A new automatic first break picking method based on the STA/LTA fractal dimension algorithm
Esmaeili, S., 2022. A new automatic first break picking method based on the STA/LTA fractal dimension algorithm. Journal of Seismic Exploration, 31: 253-265. This paper describes a new approach to seismic first break picking based on comparing short-time averages (STA) with long-time averages (LTA) of transformed amplitudes and consideration the fractal dimension variations along the seismic traces. Reliable and accurate detection of first breaks is a key step for the determination of seismic parameters. The results of tests show that this method is quite reliable and is less susceptible to false-positive detection errors. Also by this approach, the result is an improvement in total picks, accuracy, and consistency. A small range of thresholds can be used for a wide range of seismic signals with different noise levels. This suggests adaptive STA/LTA fractal dimension may be less sensitive to analyst parameter choices than other methods. The proposed algorithm was verified using seismic traces and synthesized seismic traces with different noise levels. Also, the STA/LTA and STA/LTA fractal dimension algorithms are performed on a shot gather acquired in a seismic project in the west of Iran. The results emphasize that the proposed approach is quite practical and reliable for noisy and bad seismic traces. Also, this algorithm is computationally efficient and easy to apply.
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