fieldsignature.Thefarfieldsignaturecanbemeasuredbyafixedhydrophoneindeepwatersuchasa
facilityinaNorwegianFjordownedbyPGS.Thefarfieldsignaturecanalsobecalculatedfromthenear
fieldsignaturebyavarietyofmethodsmostlypatentedbyGECOPRAKLA.Anumberofsoftware
packagesareavailablewhichcanmodelthefarfieldsignaturefromagivenarrayofguns.Inpracticeithas
beenshown(bycontractorswithvestedinterests)thatmodelledsignaturescomparefavourablywiththose
measured.Modellingisfarcheaperthanmeasurement.Thereforewhatisusuallydoneistoobtaina
modelledsignatureatthecorrectsourcedepthandrecordedsamplinginterval(thiswillbeprovidedfreeby
theacquisitioncontractor)anddesignanoperatortoconvertthiswavelettominimumphase.Thisoperatoris
thenappliedtotherecordedseismicdatapriortodeconvolution.Notethatthisproceduredoesnottake
accountoffrequencylossesasthewavelettravelsthroughtheearth.Modernseismicsourcesoftenconsistof
manyairgunsandsincetheinputsignatureisapproximatelyminimumphasethesignaturedeconvolution
stagerarelysignificantlychangesthedata.Neverthelessitshouldstillbeapplied.Foroldersourcetypessuch
asvibroseis(land)orwatergunsthesignaturedeconvolutionisanessentialpartofthedataprocessingsince
thesourceisofmixedphase.
NotethataprocessusedhistoricallybyGSI(thencalledHGSnowcalledWestern)calledDESIGusedto
statisticallyextractawaveletfromeachshotrecordandconvertthistoazerophasewaveletcalled"standard
marinewavelet6".Theyclaimedtoapplyazerophasepredictivedeconvolutionfollowingthisprocessso
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theresultingdatawouldbeapproximatelyzerophase(notminimumasstandard).Thistypeofprocess
shouldbeavoidedsincetheresultsareunpredictable.

DBSDECONVOLUTIONBEFORESTACK
Predictivedeconvolutionappliedprestackhashistoricallybeenaimedatmultiplesuppressionratherthan
waveletcompression.Thisisslightlystrangesincethemultipleperiodisonlyfixedatzerooffsetwhichis
neverrecorded.Inpracticethedeconvolutionisappliedtracebytracewithaslightlydifferentoperator
chosenforeachtrace.ThemethodisreferredtoasDBS(deconvolutionbeforestack).Theamplitude
relationshipsofthemultiplesshouldalsobepreservedpriortoDBSbyapplicationofageometrical
spreadingcorrectionthatdoesnotuseaprimaryvelocityfunction.Theoreticallytheeffectsofattenuation
(Q)shouldalsoberemovedpriortodeconvolutionalthoughtheuseofmultiwindoweddeconvolution
shouldhelptoaccountforattenuationprocesses.Itisimportanttoremoveasmuchnoiseaspossiblepriorto
deconvolution.TheDBSoftenperformsbestaftermultiplesuppression(e.g.RADONdemultiple)andDMO
whichremovesnoisefromthedata.TheorderofDBSshouldthereforebetested.Transformingdatatothe
taupdomainwillmakethemultipleperiodstationary,suppressesdippingnoiseandgenerallyleadsto
improvedDBSresults.
InpractisetheDBSchosenisusuallyfairlyconservative.Thisisbecausethejobcanlargelybedonebythe
DASatalaterstageintheprocessingwhereitischeaperandeasiertoredoifthewrongparametersare
chosen.
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POSTSTACKAPPLICATIONS
DAS
Inmanyareas(e.g.theNorthSea)apoststackpredictivedeconvolutionDAS(deconvolutionafterstack)is
oftenappliedinadditiontothatalreadyappliedprestackbecausetheDBSdoesnotattenuatemultiples
sufficientlywell.AdditionallytheDAScanbeusedtoperformanyspectralenhancementwhichmayhave
beenundesirableprestackbasedonthepremisethatitisbettertodothesethingslaterratherthanearlierin
thesequence.Poststackthedatashouldrepresentthenearoffsettraceandtheperiodofthemultipleshould
bestable(ignoringalterationsbythestackingprocessitself)andnoiselevelsshouldbereduced.These
featuresmayenhancetheeffectivenessofdeconvolution.TheDASisalmostalwaysappliedbefore
migrationsincethemigrationprocessitselfmayaltertheperiodofthemultiplereflections.However,
sometimesthedeconvolutionisappliedaftermigration(DAM).ThiswouldusuallybebecausetheDAS
parameterscouldnotbedecidedwithinthetimeframeallowed.Ifthewrongparametersarechosenitis
bettertodoitafteranexpensiveprocesssuchasmigrationhasalreadybeenapplied.SometimestheDAMis
moreeffectivebecausethemigrationreducesnoiseinthedata.Thisroutealsomaybepreferrediftarget
orientedmultiplesuppressionroutinessuchasSPLATaretobeapplied.Onsomedata,particularlyin
deepwaterwhereheavymultiplesuppressionrouteshavebeenattempted,theuseofDASmaynotbe
requiredandshouldbereplacedbyspectralwhiteningmethods.

