Seismic Imaging and Inversion : Application of Linear Inverse Theory

Extracting information from seismic data requires knowledge of seismic wave propagation and reflection. The commonly used method involves solving linearly for a reflectivity at every point within the Earth, but this book follows an alternative approach which invokes inverse scattering theory. By developing the theory of seismic imaging from basic principles, the authors relate the different models of seismic propagation, reflection and imaging – thus providing links to reflectivity-based imaging on the one hand and to nonlinear seismic inversion on the other. The comprehensive and physically complete linear imaging foundation developed presents new results at the leading edge of seismic processing for target location and identification. This book serves as a fundamental guide to seismic imaging principles and algorithms and their foundation in inverse scattering theory and is a valuable resource for working geoscientists, scientific programmers and theoretical physicists.

Robert H. Stolt is currently a Geoscience Fellow at ConocoPhillips, Texas. He is an Honorary Member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and of the Geophysical Society of Tulsa (GST). He obtained a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University of Colorado in 1970 and joined Conoco in 1971. He spent 1979 to 1980 at Stanford University, California as Consulting Professor and Acting Director of the Stanford Exploration Project. In 1980 he received the Reginald Fessenden Award for original contributions to geophysics and in 1998 the DuPont Lavoisier Medal for technical achievement. From 1979 to 1985 he was SEG Associate Editor for seismic imaging and inversion, was SEG editor from 1985 to 1987 and SEG Publications Committee Chairman from 1987 to 1989. In 1994 he served as Technical Program Chairman of the Sixty-Fourth Annual SEG Meeting in Los Angeles. Stolt has authored numerous scientific publications, including an earlier text on seismic migration.

Arthur B. Weglein holds the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Professorship in Physics at the University of Houston, with a joint professorship in the Department of Physics and the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He is the founder and Director of the Mission-Oriented Seismic Research Program, which began in 2001 and is a consortium supported by the major oil and service companies in the world, as well as various US government programs. Before joining the University of Houston, he worked at Arco's Research Laboratory in Plano, Texas and at Schlumberger Cambridge Research Lab in the UK. Professor Weglein served as the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Distinguished Lecturer in 2003 and was awarded the SEG's Reginald Fessenden Award in 2010. In 2008, he received the Distinguished Townsend Harris Medal from the City College of the City University of New York in recognition of his contributions to exploration seismology.