The inverse scattering series for tasks associated with primaries: direct non-linear

inversion of 1D elastic media

Haiyan Zhang and Arthur B. Weglein,

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M-OSRP, Dept. of Physics, University of Houston

Summary
In this paper, research on direct inversion for two parameter acoustic media (Zhang and Weglein, 2005) is
extended to the three parameter elastic case. We present
the first set of direct non-linear inversion equations for
1D elastic media (i.e., depth varying P-velocity, shear
velocity and density). The terms for moving mislocated
reflectors are shown to be separable from amplitude
correction terms.
Although in principle this direct
inversion approach requires all four components of elastic
data, synthetic tests indicate that consistent value-added
P P measurements.
results may be achieved given only D
We can reasonably infer that further value would derive
PP , D
PS, D
SP and D
SS as
from actually measuring D
the method requires. The method is direct with neither
a model matching nor cost function minimization.

Introduction
The objective of seismic exploration is to predict the
location and properties of the hydrocarbon resources in
the earth (i.e., imaging and inversion) using recorded
seismic data. The character (i.e., the amplitude and
phase) of the reflected data depends on the properties
of the medium that the wave travels through, and the
contrasts in properties that cause those reflections. The
reflection process has a non-linear dependence on any
property change at the reflector. Current inversion methods either assume a simple linear relationship and solve
an approximate form, or assume a non-linear relationship
but invoke an indirect method (e.g., minimization of an
objective function) to do the inversion. The assumptions
of the former methods are often violated in practice
and can cause erroneous predictions; the latter category usually involve big computation effort and/or has
ambiguity issues in the predicted result. In this paper,
a new method based on direct non-linear inversion is
developed and analyzed. The procedure is derived as
a task-specific subseries (see, e.g., Weglein et al., 2003)
of the inverse scattering series (ISS). To date, this is
the only candidate method with more realistic, more
physically complete and hence, more reliable prediction
capability and potential. What makes the task specific
subseries methods powerful is that each subseries has less
to achieve and hence better convergence properties than
the full series. The original ISS research, aimed at free
surface multiple removal and internal multiple removal,
resulted in successful application on field data (Weglein
et al., 1997 and Weglein et al., 2003). The next step is
1 617

Science & Research Bldg 1, Houston, TX 77204-5005

SEG/New Orleans 2006 Annual Meeting

the processing of primaries.

Beginning in 2001, tasks that work on primaries, which
include depth imaging and parameter estimation, were
investigated and analyzed. Single parameter 1D acoustic
constant density media and 1D normal incidence frameworks were broached first (Weglein et al., 2003; Innanen,
2003; Shaw, 2005). Extension then took two forms: to
a one parameter 2D acoustic medium (Liu et al., 2005),
and to a two parameter 1D acoustic medium (Zhang and
Weglein, 2005). In this paper we develop the inversion
equations for a three parameter 1D elastic medium, a
non-trivial step towards realism in the exploration seismic
framework. We take these steps in 1D to allow the use of
analytic data for numerical tests, and to prime the next
step: extension to a multi-parameter, multi-dimensional
medium.
The non-linear direct elastic inversion method described
PP , D
PS, D
SP
in this paper requires four data types, D
SS

and D
as input. A major theme here is to show
P P can be used to approximately synthesize the
how D
P S, D
SP and D
SS such that high quality inversion reD
sults can still be achieved with the measurement of only
one data type. This permits us to perform elastic inversion using only pressure measurements, i.e., towed
streamer data.
In the following we first briefly review elastic inverse scattering theory and then present the solutions and numeri P P is availcal tests for non-linear inversion when only D
able.