CHOICEOFDESIGNWINDOW
Unfortunatelytherearefeweasyguidelineshere.
1.Thedesignwindowshouldincludethetargetzoneandomitanyhighamplitudesornoiselevels.Itis
commontoomittheseabed,anycoherentnoise,andfirstmultiplebouncefromthedesignwindowe.g.
startthedesignwindowat200msforaseabedat80ms.ThePROMAXdeconvolutionincludesafudge
factortoallowtheinclusionofthefirstmultiplebounce.
2.Longerdesignwindowsarestatisticallymorevalidthanshorterones(assumingtheydon'tjustcontain
noise).Generallyadesignwindow10timestheoperatorlengthshouldbechosen.Thiswouldusually
bearound2sfora200mstotaloperator(commonlyusedintheNorthSea).
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3.Ifatwowindowdesignischosenthenapplicationwindowsandwindowoverlap(wherethe
deconvolutionzonesmerge)willalsohavetobeselected.Mergezonesshouldnotbechosenover
principalareasofinterestandareusuallychoseninareaswheretherearefewreflectors.When
choosingzonesitisessentialtorememberanystronglateralchangesingeologyinthesurveyarea.It
ispossibletomakethezonewindowsfollowgeologicalhorizons(commonforadippingseabed,but
otherwiserare),butthisisnotrecommendedunlessabsolutelyrequiredsinceitmayleadto
unpredictableresultsandconfusetheinterpreteratalaterstage.
4.InareasofhighnoiseamultichannelDASmaybetestedinwhichtheautocorrelationfunctionsfrom
severaladjacenttracesareaveragedinordertodesigntheDASoperator.Thisoftenresultsinmilderor
lesseffectivedeconvolution.

DASTRIALS
TheappropriateDASparametersshouldbeselectedbytrialsusuallyestablishedbythecontractor.Previous
experienceinthedataareaisalsousefulsinceusuallythetrialsaredesignedaroundsomeinitialguessatthe
finalparameters.Asection,ormoreusuallyaportionofsectionof500traces,wouldbetakenandrun
throughaseriesoftrialsdisplayedsidebysideatfixedgainlevel.IfabandpassfilterorAGCisapplied
followingthetrialsthenanungainedorrawversionshouldalsobedisplayedforreference.The
autocorrelationfunctionsassociatedwiththedeconvolutionparametersshouldalsobedisplayed.The
followingfiguresshowexamplesofDAStrials.Theprocessorandinterpreterwouldusetheirskilland
judgementtopicktheoptimumparametersforthedata.Itisalsosensibletonotethatifthedataisrequired
totieothervintagesthenitiswisetochecktheparametersappliedtothesevintagessinceamismatchcould
resultinchangeofcharacterofatargeteventwhichcouldconceivablyleadtomisinterpretation.

GAPTRIALS
Thedeconvolutiongapprobablyhasthemosteffectonthefinalappearanceofthedeconvolveddata.Itmust
berememberedthatthechoiceofgapwilleffecttheresultingamplitudespectrumofthedata.Ashortergap
willcausemorewaveletcompressionorspectralwhiteningandwillboostanyhighandlowerfrequency
noisepresent.Thespikedeconvolutionaffordsmaximumresolution,isoftentoonoisy,butshouldalwaysbe
tested,evenifonlyasareferencesection.SomeschoolsofthoughtprefertochooseadifferentDASgapto
thatusedfortheDBStoavoidtoomuchspectralalterationofthesamefrequencybands.
Theadjacentfigurecompares(lefttoright)gapsof4ms(spike),12ms,
16ms,24msandraw.Clickheretoenlargethefigure.Theupperdisplay
showsthedeconvolvedresultsandthelowerdisplayshowstheassociated
enlargedautocorrelationfunctions.WhenusingPROMAX(asinmany
processingsystems)twojobsmustberunandthedisplaysmerged.Some
contractorsmaybelazyonthis,butitisessentialtodisplaythe
autocorrelationfunctions.Theautocorrelationofthewaveletisseentobe
around20msonpanel5.Thespikedeconvolutionandthe12msgapareseen
toundesirablyboostlowfrequencynoiseintheshallowerpartofthesection.
The16msand24msgapproduceverysimilarresults.The16msgapwould
probablybetheoptimumcompromisebetweenspectralenhancementand
boostingnoise.Fordeepertargetsa24msor32msgapisprobablythe
commonestusedintheNorthSea.Afterstackthehighfrequencynoisehasgenerallybeenreducedsoifthe
dataarewhitenedtoomuchthengenerallyitisthelowerfrequencieswhichareobserved(panels1&2).In
thiscaseitmaybemoredesirabletoapplyabandpassfilterfollowingdeconvolution.

