Effective Stress Compensation

Improves image quality below salt

The presence of salt can result in a decrease in density of the sedimentary layers underneath it, and with it a change in effective stress. Because effective stress is functionally related to seismic velocity, these changes perturb the velocity field used for depth migration and can result in a degradation of the subsalt image.

Our effective stress compensation technique translates changes in subsalt density and effective stress to a residual velocity field below a salt body. This provides an updated velocity model for depth imaging, delivering improved image quality for increased confidence in positioning subsalt features.