Post-stack Inversion in

STRATA
Software version 2024.x

www.GeoSoftware.com

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Course Outline
• Exercise 5 - Blackfoot : Multi-well Project set up and Correlation
• Exercise 6 - Blackfoot : Model Building, Inversion Analysis, and Inversion
Process
• Exercise 7 - Blackfoot : Post Inversion QC

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Expectations
• After this workshop, you will know:
• What the product of post stack inversion is useful for
• The inversion workflow stages
• How seismic phase affects inversion results
• How the model is generated
• The difference between Model Based, Sparse Spike and Colored
inversions
• How to QC an inversion received from someone else

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 Exercise 5
Initiation and Correlation of
Blackfoot data

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Model Based Inversion Steps
• Gather Necessary Inputs • Inversion Analysis
• Load Wells • Select Inversion Type and Parameters
• Import Seismic volumes • Scale Model and Seismic
• Import/Pick Horizons • QC Inversion Results at Well Locations

• Correlate Wells • Perform Inversion

• Extract wavelet • Use parameters from Inversion Analysis
• Correlate each well
• Interpret Result
• Build Low Frequency Model • QC areal results
• Use well logs and horizons to replace • Create data slices
low frequencies not recorded by seismic

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Blackfoot

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Blackfoot

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Blackfoot

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Blackfoot

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Blackfoot

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Exercise 5
• Gather Necessary Inputs • Inversion Analysis
• Load Wells • Select Inversion Type and Parameters
• Import Seismic volumes • Scale Model and Seismic
• Import/Pick Horizons • QC Inversion Results at Well Locations

• Correlate Wells • Perform Inversion

• Extract wavelet • Use parameters from Inversion Analysis
• Correlate each well
• Interpret Result
• Build Low Frequency Model • QC areal results
• Use well logs and horizons to replace • Create data slices
low frequencies not recorded by seismic

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Exercise 5
• In this exercise, we will begin
inverting a new data set.
• This data set is from the Blackfoot
area of Western Canada, and
consists of 13 wells which tie a 3D
volume. These wells have already
been loaded into a GEOVIEW
database. The first step is to start
the HRS Geoview program.
• Start the Geoview program by
clicking the HRS Geoview icon on
your desktop:
• When the Geoview program
appears, it shows the Start Page,
which contains a list of previously
opened projects.
• Click on New Project:

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Exercise 5
• Type in the project name
“Blackfoot”:
• Do not click Create just yet

Blackfoot

C:\Users\Student**\Desktop\Hrs Class\STRATA\

C:\Users\Student**\Desktop\Hrs Class\STRATA\Blackfoot.wdb

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Exercise 5
• By default, Geoview expects to
Blackfoot
use a well log database with the
C:\Users\Student**\Desktop\Hrs Class\STRATA\
same name as the project,
located in the same directory. C:\Users\Student**\Desktop\Hrs Class\STRATA\Blackfoot.wdb

• For this exercise a pre-loaded

well database (blackfoot.wdb)
has been supplied for you.
• Change the Well database option
to Use existing
• If the software detects a well
database in the same directory
as your project the .wdb is filled
in

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Exercise 5
• If your project is either:
• in a different folder to the training
dataset (where the wdb is located)
• if you entered a different project name
(something that is not blackfoot)

• It is necessary to tell the project

which well database to use.
• Click on the Select directory
button for the well database

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Exercise 5
• On the File Selection dialog,
select the file blackfoot.wdb and
click OK:
• Finally, click Create in the Create
Project Window
Blackfoot

C:\Users\Student**\Desktop\Hrs Class\STRATA\

C:\Users\Student**\Desktop\Hrs Class\STRATA\Blackfoot.wdb

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Exercise 5
• The Geoview window now shows
the current project and well
database in red:

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Exercise 5
• One part of the Geoview window
(called the Project Manager)
shows the project data so far.
• The tabs along the left side select
the type of project data. Right
now, the Well tab is selected and
we can see the 13 wells from the
external database.
• Click the ► near one of the wells
(01-17 is shown as an example),
to see a list of log curves in that
well:

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Exercise 5
• To see more details about the
wells, click the Data Explorer tab
to the right:
• The Geoview window now
changes as shown:

