The use of third degree polynomial for accurate conversion of seismic time to depth and vice versa

Abstract

The seismic sections consist of observed travel times versus corresponding impact to geophone distances. These observed times correspond to some depth below the earth surface. In converting these times to depth, various methods may be used. However, in this paper, the conversion is done by solving the third degree polynomial using data from well survey. The results from this study shows that the third degree polynomial can be conveniently fitted to the set of time depth data from the well as it compared favourable with measured values. The result also reveals that the third degree polynomial is a more accurate means of converting the values of seismic time to depth than the use of velocity information. The standard deviation of the polynomial values calculated from the measured values is 6.25milliseconds compared to 7.08milliseconds using the velocity data

Journal of the Nigerian Association of Mathematical Physics Vol. 8 2004: pp. 241-246