Background
In this section we consider the inversion problem in two
dimensions for an elastic medium. For convenience, we
change the basis and transform the equations of displacement space into PS space. In the PS domain, the inverse scattering series is (Weglein and Stolt, 1992; Matson, 1997):
V = V1 + V2 + V3 + ,
(1)
where the Vn are determined using
=G
0 V1 G
0,
D

(2)

0 V2 G
0 = G
0 V1 G
0 V1 G
0,
G

(3)

..
.
The perturbation is given by V =

V P P
V SP

V P S
, the
V SS

2062

Direct non-linear three parameter 2D elastic inversion



0 =
(causal) Greens operator by G


=
data by D


PS

PP
D
SP
D

P
G
0
0

0
S
G
0

and the

D
SS .
D

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Linear inversion of 1D elastic medium

Writing Eq.
(2) explicitly leads to four equations.
Assuming source and receiver depths are zero, in the
(ks , zs ; kg , zg ; ) domain, four equations relating the linear components of the three elastic parameters and the
four data types:
e P P (kg , 0; kg , 0; ) = 1
D

1
4

1+

kg2
g2




+ kg2
4g2

g2

(1)

e
a (g g )

e
a(1)
(g g ),

(5)

(1)

e
a (g g )

e SS (kg , g ) = 1
D

kg2
02
kg (g + g ) 1
2
2
g g

and

e
a(1)
(2g )

2kg2 02
e
a(1) (2g ),
+ kg2 )20
(4)

kg
kg
+
g
g

kg
kg
+
g
g

(g2

kg2
02
kg (g + g ) 1
2
2
g g

e SP (g , g ) = 1
D

kg2
1 2
g

(1)

e
a (2g ) +

e P S (g , g ) = 1
D

(1)

kg2
1 2
g

(6)

i2

h
1
tan2 (1)
+
tan4 1 a(1)
a (z)a(1)
(z)
(z)
2
cos2

  2




1
1
0
tan2
2
+
1 tan4

1
2
C+1 C
02
cos2

(1)

a(1)
(z)

e
a (2g )

2kg2
e
a(1) (2g ),
2
g + kg2

2
2
(2)
2
(2)
1 tan2 a(2)
(z) + 1 + tan a (z) 8b sin a (z)


e
a (g g ),

the non-linear elastic inversion. We cannot perform the

direct non-linear inversion without knowing all components of the data. As shown above, when we extend previous work on two parameter acoustic case to the three
parameter elastic case, it is not just simply adding one
more parameter; there are more issues involved. Even for
the linear case, the solutions found in Eqs. (4) (7),
are much more complicated than those of the acoustic
case. For instance, four different sets of linear parameter estimates are produced from each component of the
data. Also, three or four distinct reflector mis-locations
arise from the two reference velocities (P-velocity and Svelocity). A particular non-linear approach has been chosen to side-step a portion of this complexity and address
our typical lack of four components of elastic data: we
P P as our fundamental data input, and perform a
use D
reduced form of non-linear elastic inversion, concurrently
asking: what beyond-linear value does this simpler frame P P are available, first,
work add? When assuming only D
(1)
(1)
(1)
we compute the linear solution for a , a and a from
Eq. (4). Then, substituting the solution into the other
three Eqs. (5), (6) and (7), we synthesize the other comPS, D
SP and D
SS . Finally, using
ponents of data D
PP

the given D
and the synthesized data, we perform the
non-linear elastic inversion, getting the following second
order (first term beyond linear) elastic inversion solution
from Eq. (8),

(7)

2
2

where g2 + kg2 =
1,
2 , g + kg = 2 , and a
0
0
0

a 0 1, and a 0 1 are the three parameters

we chose to do the elastic inversion.

4b

2
tan
C+1

(1)
a(1)
(z)a (z)

+ 2b4 tan2
h

a(1)
(z)

Non-linear inversion of 1D elastic medium

i2

i2


20
02

1
2C



20
1 tan4
02



2 sin2

2 1
C+1C

20
1 tan2
02

h
z



i
1
1

(1)
(1)

(1)

dz
(z)
a
a
z

a
z

2 cos4
0
Z z
h

(1)



i
1
4
dz a(1)