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Exercise 5
• Click the arrow next to any of the
wells (for example, well 01-17) to
get more information about the
curves in that well:

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Exercise 5
• To the right of the Data Explorer
scene, we can see a series of
buttons. Click the button ‘Show
Map’, the map view will appear
showing the location of the wells:

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Exercise 5
• Finally, to see the most complete
view of the log curves within a well,
go to the icon (not the blue/white
arrow) for that well within the
Project Data window and double-
click. In this case, we will choose
well 01-08:
• This creates a new tab within the
main Geoview window, called the
Wells tab, which displays the
selected well curves
• If not, go ahead and drag the
curves into the display for well 01-
08
• Pull down to the bottom of the
curves to see the tops displayed on
the curves

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Exercise 5
• We have now loaded the wells
which will be used in the post
stack inversion process. The
next step is to load the seismic
volume.
• On the far left side of the
Geoview window, click the
Seismic tab:
• The window to the right of this tab
shows all seismic data loaded so
far. This is empty. Go to the
bottom of the window and click
the Import Seismic button:
• On the pull-down menu, select
‘From SEG-Y File’:
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Exercise 5
• On the dialog that appears,
Select the file
blackfoot_seismic.sgy and click
Next:

• Set the Geometry Type to 3D and

click Next:

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Exercise 5
• On the third page, we are telling
the program what information it
can use from the trace headers.
In fact, in this data set, there are
Inline and Xline numbers, but
NOT X and Y coordinates. That
is why we answer No to the
question “Do you have X & Y
coordinates in the trace
headers?”:
• After modifying that item, as
shown, click Next to see the
SEG-Y Format page:

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Exercise 5
• By default, this page assumes that
the seismic data is a SEG-Y file
with all header values filled in as
per the standard SEG-Y
convention. For example, it
expects to find the Inline and Xline
numbers at the byte locations
shown above. If you are not sure
that is true, you could click Header
Editor to see what is in the trace
headers.
• But we believe the format
information is correct, so click Next
to move to the next page. Now the
following warning message
appears because the program is
about to scan the entire SEG-Y file.
• Click Yes to run the scanning
process.
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Exercise 5
• When the scanning has finished,
the Geometry Grid page appears:
• Because we have read the Inline
and Xline numbers from the
SEG-Y headers, the geometry is
correct. Click OK.
• After building the geometry files,
a new window appears, showing
how each of the wells is mapped
into this seismic volume:
• Click OK to accept the locations
shown on this window.

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Exercise 5
• The seismic data appears within
the Geoview window:

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Exercise 5
• The Geoview window currently
shows Inline 1. We will now look
at other parts of the data. The
first thing to see is the Base Map.
To do that, select View>Base
Map:
• Or… right click on the seismic
data.
• The base map appears, showing
that the seismic volume is a
rectangular grid with 119 inlines
and 81 cross lines. You can also
see the 13 wells located within
the volume:
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Exercise 5
• By double clicking within the
survey outline, the seismic
display can be jumped to any
location.
• Click the ‘X’ to exit the map.

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Exercise 5
• Now let’s look at a different inline.
Type the number 27 as shown,
and press the Enter key:
• Inline 27 now appears. At the
same time, we can see one of the
sonic logs.
• Scroll down to see this view:

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Exercise 5
• To see one of the cross lines,
click the field which currently
says Inline. Select the Xline
option.
• To see the display positioned at
one of the well locations, go to
the Well icon and click the down
arrow as shown:
• The drop-down menu shows a list
of wells in the project. Select one
– say, 08-08, as shown – and the
Geoview window shows the
crossline which intersects that
well location.
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Exercise 5
• This is cross line 42 showing 08-
08 and other wells on the same
line:

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Exercise 5
• We can also modify other plotting
parameters by using the Seismic
View Parameters window. To bring
up that window, click the “eyeball”
icon as shown:
• The Seismic View Parameters
window contains a series of pages
which control various aspects of
the plotting.
• To see the parameters for a
specific item, select that item from
the list at the left side. For
example, here we have selected
the Inserted Wells item.
• We won't be changing anything
today so click Close when you are
done viewing the window.