OPERATORLENGTHTRIALS
Deconvolutionoperatorlengthwillhavethemosteffectonthedegreeofmultiplesuppressionperformedby
thepredictivedeconvolution.Assumingthatthedominantmultipleperiodistheseabedmultiplethen
operatorlengthslessthanthewaterbottom(e.g.100ms)willgenerallyjustperformspectral
whitening/waveletcompression.Longeroperatorlengths(e.g.waterbottom+60ms)willgenerallybe
effectiveatmultiplesuppression.Operatorslongerthanthismaystarttodeconvolvegeology.Deconvolution
willgenerallyhaveapoorperformanceonmultipleswithperiodsgreaterthan300ms.
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Theadjacentfigureusesa16msgapandfromlefttorightthefollowing
operatorlengths80ms,120ms,160ms,240msandnoDAS.Clickhereto
displayanenlargedfigure.Theupperdisplayshowsthedeconvolveddataand
thelowerpaneltheassociatedautocorrelationfunctions.Bothpanelshavebeen
reducedslightlyinsizeinordertocreatethefigure.Theautocorrelationfrom
panel5showsthatthedominantmultipleperiodisaround110ms.Panel1
providesjustwaveletcompressionandnomultiplesuppression.Panels2and3
areverysimilarinresultsformultiplesuppression.Itisnotedthattheresidual
multipleisnotparticularlystrongonthisdataexample.

WHITENOISETRIALS
Theadjacentfigureshowstheeffectsofvaryingwhitenoisepercentageonthe
chosendeconvolutionparametersof16msgap,160msoperator.Clickherefor
anenlargeddisplay.Parameterstestedare(lefttoright)0.1%,0.5%,2%,5%
andnoDAS.Asshowninthesedisplays(andgenerallyfound)thewhitenoise
percentagedoesnotsignificantlyaltertheeffectivenessofthedeconvolution.
0.1%to1%isthecommonestused.Fornoisydataanincreasedpercentageof
whitenoisecanbeusedtoimprovethedeconvolutionresults.

DASANDFILTERING
Asnotedabove,theapplicationofabandpassfilterfollowing
deconvolutionmaysometimeshelptoreducethelowandhighfrequency
noiseboostedbyshortgapdeconvolutionwhilstmaintainingtheextra
resolutionobtainedfromthesignal.Theadjacentfigure(clickhereforan
enlargement)showsthefilteredspikingdeconvolution,theraw16msgap
andthefiltered16msgapdeconvolution.Thefilteringisseentoreducethe
lowfrequencynoiseintheupperpartofthesectionandtheresolution
affordedbythespikeisseen,inthiscasenottobesuperiortothatofthe
filtered16msgap(c).Indeedwhilethelatterdeconvolutionhasbetter
signalcontentinthedeepersectionthespikedeconvolution(a)generallyis
richerinlowerfrequencies.Theoptimumdeconvolutionandfilterchoices
are,asever,amatterofpersonalpreferenceandwillultimatelybedecided
bytheinterpreterandprocessorinconjunction.Notethatthereisaphasedifferencebetweenthespike
(whichiszerophase)andthegap(minimumphase)deconvolutionresults.Therearesomeschoolsof
thoughtwhichstatethatthemigrationwillperformbetteriftheinputdatahashadspikedeconvolution
appliedbutthereislittletheoreticalbackgroundforthis.GenerallyintheNorthSeadataistoonoisyfor
spikedeconvolutiontobeeffectiveevenwhenfollowedbybandpassfiltering.

SPECIALISEDPREDICTIVEDECONVOLUTION
Occasionallyadeconvolutionoperatorandgapmaybedesignedtoattenuateaparticularmultipleperiod
withinthedataonly.Thistechniquemightbeusedforverydeepwater.Typicallyalonggape.g.water
bottom60mswouldbeusedwithanoperatorlengthofwaterbottom+60ms.Theresultsofthisprocedure
canbequiteunpredictableandshouldbeavoidedifpossible.ThismethodiscommonlyusedasaDBSinthe
processingofsitesurveydatawhenprecededbyanNMOcorrectionatwatervelocityinordertostabilisethe
multipleperiod.
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