1 tan a (z)
z a(1)
z

2
0

Writing Eq. (3) in matrix form leads to the following four

equations

Z z
h
P
SP G
S
P P S G
P
PP G
P
P P P G
P
PP G
P



i
G
0 ,
0 V1
0 G0 V1
0 V1
0 = G0 V1
0 V2
2
2
(1)
dz a(1)
(z)
+
4b
tan
a
z a(1)
z

S
SS
S
P
S
P
S
P
S
P
P
P
P
S
P
S
P
0 ,
0 V1 G
0 V1 G
0 G
0 V1 G
0 V1 G
0 = G
0 V2 G
0
G
 2



P
SP
S
SS
S
P
P
P
P
SP
S
P
SP
S

2
1
0
0 , +
0 V1 G
0 V1 G
0 G
0 V1 G
0 V1 G
0 = G
0 V2 G
G
1 tan2 tan2 C b2
2
C
+
1
C

0
S
SS S
S SP G
P
P SG
S
S SS S SS S


Z z
G
0 V2 G0 = G0 V1
0 V1
0 G0 V1 G0 V1 G0 .


(C 1) z + 2z
(1)
(8)
dz a z
a(1)
z

(C
+
1)
0




P S , and so
P P , V1P S relates to D
Since V1P P relates to D
2 2 20
20
2
2

tan

tan

b4

1
on, the four components of the data will be coupled in
C + 1 C 02
02

SEG/New Orleans 2006 Annual Meeting

2063

2 1
+
C+1C
Z

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z
0




(1)
z

(C 1) z + 2z
(C + 1)

(1)

R PP

(C 1)z + 2z
(C + 1)

(C1)z +2z
= d
(C+1)
g
C = g . The first

R SP

Incident P-wave

20
1 tan2 tan2 + 1
02

dz a(1)
z a(1)

where a

1 tan tan + C b

a(1)
z

dz a(1)
z a(1)

2
1

C + 1 2C

20
02

a0 , b 0 , r0
a 1 , b 1 , r1

(C1)z +2z
(C+1)

(9)
i

Numerical tests
For a single interface 1D elastic medium case, as shown
in Fig. 1, the reflection coefficient RP P may be expressed
analytically (Foster et al., 1997). With this coefficient,
similarly to the acoustic case, data may be expressed analytically (Clayton and Stolt, 1981; Weglein et al., 1997)
as:
2ig a
e P P (g , ) = RP P () e
D
,
(10)
4ig
where a is the depth of the interface. Substituting Eq.(10)
into Eq.(4), using kg2 /g2 = tan2 and kg2 /(g2 + kg2 ) =
sin2 , Fourier transforming Eq.(4) over 2g , and fixing
depth z > a and , we have
02
2
(1)
2
(1)
(1 tan2 )a(1)
(z) + (1 + tan )a (z) 8 2 sin a (z)
0
(11)

In this section, we numerically test the direct inversion approach on the following model: shale (0.20
porosity) over oil sand (0.30 porosity) with 0 =
2.32g/cm3 , 1 = 2.08g/cm3 ; 0 = 2627m/s, 1 =
2330m/s; 0 = 1245m/s, 1 = 1488m/s. This high porosity model (30%) is typical of a weakly consolidated, shallow reservoir sand. Pore fluids have a large impact on the
seismic response. Density, P-wave velocity, and the /

SEG/New Orleans 2006 Annual Meeting

T SP

/dz,

b = 00 and
five terms on the right
side of Eq. (9) are inversion terms, i.e., they contribute
to amplitude correction. The other terms on the right
side of the equation are imaging terms. Both the inversion terms and the imaging terms (especially the imaging
terms) become much more complicated with the extension to elastic media from acoustic (Zhang and Weglein,
2005). The integrand of the first three integral terms is
the first order approximation of the relative change in P(1)
(1)
(1)
wave velocity. The derivatives a , a and a in front
of those integrals are acting to correct the wrong locations
caused by the inaccurate reference P-wave velocity. The
other four terms with integrals will be zero as 0 0
since in this case C . In the following, we test this
approach numerically.

= 4RP P ()H(z a).

