We present a method for the exact modeling and inversion of multiazimuthal
qP-wave reflection coefficients at an interface separating two anisotropic
media. This procedure can be used for media with at least one of its planes
of symmetry parallel to the interface (i.e., monoclinic or higher symmetri
es). To illustrate the method, we compute qP-wave reflection coefficients a
t an interface separating an isotropic medium (representing a seal rock) fr
om a transversely isotropic medium (representing a reservoir rock with vert
ical aligned fractures). Forward modeling shows that the difference in the
offset of the critical angles for different azimuths is proportional to the
fracture density: the higher the fracture density, the larger the differen
ce. In the second part of the paper, we use a global optimization technique
(genetic algorithm) to invert wide-angle amplitude variation with offset (
AVO) synthetic data. The model space consists of mass density and five elas
tic parameters of a transversely isotropic medium with a horizontal symmetr
y axis (HTI medium), which, to the first order, represents the fractured re
servoir rock. For this model, we find that the configuration of three azimu
ths of data acquisition is the minimum number of acquisition planes needed
to invert amplitude variation with offset/amplitude variation with azimuth
(AVO/AVA) data. Further, there is a need fbr incidence angles up to 40 degr
ees; a more narrow range of angles can lead to models that fit the data per
fectly only up to the "maximum" incidence angle. We assume that the velocit
ies and density of the isotropic rock are known, but use no prior informati
on on the values of the model space parameters of the fractured rock except
for reasonable velocity values in crystal rocks and constraints of elastic
stability of solid media. After inversion for the model space parameters,
we compute statistics of the 30 best models and likelihood functions, which
provide information on the nonuniqueness and quality of the AVO/AVA invers
e problem.