Phase Decomposition
Team
R&D GROUP, INTEG, GEOPIC
July 2024
Phase Decomposition
• Assuming a zero-phase wavelet embedded in the seismic data, while flat spots
or unresolved water contacts may be seen on the zero-phase component, in
seismically thin layers, impedance changes will show up on phase components
that are 90°out of phase with the wavelet.
• Bright spots caused by thin hydrocarbon reservoirs are associated with low
impedance and show up on the phase component that is −90° out of phase with
the seismic wavelet.
• Phase decomposition is a novel technique that decomposes a composite seismic
signal into different phase components, which can improve reservoir
characterization.
• A corresponding high-impedance thin layer exhibits a similar +90° phase
component response
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Spectral Decomposition
• Spectral Decomposition can be done by using:
1. Short time window discrete Fourier transform (STFT; Partyka et
al.,1999),
2. Continuous wavelet transform (CWT; Chakraborty and Okaya,
1995; Sinha et al., 2005),
3. S-transform (Stockwell et al., 1996),
4. Matching pursuit (Mallat and Zhang, 1993),
5. Constrained least-squares spectral analysis (CLSSA; Puryear et al.,
2012), and the
6. Optimal Gaussian spectral analysis (OGSA; Lindner et al.,2014).
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STFT
• The discrete Fourier transform uses a time window for its
computation, and this choice has a bearing on the resolution
of the output data
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Continuous Wavelet transform
• Continuous wavelet transform depends on the choice of the
mother wavelet, and usually yields higher spectral
resolution but reduced temporal resolution at low
frequencies
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• Defining the odd phase component as the sum of +90° and
−90° phase components, we demonstrate that the odd
phase component helps delineate a gas reservoir better in
accordance with the status of the available wells over the
reservoir.
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CLSSA
• Uses an inversion-based algorithm for computing the
spectral decomposition of seismic data and is performed by
the inversion of a basis of truncated sinusoidal kernels in a
short time window.
• The method results in a time-frequency analysis with
excellent time and frequency resolution and with a time-
frequency product superior to the STFT and the CWT.
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OGSA
• OGSA: This process uses a series of frequency domain
Gaussian functions to decompose the spectrum of the data,
which is carried out in the frequency domain. The result is
the superposition of Gaussian functions that are seen to
better correlate or match the spectrum of the seismic.
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Spectral decomposition
STFT (40ms CWT CLSSA (40ms OGSA STFT (40ms CWT OGSA
CLSSA (40ms
window) window) window) window)
Amplitude frequency gathers Phase frequency gathers 9
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• For zero-phase seismic data the computed −90° phase component
can exhibit a strong amplitude anomaly for the thin low impedance
channel sands.
• However, impedance changes within the individual layers in the
zone of interest can cause the top reflection coefficient to become
slightly more negative, and the lower one to become more positive.
Such asymmetry in reflection coefficients can show up better on
the ±90° components.
• It therefore helps to compute the sum of +90° and −90° phase
components, which we refer as the odd component, and the sum of
the 0 and 180° phase components, referred to as the even
component.
• A comparison of the odd and the even components, or the odd
component with the input seismic data, can help in the direct
detection of hydrocarbon zones, as the following applications will
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• have a zero-phase embedded wavelet, the thicknesses of
the zones of interest are at or below tuning at the CWT
frequency used, and the seismic response has an absence of
interference from adjoining reflectors.
• For example, if a −90° signal is expected with a zero-phase
wavelet, that response would be found on the -60°
component if the wavelet phase were 30°.
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