T PP

Fig. 1: Response of incident compressional wave on a planar

elastic interface. 0 , 0 and 0 are the compressional wave
velocity, shear wave velocity and density of the upper layer,
respectively; 1 , 1 and 1 denote the compressional wave velocity, shear wave velocity and density of the lower layer. RP P ,
RSP , T P P and T SP denote the coefficients of the reflected
compressional wave, the reflected shear wave, the transmitted
compressional wave and the transmitted shear wave, respectively.

ratio of the oil sand are lower than the density, P-wave velocity, and / ratio of the overlying shale. Consequently,
there is a significant decrease in density and P-bulk modulus and an increase in shear modulus at the shale/oil sand
interface. Using this model, we can find the corresponding RP P from the Zoeppritz equations. Then, choosing
three different angles 1 , 2 and 3 , we can get the linear
(1)
(1)
(1)
solutions for a , a and a from Eq. (11), and then
(2)
(2)
(2)
get the solutions for a , a and a from Eq. (9).
There are two plots in each figure. The left ones are the
results for the first order, while the right ones are the results for the first order plus the second order. The red
lines denote the corresponding actual values. In the figures, we illustrate the results corresponding to different
sets of angles 1 and 2 . The third angle 3 is fixed at
zero. The numerical results indicate that all the second

-0.10

-0.10

-0.11

-0.11

-0.12

-0.12

-0.13

-0.13
-0.14

-0.14

-0.15

-0.15
-0.16
-0.17
-0.18
-0.19
-0.20
-0.21
-0.220

10

20

70
60
50
40
30
20

30

theta 40
1

50

10
60

70

-0.16
-0.17
-0.18
-0.19
-0.20
-0.21
-0.22 0

10

20

70
60
50
40
30
20
10

th
eta
2

Direct non-linear three parameter 2D elastic inversion

(C 1) z + 2z
(C + 1)

arho1+arho2

dz a(1)
z

th
et
a2

arho1

30

theta 40
1

50

60

70

Fig. 2: Shale (0.20 porosity) over oil sand (0.30 porosity).

0 = 2.32g/cm3 , 1 = 2.08g/cm3 ; 0 = 2627m/s, 1 =
2330m/s; 0 = 1245m/s, 1 = 1488m/s. For this model, the
(1)
exact value of a is -0.103. The linear approximation a (left)
(1)

and the sum of linear and first non-linear a

(2)

+ a

(right).

2064

Direct non-linear three parameter 2D elastic inversion

-0.22

-0.22

-0.23

-0.23

-0.24

-0.24

-0.26
-0.28
-0.29
-0.30
-0.31
-0.32
-0.33
-0.34
0

10

20

30

theta 40
1

50

-0.25

References

-0.26
-0.27
-0.28
-0.29
-0.30
-0.31
-0.32
-0.33
-0.34

10

10
60

20

30

theta
1

40

50

70

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
60

0
70

Fig. 3: Shale (0.20 porosity) over oil sand (0.30 porosity).

0 = 2.32g/cm3 , 1 = 2.08g/cm3 ; 0 = 2627m/s, 1 =
2330m/s; 0 = 1245m/s, 1 = 1488m/s. For this model, the
(1)
exact value of a is -0.295. The linear approximation a (left)
(2)

(1)

and the sum of linear and first non-linear a + a

0.54
0.52
0.50
0.48
0.46
0.44
0.42
0.40
0.38
0.36
0.34
0.32
0.30
0.28
0.260

(right).

30

theta 40
1

50

60

10

20

70
60
50
40
30
20

th
et
a2

20

th
eta
2

10

70
60
50
40
30
20
10

Foster D J, Keys R G and Schmitt D P 1997 Detecting

subsurface hydrocarbons with elastic wavefields, In
Inverse Problems in Wave Propagation, Volume 90
of The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications, 195218. Springer.
Clayton R W and Stolt R H 1981 A Born-WKBJ inversion
method for acoustic reflection data for attenuating
multiples in seismic reflection data Geophysics 46
15591567
Innanen K A 2003 Methods for the Treatment of
Acoustic and Absorptive/Dispersive Wave Field
Measurements. Ph.D. Thesis, University of British
Columbia.

amu1+amu2

0.54
0.52
0.50
0.48
0.46
0.44
0.42
0.40
0.38
0.36
0.34
0.32
0.30
0.28
0.260

amu1

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70
60
50
40
30
20

th
et
a2

agamma1

-0.27

th
eta
2

agamma1+agamma2

-0.25

research. We are grateful to Robert Keys and Douglas

Foster for useful comments and suggestions.

