ACOUSTIC WAVE-EQUATION TRAVEL-TIME AND WAVE-FORM INVERSION OF CROSSHOLE SEISMIC DATA

A hybrid wave-equation traveltime and waveform inversion method is pre sented that reconstructs the interwell velocity distribution from cros shole seismic data. This inversion method, designated as WTW, retains the advantages of both full wave inversion and traveltime inversion; i .e., it is characterized by reasonably fast convergence which is somew hat independent of the initial model, and it can resolve detailed feat ures of the velocity model. In principle, no traveltime picking is req uired and the computational cost of the WTW method is about the same a s that for full wave inversion. We apply the WTW method to synthetic d ata and field crosshole data collected by Exxon at their Friendswood, Texas, test site. Results show that the WTW tomograms are much richer in structural information relative to the traveltime tomograms. Subtle structural features in the WTW Friendswood tomogram are resolved to a spatial resolution of about 1.5 m, yet are smeared or completely abse nt in the traveltime tomogram. This suggests that it might be better t o obtain high quality (distinct reflections) resolved tocrosshole data at intermediate frequencies, compared to intermediate quality data (g ood quality first arrivals, but the reflections are buried in noise) a t high frequencies. Comparison of the reconstructed velocity profile w ith a log in the source well shows very good agreement within the 0-20 0 m interval. The 200-300 m interval shows acceptable agreement in the velocity fluctuations, but the tomogram's velocity profile differs fr om the sonic log velocities by a DC shift. This highlights both the pr omise and the difficulty with the WTW method; it can reconstruct both the intermediate and high wavenumber parts of the model, but it can ha ve difficulty recovering the very low wavenumber parts of the model.