SIMULATION OF REALISTIC SYNTHETIC REFLECTION SEQUENCES1

It is useful to be able to calculate synthetic primary reflection sequences from which to generate synthetic seismic sections which can be used for testing new processing algorithms. However, these synthetic reflection sequences should closely match real properties found in recent studies. Using the ARMA(1,1) model resulting from such studies to describe the correlation (or spectral) structure of the sequences, and by matching moments up to fourth order (since the sequences are non-Gaussian in practice), realistic sequences can be generated. A simple scheme is provided which also eliminates the necessity of throwing away large numbers of simulated values at start-up. The procedure is illustrated on three real sequences and is seen to reproduce all the important features.