A strategy for 3D CRS parameter estimation: the Tournemire sitecase study, 14th Annual Report, Hamburg

Annual reportWe present here the results of CRS reprocessing of a 3D real dataset acquired in 2001 on the Tournemire site in France, which is an experimental site for the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) to test geophysical imaging process in the context of geological nuclear waste storage. The main objective was to evaluate the ability of the methodology to recognize, in the carbonate cover of the experimental site clay layer, the prolongation of weak vertical-displacement faults seen in a tunnel within that clay layer. Previous seismic processing using the conventional common midpoint (CMP) approach did not provide satisfactory results in this cover, although the fault has beenrecognized in the carbonates underlying the clay layer. An original strategy was elaborated to define the best-possible parameters of the 3D Common-Reflection-Surface (CRS) stack. The procedure in- cluded refining the velocity search along a velocity guide, using a first CRS stack as the base of a subsequent curvature-parameter search, or a parameter smoothing before stacking. An optimal ap- proach was elaborated on a subset of the data, and furthermore applied to the whole dataset. The resulting image shows improved event continuity in the carbonate cover, which allowed for horizon picking after depth migration, as well as the estimation of post-stack geometrical attributes, such as coherency. The processing indicates a zone of degraded quality of reflection events lying in the N-S direction, above the known fault zone within the underlying formations. Such feature corresponds to an alteration zone at the earth surface. Further investigation at a higher resolution scale is planned to confirm whether this zone could be a spot of possible leakag