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Exercise 5
• The last data component required
for building the initial inversion
model is a set of horizon picks.
• You can use Geoview to pick the
data directly.
• Alternatively, you can import
horizons, usually from
interpretation software.
• To start that process, go to the
Project Manager window, click
Horizon and then Import > From
File:

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Exercise 5
• From the File Selection Window,
highlight the file called
blackfoot_horizons.txt and click
Select.
• Note that, at the lower left corner
of the dialog, we are specifying
this to be a Free Format file.
Click Next:

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Exercise 5
• The next page of the dialog
allows you to specify how the file
is organized:
• Click the View Files button to see
the ASCII file:

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Exercise 5
• The file display shows that there
are 2 horizons in the file, and that
we need to skip the first 4
information lines.
• Select the Volume
‘blackfoot_seismic’ in the Geometry
Reference section.
• Enter the Number of Horizons to
Read as 2 and hit enter,
• Then type-in the new Horizon
Names and column numbers:
Mannville & Lower Mannville
• Assign the correct numbers in the
Time Column
• Click OK
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Exercise 5
• Now that we have read in all the
data necessary for the inversion,
we are ready to start the process.
• The Processes tab contains a list
of all the operations available in
HRS. Each of the processes can
be expanded using the ►
• One way to do inversion would
be to apply each of the desired
processes in turn.

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Exercise 5
• We will use an alternate
procedure in this exercise. We
will use the pre-defined
Workflows. Click the Workflows
tab.
• Click the item called Post Stack
Inversion
• We now see the suggested
series of steps to be followed for
Post Stack Inversion. The steps
are colored red to indicate that
the parameters have not yet been
supplied. These are the “default”
steps, but the list can be edited
and customized, as we will see
later.
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Exercise 5
• Double-click the first item ‘Select
Post-stack Seismic’. An arrow
will appear in front of the
workflow item, as shown here:
• A dialog appears on the right with
a list of all seismic volumes in the
project:
• Since we have only loaded one
seismic volume, that volume is
selected.
• Click Select:

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Exercise 5
• Now double-click the second item
of the workflow, ‘Select Horizons’.
• The dialog on the right shows the
two horizons we have just
loaded:
• It also contains buttons for
picking or importing new
horizons:
• Click Select to accept the two
horizons.

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Exercise 5
• The next step is to apply the process
‘Extract Statistical Wavelet’, by double-
clicking that option.
• There are two basic methods for
extracting the wavelet. One method
uses the wells, and can give a good
estimate of both amplitude and phase
spectra of the wavelet.
• The second method – called “statistical”
– uses the seismic data alone to extract
the wavelet. This method will estimate
the amplitude spectrum from the
seismic data, but we must make an
assumption about the phase – typically
we assume the data are zero phase.
• In this step, we are extracting a
statistical wavelet. We will refine the
wavelet extraction using the wells at a
later stage.

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Exercise 5
• The dialog on the right sets the
range of data to analyze:
• By default, the program will
examine the entire data volume,
but this is rarely appropriate. In
particular, we want to set a time
window around the zone of
interest. Change the
• Trace Range
• Time Window
• Wavelet Name

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Exercise 5
• When you have changed the
dialog as shown above, click Run
to extract the wavelet. The
extracted wavelet appears in its
own pop-up window:
• The time domain response is in
the upper window, while the
amplitude and phase spectra are
in the lower.
• Note also this small button at the
lower right of the wavelet window:

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Exercise 5
• If you click that button, the
wavelet window will be “landed”
or “docked” within the Wavelets
tab:
• This is a way to keep track of any
window created within HRS. To
release the wavelet window from
its tab, click on the “airplane” at
the lower right of the wavelet
window:
• Most windows created within
HRS can be docked or floating in
this way. Finally, send the
wavelet window back to the
wavelets tab by clicking the
Wavelets button once again:
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Exercise 5
• The next step in the Workflow is
to Select Wells which will be used
in the model building:
• Once again, we see a list of the
wells which have already been
loaded into the project. Make
sure they are all checked.
• Click Select to complete this step.

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Exercise 5
• The Wells tab appears, showing
one of the wells in the project:
• You could apply various log
processing options, like Log
Editing, by going back to the
Processes list:
• For this exercise, we will assume
that the logs have been properly
edited. Return to the Post Stack
Inversion Workflow.

