Viscoelastic Prestack Waveform Inversion for Multiparameters in Stratiform Media

Attenuation plays a fundamental role in the study of stratiform media. The conventional method including amplitude versus offset (AVO) and frequency-dependent AVO (FAVO) based on Zoeppritz equation can account for viscoelastic effects, but the assumption is the reflection and transmission at the single interface, neglecting the interlayer attenuation of seismic waves. Based on the theory of wave propagation in the stratiform media, a viscoelastic prestack waveform inversion (PWI) is proposed to predict the attenuative parameters. The viscoelastic reflection matrix method (VRMM) incorporates the complex velocity to simulate the full waveform seismic responses capturing the interlayer attenuation and other propagation effects in the stratiform media. During the inversion process, an objective function under Bayesian framework is constructed to estimate the multiparameter by incorporating prior information. Modeling tests demonstrate that prestack angle gathers based on VRMM can account for both propagation effects and attenuative characteristics. Compared to elastic PWI, viscoelastic PWI can provide better predictions of model parameters. Synthetic inversion tests demonstrate that the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method, which is robust to the initial models and resistant to noise. Field test results show that our method can successfully invert P-wave and S-wave quality factors, providing strong support for reservoir characterization.