Interferometric OBS imaging for wide-angle seismic data

Abstract

Marine wide-angle seismic data obtained using air guns and ocean-bottom seismographs (OBSs) are effective for determining large-scale subseafloor seismic velocities, but they are ineffective for imaging details of shallow seismic reflection structures because of poor illumination. Surface-related multiple reflections offer the potential to enlarge the OBS data illumination area. We have developed a new seismic imaging method for OBS surveys applying seismic interferometry, a technique that uses surface-related multiples similarly to mirror imaging. Seismic interferometry can use higher order multiple reflections than mirror imaging, which mainly uses first-order multiple reflections. A salient advantage of interferometric OBS imaging over mirror imaging is that it requires only single-component data, whereas mirror imaging requires vertical geophone and hydrophone components to separate upgoing and downgoing wavefields. We applied interferometric OBS imaging to actual 175 km long wide-angle OBS data acquired in the Nankai Trough subduction zone. We obtained clear continuous reflection images in the deep and shallow parts including the seafloor from the OBS data acquired with large spacing. Deconvolution interferometry is more suitable than correlation interferometry to improve spatial resolution because of the effects of spectral division when applied to common receiver gathers. We examined the imaging result dependence on data acquisition and processing parameters considering the data quality and target depth. An air-gun-to-OBS distance of up to 50 km and a record length of 80 s were necessary for better imaging. In addition, our decimation tests confirmed that denser OBS spacing yielded better quality and higher resolution images. Understanding crosstalk effects due to the acquisition setting will be useful to optimize methods for eliminating them. Interferometric OBS imaging merged with conventional primary reflection imaging is a powerful method for revealing crustal structures.