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Exercise 5
• The next step in the workflow is
to Correlate the Wells, so double-
click that item:
• In practice, each of the wells
used to build the inversion model
needs to be correlated.
• On the Well Selection Dialog,
select the well 08-08 and click
OK at the bottom of the dialog:

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Exercise 5
• Now a dialog appears to specify
which seismic volume will be
used for the correlation process,
and how the composite trace will
be extracted from that volume.
• Click OK on this dialog.

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Exercise 5
• The Log Correlation Window now
appears:
• The blue traces on this display
are synthetic traces calculated
from the sonic and density logs in
this well, using the depth-time
curve currently stored in the
database and the wavelet we
have previously extracted:

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Exercise 5
• The plot at the upper right shows
the cross-correlation between the
synthetic trace and the composite
trace:
• That correlation result depends on
the analysis window. We can
improve the calculation by
changing this window.
• The cross-correlation window
defaults to be the largest possible
window containing both the
synthetic and real trace. We
should narrow the analysis to the
region where the log tie is best:
• Set the Start time to 800, as shown
and click on Apply.
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Exercise 5
• The correlation plot shows a
maximum correlation of about
72%.
• It also suggests that the synthetic
should be shifted down by 6ms.
• That information is also displayed
on the menu bar at the base of
the window:
• Click the ‘Apply Shift’ button to
apply the suggested 6ms shift.

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Exercise 5
• The synthetic now matches very
closely with the real seismic.
• To fine-tune the correlation, we
could pick events manually, as
with the Erskine exercise.
• Alternatively, we could ask the
program to suggest a correlation
automatically.
• To try that, click the ‘Auto Stretch’
tab on the lower right.

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Exercise 5
• The menu which appears
contains a series of parameters,
controlling the automatic
selection.
• Click the Apply button to use the
defaults.
• The automatic picks work very
well in this case.
• If we wished, we could delete a
single pick pair by right-clicking
near it.
• Or, we could delete all the
automatic picks by using the
Clear Picks button at the bottom
of the window:
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 Exercise 5
• In this case, we will use
the automatic picks, so
click ‘Stretch’:
• Return to the Cross
Correlation tab
• The window now looks
similar to this:
• But, we note the
asymmetry of the Cross
Correlation.
• Tick the Show Envelope
on. Note the max
envelope is not at the
same as max correlation

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Exercise 5
• The asymmetric shape of the Cross
Correlation plot suggests there is a
residual phase shift in the synthetic
(wavelet), which could be improved
by extracting a new wavelet using
the wells.
• To do this, click the ‘Wavelet’ button
(bottom left of the window) and
choose the option ‘Extract Wavelet
Using Wells…’
• Change the time range to be 800 to
1200ms as shown and click Select
All.
• Give the wavelet the name
wavelet_use_wells, and click Run.

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Exercise 5
• The extracted wavelet on well 08-
08 shows an average phase of -
55 degrees:
• Click the Wavelets docking
button to move this new plot to
the Wavelets tab.
• Then return to the Wells tab in
the Geoview window.

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Exercise 5
• Now let's try estimate again using
full wavelet
• To do this, click the ‘Wavelet’
button (bottom left of the window)
and choose the option ‘Extract
Wavelet Using Wells…’
• Change the time range to be 800
to 1200ms as shown and click
Select All.
• Give the wavelet the name
wavelet_use_wells_full, and click
Run.

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Exercise 5
• The extracted full wavelet on well
08-08 shows an average phase
of -66 degrees:
• Note that the wavelet is less
stable than previous wavelet.
• Click the Wavelets docking
button to move this new plot to
the Wavelets tab.
• Then return to the Wells tab in
the Geoview window.

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Exercise 5
• Now let's try estimate again using
Roy White wavelet
• To do this, click the ‘Wavelet’
button (bottom left of the window)
and choose the option ‘Extract
Wavelet Using Wells…’
• Change the time range to be 800
to 1200ms as shown and click
Select All.
• Give the wavelet the name
wavelet_use_wells_RW, and
click Run.

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Exercise 5
• The extracted Roy White wavelet
on well 08-08
• Note that the wavelet is more
stable than previous wavelet.
• Click the Wavelets docking
button to move this new plot to
the Wavelets tab.
• Then return to the Wells tab in
the Geoview window.

