Generalized Gaussian distribution-based pre-stack inversion: A case study of channel sands in the Lianggaoshan Formation, Sichuan Basin
Tight sandstone channel systems occur in the second member of the Lianggaoshan Formation in the Sichuan Basin. These channels predominantly exhibit single bright-spot reflections on seismic sections. Due to the limited resolution of post-stack data and the constraints of attribute dimensionality, drilling results reveal complex internal lithological assemblages and pronounced lateral heterogeneity within these channels. Traditional post-stack methods struggle to effectively characterize internal channel details, thereby hindering subsequent exploration planning and reserve evaluation. To address these challenges, this study develops a pre-stack seismic inversion workflow based on generalized Gaussian distribution (GGD) prior constraints, aiming to enhance the identification and prediction of complex channel sand bodies. First, pre-stack amplitude versus offset (AVO) response analysis was conducted using typical wells to determine the effective incident angle range. By integrating optimal angle stacked data and AVO attribute extraction, the accuracy of characterizing the lateral distribution of channels was improved. Subsequently, a low‑frequency facies‑controlled model was constructed by integrating AVO attributes with elastic parameters. GGD prior constraints were incorporated into the pre‑stack elastic parameter inversion, enabling detailed prediction of internal channel architecture. This technique yielded promising results in the Fuxing Block and was successfully validated in the Bazhong Block. It effectively enhanced the accuracy of identifying and predicting complex channels, providing technical support for the exploration, deployment, and resource evaluation of Jurassic tight sandstone channels in the Sichuan Basin.
- Wu XY, Liu TY. Analysis of seismic spectral attenuation based on Wigner-Ville distribution for sandstone reservoir characterization-a case study from West Sichuan Depression, China. J Seismic Explor. 2010;19(1):69-85.
- Zhang DW, Yang Y. Exploration potential and development direction of continental tight sandstone gas in the Sichuan basin. Natural Gas Industry. 2022;42(1):1-11. doi: 10.3787/j.issn.1000-0976.2022.01.001
- Liu H, Lei X, Mao C, Li S. Improving reservoir thickness prediction using seismic attributes and attributes fusion. Acta Geophysica. 2014;62(3):544-563. doi: 10.2478/s11600-013-0174-5
- Li QZ. Discussion on seismic exploration of lithologic reservoirs. Litholgic Reserv. 2008;20(2):45-54. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-8926.2008.02.001
- Li GF, Xiong JL, Zhou H, Zhai TL. Seismic reflection characteristics of fluvial sand and shale interbedded layers. Appl Geophys. 2008;5(3):219-229. doi: 10.1007/s11770-008-0025-3
- Bi J, Gu H, Liu S, Guan X. Analysis on seismic response characteristics of channel sands and its influence factors: Case study of Upper Guantao Formation in KD1 area. Geophys Prospect Petrol. 2013;52(1): 97-103. [Article in Chinese]. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-1441.2013.01.015
- Zhang X, Hu G, Fan T, Jing Y, Wang H, Yu B. Seismic response analysis and prediction for fluvial reservoir architecture. China Offshore Oil Gas. 2018;30(1):110-117. [Article in Chinese]. doi: 10.11935/j.issn.1673-1506.2018.01.013
- Li HH, Yue DL, Li W, Guo CC, Li X, Lyu M. Identification of point bar and abandoned channel of meandering river by spectral decomposition inversion based on machine learning. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2023;58(2):358-368. doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.2023.02.013
- Zhang JL, Cheng BJ, Xu TJ, Yong L. Identification of paleochannels by seismic attribute principal component analysis. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2023;58(1):190-195. doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.2023.01.020
- Xu H, Du X, Gao J, et al. Quantitative interpretation of sedimentary microfacies based on waveform clustering: A case study of X oilfield, Middle East. Geophys Prospect Petrol. 2018;57(5):744-755. [Article in Chinese] doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-1441.2018.05.014
- Lu M, Bai JH, Jiao YL, et al. A PCA and wavelet packet transform integrated method for high-precision identification of abandoned channels in large meandering river systems. J Geophys Eng. 2025;22(5):1392-1405. doi: 10.1093/jge/gxaf082
- Qian YL, Hu QX, Wang XH, Wang KP, Shi QD. Application of seismic waveform indicator inversion in thin sandstone prediction technology. J Chongqing Univ Sci Technol (Nat Sci Ed). 2017;19(6):17-20. doi: 10.19406/j.cnki.cqkjxyxbzkb.2017.06.005
- Gui PJ, Gao ZP, Cao SH, Wen LF. Application of AVO based on pre-stack seismic data in subtle channel identification of Dongsheng gas field. Petrol Geol Eng. 2022;36(6):1-7. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-8217.2022.06.001
