Seismic Image Restoration Using Nonlinear Least Squares Shape Optimization

In this article we present a new method for seismic image restoration. When observed, a seismic image is the result of an initial deposit system that has been transformed by a set of successive geological deformations (flexures, fault slip, etc) that occurred over a large period of time. The goal of seismic restoration consists in inverting the deformations to provide a resulting image that depicts the geological deposit system as it was in a previous state. Providing a tool that quickly generates restored images helps the geophysicists to recognize geological features that may be too strongly altered in the observed image. The proposed approach is based on a minimization process that expresses geological deformations in terms of geometrical constraints. We use a quickly converging Gauss-Newton approach to solve the system. We provide results to illustrate the seismic image restoration process on real data and present how the restored version can be used in a geological interpretation framework.