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Exercise 5
• Now let's try estimate again
using Roy White wavelet,
this time let’s tweak some
parameter
• To do this, click the ‘Wavelet’
button (bottom left of the
window) and choose the
option ‘Extract Wavelet
Using Wells…’
• Change the time range to be
800 to 1200ms as shown
and click Select All.
• Give the wavelet different
name for each parameter
and click Run.

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 Previous Row White Wavelet Taper 50 ms Neighbour Radius 5

Exercise 5
• Note the difference on
extracted Roy White
wavelet on well 08-08
Bandpass 5,10-60,90 Hz All Parameter ON
• Note that the wavelet
is more stable than
previous wavelet.
• Click the Wavelets
docking button to
move this new plot to
the Wavelets tab.
• Then return to the
Wells tab in the
Geoview window.

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Exercise 5
• For this tutorial, we will correlate just one of the available wells, and
assume that all the others have been correlated previously.
• Review well to seismic correlation on other wells.

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Exercise 5
• After all wells has been
correlated, now let’s extract a
multiwell wavelet
• Return to well 08-08
• To do this, click the ‘Wavelet’
button (bottom left of the window)
and choose the option ‘Extract
Wavelet Using Wells…’
• Change the time range to be 800
to 1200ms as shown and click
Select All.
• Give the wavelet the name
wavelet_use_wells, and click
Run.

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Exercise 5
• The extracted wavelet shows an
average phase of -59 degrees:
• Click the Wavelets docking
button to move this new plot to
the Wavelets tab.
• Then return to the Wells tab in
the Geoview window.
• You can also try to extract Full
Wavelet and Roy White Wavelet
similar to previous step on each
well.

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Exercise 5
• The Correlation Plot now shows a
maximum correlation of about
74%, with a more symmetrical
shape. From this we can
conclude that we have a good
estimate of the wavelet phase.
• The plot also suggests a further
shift of -2ms. Click Apply Shift.
• Click OK to accept this
correlation.
• A dialog appears suggesting a
name for the new sonic log we
have created by the log
correlation process. Click OK to
accept that new name:
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Exercise 5
• We have now completed the log • The complete flow for a general
correlation step for one of the 13 multi-well project is:
wells, and extracted a single • Extract a single Statistical Wavelet.
wavelet, for all the wells. • Go through each of the wells, doing the
correlation.
• In a real project, we would have • Extract a single wavelet using all the
to do this correlation step for the wells.
remaining 12 wells. To save • Go through each of the wells again, fine
time, we have done this tuning the correlation. Often this step
means simply apply a minor bulk shift.
correlation for you, so we will
assume the other wells are
correlated.

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 End of Exercise 5

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 Exercise 6:
Model Building, Inversion
Analysis, and Inversion
Process

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Exercise 6
• Gather Necessary Inputs • Inversion Analysis
• Load Wells • Select Inversion Type and Parameters
• Import Seismic volumes • Scale Model and Seismic
• Import/Pick Horizons • QC Inversion Results at Well Locations

• Correlate Wells • Perform Inversion

• Extract wavelet • Use parameters from Inversion Analysis
• Correlate each well
• Interpret Result
• Build Low Frequency Model • QC areal results
• Use well logs and horizons to replace • Create data slices
low frequencies not recorded by seismic

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Exercise 6
• We are now ready to perform the
next step on the workflow, which
is Build Initial Model.
• Double-click that item on the
workflow list:
• The dialog which appears
contains the default parameters
for building the standard post-
stack inversion model. By
default, all the wells and horizons
are selected:

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Exercise 6
• After interpolating the well log
curves, a low-pass frequency
filter will be applied, which, by
default, passes all frequencies up
to 10Hz, filters all frequencies
above 15Hz, and interpolates the
filter between those limits.
• There are many additional
“Advanced” parameters, which
you can examine by clicking the
Show Advanced Options button:
• For this tutorial, click Run to
accept the defaults.

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Exercise 6
• The Geoview window now shows
the calculated initial model - in
color - within the Models tab:
• The wiggle traces and the color
traces display the filtered
acoustic impedance. Any location
in the 3D can be viewed.

