Discussion: Comments on Fresnel zone binning — Can it be used to determine maximum allowable holes in coverage of long offsets?

Abstract

This paper comments on two publications by Monk on Fresnel zone binning (FZB). The first one was published in the Round Table department of The Leading Edge in 2009, and the second one is chapter 3 in the 2020 Distinguished Instructor Short Course (DISC) book. The main message of these two papers is captured by the following assertion from the DISC book: “the point is that adequate interpolation is only possible if the Fresnel zone is well sampled at the beginning.” This assertion, if true, would form a new law in geophysics; therefore, it deserves rigorous proof. Unfortunately, such a proof has not been provided. Instead, an assessment of its validity is provided by the results of one data set with considerable feathering of the long offsets acquired in an area with moderate dip. For this data set, FZB predicts that interpolation can be applied successfully. Indeed, there is no significant difference between the data set after interpolation and the data set after infill shooting. However, these results do not prove the validity of FZB; they only show the power of the interpolation technique. Even if the assertion would be true, to prove it would require a theoretical derivation of the validity of the method. Confidence in the method may also be built by successful application of the idea to several seismic data sets in areas with complex geology, while not losing any high frequencies and with accurate amplitude retrieval.