30

theta 40
1

50

0
70

10
60

70

Fig. 4: Shale (0.20 porosity) over oil sand (0.30 porosity).

0 = 2.32g/cm3 , 1 = 2.08g/cm3 ; 0 = 2627m/s, 1 =
2330m/s; 0 = 1245m/s, 1 = 1488m/s. For this model, the
(1)
exact value of a is 0.281. The linear approximation a (left)
(1)

(2)

and the sum of linear and first non-linear a + a

(right).

order solutions provide improvements over the linear for

all of the parameters. When the second term is added to
linear order, the results become much closer to the corresponding exact values and the surfaces become flatter
in a larger range of angles. We interpret this as evidence
(1) of the efficacy of the direct non-linear inversion equations, and (2) that the data synthesis step is an acceptable
approximation.

Conclusion
Elastic non-linear direct inversion in 2D requires all four
components of data. In this paper we present the first
direct non-linear elastic equations, and analyze an algo P P and approximately synrithm which requires only D
thesizes the other required components. Value-added re P P can itself provide usesults are obtained. Although D
ful non-linear direct inversion results, the implication of
this research is that further value would derive from actuPP , D
PS, D
SP and D
SS , as the method
ally measuring D
requires.

Liu F, Weglein A B, Innanen K A and Nita B G 2005 Extension of the non-linear depth imaging capability of
the inverse scattering series to multidimensional media: strategies and numerical results 9th Ann. Cong.
SBGf, Expanded Abstracts
Matson K H 1997 An inverse scattering series method for
attenuating elastic multiples from multicomponent
land and ocean bottom seismic data. Ph.D. Thesis,
University of British Columbia. p 18
Shaw S A 2005 An inverse scattering series algorithm
for depth imaging of reflection data from a layered
acoustic medium with an unknown velocity model.
Ph.D. Thesis, University of Houston
Weglein A B and Stolt R H 1992 Notes on approaches on
linear and non-linear migration-inversion, Personal
Communication
Weglein A B, Gasparotto F A, Carvalho P M and Stolt R
H 1997 An inverse-scattering series method for attenuating multiples in seismic reflection data Geophysics
62 19751989
Weglein A B, Ara
ujo F V, Carvalho P M, Stolt R H,
Matson K H, Coates R, Corrigan D, Foster D J, Shaw
S A and Zhang H 2003 Inverse scattering series and
seismic exploration Inverse Problem 19 R27R83
Zhang H and Weglein A B 2005 The inverse scattering series for tasks associated with primaries: Depth imaging and direct non-linear inversion of 1D variable velocity and density acoustic media 75th Ann. Internat. Mtg., Soc. Expl., Geophys., Expanded Abstracts
17051708

Acknowledgements
The M-OSRP sponsors are thanked for supporting this

SEG/New Orleans 2006 Annual Meeting

2065

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EDITED REFERENCES
Note: This reference list is a copy-edited version of the reference list submitted by the
author. Reference lists for the 2006 SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts have
been copy edited so that references provided with the online metadata for each paper will
achieve a high degree of linking to cited sources that appear on the Web.
REFERENCES
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reflection data for attenuating multiples in seismic reflection data: Geophysics,
46, 15591567.
Foster, D. J., R. G. Keys, and D. P. Schmitt, 1997, Detecting subsurface hydrocarbons
with elastic wavefields: Inverse Problems in Wave Propagation, 90, 195218.
Innanen, K. A., 2003, Methods for the treatment of acoustic and absorptive/dispersive
wave field measurements: Ph.D. thesis, University of British Columbia.
Liu, F., A. B. Weglein, K. A. Innanen, and B. G. Nita, 2005, Extension of the non-linear
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thesis, University of Houston.
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SEG/New Orleans 2006 Annual Meeting

2066