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Exercise 6
• The next step is to perform Inversion
Analysis. This is the process of running
inversion at the well locations to QC and
optimize the inversion parameters. At
the same time, scalars are automatically
determined which scale the input
seismic data to the amplitude range of
the synthetic seismic data.
• On the Workflow, double-click ‘Inversion
Analysis’.
• The dialog which appears contains
default selections of the main
parameters. These are usually
appropriate.
• In this case, we are using the seismic
data called blackfoot_seismic and we
are inverting the entire time window:

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Exercise 6
• We are using all the wells in the
inversion analysis. You can use
different wells than the wells used
to build the initial model:
• We are using the initial model
previously generated:
• We are using the wavelet
previously extracted:
• If you do not automatically pick
up the right wavelet, click Change
Wavelets > Single Wavelet, and
select the wavelet shown.

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Exercise 6
• Click Next
• Accept the default inversion
algorithm & parameters; we can
change any of these later:
• Now click OK on the Inversion
Analysis dialog to start the
process:

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Exercise 6
• We are seeing the result at the
first well location (01-08). The
controls on the upper menu bar
allow us to see any other well:
• Scroll down to get this image

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Exercise 6
• The automatic scale for the log
may not be optimal at the target
zone.
• To improve that, click on the
scale area, as shown.
• Adjust the display as necessary
to best examine the target area.

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Exercise 6
• From left to right, the display
shows the inversion result (in red)
overlaying the original impedance
log from the well (in blue).
• To the right of that, we see the
synthetic traces calculated from
this inversion result (in red)
followed by the original seismic
composite trace (in black).
• Finally, we see the error trace,
which is the difference between
the two previous results.

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Exercise 6
• To the upper right of the display
are a series of buttons, which allow
us to fine-tune the inversion. For
example, the Wavelet button allows
you to manipulate the inversion
wavelet.
• A second button allows us to view
and change the initial Model
Parameters:
• A third button brings up a dialog
allowing us to change the inversion
parameters. Click this Invert button
as shown.
• A copy of these buttons are on the OR
left side with the title of the buttons
showing. You can click on either
choice.

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Exercise 6
• For example, change the
Inversion Method to Linear
Programming Sparse Spike and
click Apply at the bottom of the
dialog.
• The inverted traces now show a
blockier appearance:
• (We will run different inversion
algorithms later.)

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Exercise 6
• Set the Inversion Method back to
Model Based and click Apply to
restore the default settings:

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Exercise 6
• When several wells are available
within the project and have been
correlated (it does not matter if
they were included in the model
or not) we can compare the
inversion results at each well.
• Click on Error > Profile Plot.

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Exercise 6
• The Error Profile originally
appears tabbed at the base of the
window. To make it easier to see,
double-click on the header bar
above the plot, as shown:

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Exercise 6
• Now the Error Profile appears
floating and can be re-sized.
• Right clicking in the plot, will
activate the display options.

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Exercise 6
• Close the Error windows (X) and
then close the Inversion
Parameters dialog by clicking the
Close button:
• Now that we have optimized the
parameters at the well locations,
the last step is to apply the
inversion to the entire 3-D
volume.
• Double-click ‘Apply to Volume’:

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Exercise 6
• The dialog which appears shows all
the inversion parameters, but we
do not have to change any,
because we have already
optimized them at the well
locations.
• The only significant parameters
involve the data range and time
range of the input volume to be
inverted.
• Set the output volume name to
inverted.
• Double check the parameters are
correct. In this case, we will invert
the entire volume, so click Run at
the base of the dialog to start that
process.

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Exercise 6
• Close View 1 and View 3 for now
by clicking on the eye icons:
• Right-click anywhere within the
remaining inversion display and
select Volume Color Key >
Modify Range
• On the dialog which appears, set
the range (of impedance values)
from 8000 to 12000 and click OK:

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Exercise 6
• Using the Eyeball icon and Scale,
set
• Vertical scale to 30 inch/s
• Horizontal scale to16 traces /inch

• Under Inserted Wells> Curve

Selection
• Inserted curve Computed Impedance P
• Click OK

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Exercise 6
• The display should look similar
to this.
• This is a Low impedance
channel

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Exercise 6
• Open the first panel again with
the eyeball (in the lower right
corner of window)
• In Project Manager window drag
the Blackfoot seismic volume into
the View 1 pane.
• It will ask you to replace the data,
click OK.

