Predictive deconvolution and the zero‐phase source

Predictive deconvolution is commonly applied to seismic data generated with a Vibroseisr® source. Unfortunately, when this process invokes a minimum‐phase assumption, the phase of the resulting trace will not be correct. Nonetheless, spiking deconvolution is an attractive process because it restores attenuated higher frequencies, thus increasing resolution. For detailed stratigraphic analyses, however, it is desirable that the phase of the data be treated properly as well. The most common solution is to apply a phase‐shifting filter that corrects for errors attributable to a zero‐phase source. The phase correction is given by the minimum‐phase spectrum of the correlated Vibroseis wavelet. Because no minimum‐phase spectrum truly exists for this bandlimited wavelet, white noise is added to its amplitude spectrum in order to design the phase‐correction filter. Different levels of white noise, however, produce markedly different results when field data sections are filtered. A simple argument suggests that th...