Frequency-dependent Q simulation and viscoacoustic reverse time migration based on the fractional Zener model

Abstract

Seismic attenuation is a basic physical property of the earth, which significantly affects the characteristics of seismic wavefields. Accurately simulating wave propagation in the earth is essential to image subsurface structures. Some prevailing methods (e.g., the standard linear solid and fractional Laplacian equation) to describe seismic wave propagation in attenuating media are mainly based on the constant- Q model (CQM), which is valid at room temperature and pressure. However, laboratory measurements suggest that the quality factor Q is a function of frequencies in some regions. To simulate the frequency-dependent Q effect, we derive a viscoacoustic wave equation from the stress-strain relationship of the fractional Zener model (FZM) with variable fractional orders. During the implementation, we separate the real and imaginary parts of the modulus and introduce a low-rank decomposition method to solve the FZM equation. Because the amplitude dissipation and phase dispersion are decoupled, we establish a compensated reverse time migration ( Q-RTM) algorithm to mitigate adverse effects caused by seismic attenuation and improve the quality of seismic migration in frequency-dependent attenuating media. A two-layer model and the BP gas chimney model are used to perform Q-RTM tests. A low-pass filter with a Tukey window function is applied to suppress numerical instability during the compensation. Numerical results demonstrate that our FZM Q-RTM approach can produce high-resolution images with corrected reflector positions and amplitudes. Because the CQM equation ignores the frequency dependence of Q, it may lead to overcompensation in Q-RTM.