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Exercise 6
• Right click on seismic data and
go to Trace Data Volume and set
to none
• Click on the eyeball and Modify
Attributes for View 1
• Under curve Selection insert P-
wave and set color log to None

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Exercise 6
• Your display should look
something like this

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 End of Exercise 6

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 Post-Inversion QC

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QC Techniques
• Blind well insert of color computed impedance
• Slicing of impedance volume at target interval
• Difference between real and synthetic volumes, with slicing
• Export impedance seismic results to the well database for
detailed overlay with computed well impedance and possible
cross plotting.

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QC Techniques
• This inserted color impedance
display is useful as a QC with
wells that were not included in
the model.
• The frequency difference
between the P-impedance from
logs and from seismic is
apparent. It is easy in HRS to
compute impedance curves and
then filter them to more closely
match the seismic frequencies.

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QC Techniques
• A slice through the target interval.

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QC Techniques
• The inversion process also
produces synthetic traces from
the impedance result.
• The final synthetic trace for each
CDP is output as a seismic
volume, to be used for QC

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QC Techniques
• The synthetic volume is
subtracted from the input volume
to give the inversion error. This
reveals any areas where the
inversion result is not consistent
with the input.
• The inversion error volume is
initially shown. However, if you
close the display, you can easily
recreate the error by subtracting
the two volumes:
• Ideally, the error volume will
contain only residual energy.

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QC Techniques
• The seismic-synthetic error can
also be sliced at the target
horizon to check for any localized
anomalies. This might be
especially useful with merged 3D
surveys, where a change in
seismic character could occur.

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QC Techniques
• Impedance traces or any other
type of trace, can be exported
from inverted volumes to the well
database for detailed
comparison.
• Well impedance filtered to
seismic frequencies
• Inversion impedance result
exported from seismic volume to
the well database
• Unfiltered well impedance

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 Exercise 7: Post-Inversion
QC

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Exercise 7
• Gather Necessary Inputs • Inversion Analysis
• Load Wells • Select Inversion Type and Parameters
• Import Seismic volumes • Scale Model and Seismic
• Import/Pick Horizons • QC Inversion Results at Well Locations

• Correlate Wells • Perform Inversion

• Extract wavelet • Use parameters from Inversion Analysis
• Correlate each well
• Interpret Result
• Build Low Frequency Model • QC areal results
• Use well logs and horizons to replace • Create data slices
low frequencies not recorded by seismic

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Exercise 7
• The Seismic View Parameters
window contains a series of
pages which control various
aspects of the plotting.
• To get to it click on the Eyeball.
• Choose the ‘Modify Attributes for
View 2’ button. We will be adding
something there.
• To see the parameters for a
specific item, select that item
from the list at the left side. For
this exercise click on the ‘Inserted
Wells’ option.

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Exercise 7
• The starting point for this
exercise is a display of the
inversion result.
• For visual QC of the inversion
result, we will first insert the
original well impedances in color,
into the seismic impedances.
• We need to change the ‘Inserted
Variable Color Log’ to the
‘Computed Impedance P’
• Click OK

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Exercise 7
• The resulting display of inserted
P-impedance logs and P-
impedance seismic.
• The logs will automatically use
the same color scheme as the
seismic.

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Exercise 7
• A second QC technique is to slice
the inverted volume at the target
interval.
• In Processes, double click on
‘Create Data Slice’ and change the
Target Event, then click OK.

• A map will appear for QC.

