System and method for estimating seismic material properties

Abstract

A method for estimating near-surface material properties in the vicinity of a locally dense group of seismic receivers is disclosed. The method includes receiving seismic data that has been measured by a locally dense group of seismic receivers. Local derivatives of the wavefield are estimated such that the derivatives are centered at a single location preferably using the Lax-Wendroff correction. Physical relationships between the estimated derivatives including the free surface condition and wave equations are used to estimate near-surface material properties in the vicinity of the receiver group. Another embodiment of the invention is disclosed wherein the physical relationships used to estimate material properties are derived from the physics of plane waves arriving at the receiver group, and the group of receivers does not include any buried receivers.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.