Lab 06 - Static Corrections
Lab 06 - Static Corrections
Static corrections are applied to seismic data in order to compensate for various effects on the data such
as those related to near surface, variations in elevations, weathering and reference to a datum. By
applying static corrections, we aim to determine the reflection time assuming the existence of a flat
surface plane with no weathering layer. These corrections include:
Elevation static correction, which accounts for variable elevations of the sources and receivers.
Residual static correction, which accounts for lateral variations in the velocity and thickness of
the weathering layer (WL).
The WL is the shallowest low-velocity layer. It is composed of unconsolidated and loosely consolidated
sediments. Common WLs in arid areas include: sand dunes, sabkhas, gravel plains, karsts, and valley fills.
The WL velocity is usually much less than those of the underlying sub-WL (bedrock) and deeper layers.
Therefore, the WL produces a large contribution to the overall travel time of rays.
( )+(
(6.1)
where ES is the ground elevation at shot location (from mean sea level), ZS is the depth of shot (and is
equal to 0 for a surface source), ER is the ground elevation at receiver location (from mean sea level), ZR
is the depth of receiver (and is equal to 0 for a surface geophone), and ED is the datum elevation (from
mean sea level). TD is always subtracted from the two-way travel time of the trace belonging to that
particular source-receiver pair.
estimating the velocity and thickness of the WL at several locations and interpolating between these
locations. This method has the advantage of providing highly accurate near-surface velocities and
thicknesses. However, it is very costly if high lateral resolution is required. Therefore, this method is
used in estimating long-wavelength statics. Wavelength of statics refers to the width of the lateral
(velocity or thickness) change in the WL relative to the spread length (maximum offset).
2.2 REFRACTION STATICS
This method is especially effective in estimating long-wavelength statics and is used to construct a
model of the WL by estimating the velocity and thickness of the WL. The following are standard
methods used for refraction statics calculation:
1. Delay-time Method: It uses the slopes of the direct and head waves as well as the head waves
intercept time of many shot records along the profile to estimate the WL velocity and thickness
under each receiver. This method requires picking first breaks, which is difficult. It also requires
reversed raypath geometries, which might not be available.
2. Generalized reciprocal Method (GRM): It uses reversed refraction profiles to estimate the
optimum WL thickness under each receiver. This method requires picking first breaks, which is
difficult. It also requires reversed ray path geometries, which might not be available.
3. Least-squares Method: It uses least square analysis to find the best-fit WL velocity-thickness
model to the first arrivals (i.e., direct and head waves). This method employs similar concepts to
those used for the surface-consistent method (that we will discuss in the coming subsection),
but uses refraction rather than reflection data.
2.3 SURFACE-CONSISTENT RESIDUAL STATIC CORRECTION METHOD
This method is especially effective in estimating short-wavelength statics. The basic assumption of this
method is that the static shifts are time delays that depend only on the source and receiver locations on
the surface, not on ray paths in the subsurface. This assumption is valid only if all ray paths, regardless of
source-receiver offset, are vertical in the near surface. The surface-consistent assumption is generally
good because the WL usually has a much lower velocity than the sub-WL and refraction towards the
normal at its base tends to make ray paths vertical.
The total residual static time shift on any trace can be expressed as:
2
= + + +
(6.2)
where Ri is the residual static time shift associated with the ith receiver position (i = 1, . . . , I, where I is
the number of receivers used in the survey), Sj is the residual static time shift associated with the jth
source position (j = 1, . . . , J , where J is the number of sources used in the survey), Gk is the difference in
two-way travel time (due to structure) at a reference CMP and the travel time at the kth CMP (k = 1, . . . ,
2
K, where K is number of CMPs covered in the survey), and
is the residual NMO associated with
the trace generated by the jth source and recorded by the ith receiver and it accounts for possible
imperfect NMO correction due to using imperfect NMO velocities for the kth CMP. Generally, we have
more equations than unknowns for typical seismic surveys. This is a typical least-squares problem. Our
objective is to find those Ri , Sj ,Gk, and Mk that will minimize the error energy between the observed and
calculated Tijk using model parameters in Equation 6.2:
2
= =1 =1
=1[ + + + ]
(6.3)
A CMP with good SNR ratio is gained and NMO-corrected using a preliminary velocity function.
The CMP gather is stacked to produce the first pilot trace.
Each individual trace in this CMP gather is cross-correlated with the first pilot trace.
Time shifts,
which correspond to maximum crosscorrelations, are picked.
Note that you had selected 40ms (equivalent to 20 samples) for our data set as seen in the above
MATLAB script. Also, you had selected the whole trace (0-3s), which is the default in our code, for your
data set. Figure 6.1 shows both the stacked data before and after applying the surface-consistent
residual static correction method. Clearly, the data quality has improved after applying the correction
where you will notice the extension of the continuity to many of the layers.
Figure 6.1: The stacked section of the east Texas seismic data set: (a) before applying residual
static correction and (b) after applying residual static correction.