Signal band estimation of the Blackfoot 3C-3D experiment

Alana R. Schoepp, Gary F. Margrave

The spectral content of the Blackfoot 3C-3D was analyzed through the application of the f-x method. This method is used for the estimation of signal band of multichannel reflection data. Signal is manifest through the lateral continuity of events, while noise causes lateral incoherence. The method is first demonstrated on several synthetic examples, and then applied to the Blackfoot 3C-3D seismic survey. Estimation of the signal bandwidth in the survey is complex, as the line was processed separately by two different companies, Pulsonic Geophysical Ltd. and Sensor Geophysical Ltd. The P-P data was found to contain frequencies ranging from 10 to 80 Hz, however the radial spectral content was lower, as expected, ranging from approximately 5 to 30 Hz. Migration increased the apparent signal band of the stack; however it also created spectral coherence at frequencies which were completely incoherent in the stacked section. The Pulsonic processed data had greater spectral coherence and similar bandwidths as compared to the Sensor processed data.