Prediction of petrophysical properties from seismic quality factor measurements

Abstract Over the past eight years the Geophysics Group of the Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology has developed equipment for accurately measuring the seismic properties of centimetre-size samples of sedimentary rocks at ultrasonic frequencies (0.5–1 MHz) and under simulated in situ conditions. Relationships between the ultrasonic properties and the mineralogical/petrophysical properties of a wide range of rock types have been investigated. The results indicate that the attenuation of seismic waves at high frequencies is dominated by the ‘imperfections’ in the rock, defined in a broad way. For instance, at low pressures the attenuation depends on the volume concentration of microcracks; at high confining pressures the attenuation depends on the distribution of porosity between the macro inter-particle porosity and the micro intra-clay or intra-particle porosity. For some rocks, analysis of these relationships leads to the ability to predict petrophysical properties, including the permeability, from the seismic data. Techniques for up-scaling the relationships to the wavelengths of field seismic surveys are discussed.

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