• Close when you are ready
to proceed
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Exercise 7
• The third QC technique is to
study the difference between the
input seismic and the inversion
synthetic seismic.
• First, display the input seismic
volume (blackfoot_seismic) in a
Seismic scene.
• Then drag the synthetic volume
(inverted_Syn) only into the same
window. Use the option ‘Don’t
close existing data’.
• Then click OK:

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Exercise 7
• Right click in the combined
display and choose Trace Data
Volume
• The option for ‘inverted_Syn’
should be chose and you need to
select ‘blackfoot_seismic –
invereted_Syn’.
• Ideally, the error volume will
contain only residual energy

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Exercise 7
• Finally, we will QC Inverted
Results, under the Processes
tab
• On the dialogue, switch to Post-
stack, and set the seismic
selection to ‘blackfoot_seismic’.
• We will read in the inverted_Zp,
our inverted volume, as well as
the initial P-impedance model.
We select Log Type on next
slide.
• Select All wells

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Exercise 7
• On the lower part of the dialogue,
click on the Log Types Selection
tab.
• Find P-impedance from the
available list, and use Select > to
add it to the Selected list as
shown.
• Click OK.
• Click Yes in the pop-up window

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Exercise 7
• In first track: Impedance log
(blue), inversion result (red)
and initial model (black)
• In second track: Impedance
“error” – difference between
AI log & inversion result
• In third track: Input seismic
data
• Next set of tracks repeat QC
for next well

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Exercise 7
• To see just the inversion
results, tick off the option to
show error track(s).
• Right click on the first
seismic panel & select
Delete Track. Delete as
many or as few seismic
panels as you wish.

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Exercise 7
• We will view the well logs in
the time domain for a fairer
comparison to the inversion
result. Toggle on Resample,
and change the domain to
Time and set to be 2ms.
• Click on Cross Plot to see a
cross plot of the actual
impedance log versus the
inversion result. Initially, this
is for the whole log length.

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Exercise 7
• Now let’s focus on our zone of
interest.
• We will define a highlight by
clicking on the Highlight
dropdown, and selecting Define
Highlight.
• We will define our zone of
interest from the tops.
• Click New in the pop-up window
and type Zone_0. Click OK
• Set the highlight to be between
the: Mannville and miss markers.
• Click OK.
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Exercise 7
• The zone of interest is now
highlighted in blue on the
logs.
• The data points associated
with this zone will flash in
blue on the crossplot.

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Exercise 7
• Finally, we can use the QC
Inverted Results interface to
export the extracted inversion
results back to the well
database.
• Click on Save Extracted..
• Select P-impedance log type
• Select All >> to extract & export
the results at all well locations
• Click OK.

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Exercise 7
• Go to your Wells tab & display
Well 09-08 by double clicking on
the 09-08 well name.
• If needed, drag the P-wave_corr
and Density logs into the Wells
tab
• Right click in the white space
next to the logs & select Add
Track:
• On the new track that appears,
right click & use Add Curve > By
Type > Computed Logs >
Compute Impedance

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Exercise 7
• On the Well data tree, you will
see two composite_trace_xx
logs. These are the inversion
model & inversion results
extracted along the well path.
• Click on
Composite_trace_inverted_Zp,
and drag ‘n’ drop it on top of the
Computed Impedance log:

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Exercise 7
• The difference in bandwidth
between the well curves and
seismic inversion, makes
comparison unclear.
• It is therefore useful to frequency
filter the computed well
impedances to match the seismic
bandwidth.
• Before we can do that, we need
to actually compute impedance
logs for each well.

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Exercise 7
• Within the Wells tab, there is
shortcut icon for many math and
Petrophysics operations.
• Choose Log Transform> P-
impedance.

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Exercise 7
• Change to Multiple Wells.
• Select All >> the wells.
• Then click OK.

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Exercise 7
• Now we can apply a frequency
filter to the newly computed AI
logs.
• Use the same icon, but this time
select Log Math > Frequency
Filter.

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Exercise 7
• Choose Multiple Wells
• Select P-impedance as Curve
Type
• Select All >> of your wells.
• After that is complete go to the
Curve tab at the top.

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Exercise 7
• The input curve for the process
should automatically be set up as
P-impedance_trans for all wells.
• For 01-08 well, double click on
the Output Curve box (which will
show P-Impedance_math) and
type in the name shown.
• Then click on Replicate current
value. This will set all output logs
to have the same name.
• Finally click OK to compute the
new logs

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Exercise 7
• Some manipulation of the display
may be required, such as
changing the order of the tracks.

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Exercise 7
• By dragging and dropping, the
well and seismic impedances can
be overlaid for detailed
comparison, here showing well
09-08.
• Take care to use the same
scales.

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 End of Exercise 7

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