- Liu XY, Li MH, Ye TR. Fine characterization of complicated channels in Western Sichuan and identification of sedimentary facies. Geophys Prospect Petrol. 2019;58(05):750-757. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-1441.2019.05.014
- Sun ZT, Yin XY, Ji YZ. Angle-dependent seismic attenuation-based gas-bearing detection of a sandstone river channel reservoir in the western Sichuan basin. J Geophys Eng. 2024;21(3):913-921. doi: 10.1093/jge/gxae042
- Sotelo V, Almanza O, Montes L. Post-stack seismic inversion through probabilistic neural networks and deep forward neural networks. Earth Sci Inform. 2024;17(3):1957-1966. doi: 10.1007/s12145-024-01251-4
- Yang T, Wang PQ, Li QC, Huo KY, Li W, He XK. A pre-stack nonlinear inversion method for joint PP-PS wave based on exact Zoeppritz equation. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2025;60(1):152-203. doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.20240015
- Wang J, Wu YN, Wang T, Jia WL, Bao YF, Liu LF. Multi-level sparse regularization inversion method for seismic frequency division: A case study from the second member of paleogene dongying formation in shijiutuo uplift, bozhong sag. Litholgic Res. 2025;37(4):38-49. doi: 10.12108/yxyqc.20250404
- Chen K, Dai JC, Wei W, et al. Lithofacies classification of tight sandstone based on bayesian facies-AVO attributes: A case study of the first member of jurassic shaximiao formation in central sichuan basin. Litholgic Res. 2024;36(5):111-121. doi: 10.12108/yxyqc.20240511
- Yang WY, Wei XJ, Li HS. The past, present and future of intelligent geophysical technology. Lithologic Res. 2024;36(2):170-188. doi: 10.12108/yxyqc.20240216
- Zhang SH, Liu YJ, Liu XH. Prediction technique of high-quality reservoir in tight reservoir of the sixth member of Xujiahe formation in Jiannan area. Lithologic Reserv. 2015;27(3):98-102. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-8926.2015.03.015
- Zhou ZQ. Simulation and prediction of tight sandstone reservoirs based on waveform facies-controlled inversion: A case study from the second member of Paleogene Kongdian Formation in Southern Cangdong sag. Lithologic Reserv. 2024;36(5):77-86. doi: 10.12108/yxyqc.20240508
- Niu LP, Hu HF, Zhou D, Zheng XD, Geng JH. Bayesian prestack seismic stochastic inversion based on the exact Zoeppritz equation. Geophys Geochem Explor. 2024;48(1):77-87. doi: 10.11720/wtyht.2024.2572
- Cao YM, Zhou H, Yu B, Zhang YG, Dai SL. Prestack seismic stochastic inversion method based on spatial co-simulation. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2024;59(2):268-278. doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.2024.02.009
- Wu S, Han B, Ji LX, Sun ZX. Pre-stack AVO inversion for estimating effective pressure in sandstone reservoirs. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2024;59(5):1165-1173. doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.2024.05.020
- Huang HD, Yuan S, Zhang Y, Zeng J, Mu W. Use of nonlinear chaos inversion in predicting deep thin lithologic hydrocarbon reservoirs: A case study from the Tazhong oil field of the Tarim Basin, China. Geophysics. 2016;81(6):B221-B234. doi: 10.1190/geo2015-0705.1
- Yin XY, Zhou QC, Zong AY, Liu HQ. AVO inversion with t-distribution as priori constraint. Geophys Prospect Petrol. 2014;53(1):84-92. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-1441.2014.01.012
- Zhang J, Gao J, Wang L, Dong B, Cai Z, Cheng R. Study on multicomponent amplitude versus offset forward modelling of thin layer gas hydrate using the Brekhovskikh equation. Geophys Prospect. 2023;72(4):1350-1361. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.13375
- Rutherford SR, Williams RH. Amplitude-versus-offset variations in gas sands. Geophysics. 1989;54(6):680. doi: 10.1190/1.1442696
- Chen X, Li S, Wei Z, Ning J, Yang X, Pre-stack seismic inversion based on one-dimensional GRU combined with two-dimensional improved ASPP. J Geophys Eng. 2024;21(6):1791-1809. doi: 10.1093/jge/gxae106
- Yang YM, Yin XY, Li K, Zhang F, Gao JH. Fast pre-stack multi-channel inversion constrained by seismic reflection features. Petrol Sci. 2023;20(4):2060-2074. doi: 10.1016/j.petsci.2023.02.009
- Zhang S, Huang HD, Dong YP, Yang X, Wang C, Luo YN. Direct estimation of the fluid properties and brittleness via elastic impedance inversion for predicting sweet spots and the fracturing area in the unconventional reservoir. J Nat Gas Sci Eng. 2017;45:415-427. doi: 10.1016/j.jngse.2017.04.028
- Wu S, Wang Y, Li Q, He Z, Geng J. Joint data-driven and physics-driven prestack amplitude-variation-with-angle elastic parameter inversion. Geophysics. 2024;89(1):R17-R32. doi: 10.1190/geo2023-0135.1
- Zuo Y, Zong Z, Li K, Luo K. Bayesian AVOAz inversion of fluid and anisotropy parameters using Gibbs sampling with AISM algorithm. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens. 2024;62:1-15. doi: 10.1109/tgrs.2024.3484435
- Wang C, Yin X, Shi XW, Pan SL, Gou QY. Direct prediction method of fracturing ability in shale formations based on pre-stack seismic inversion. J Seism Explor. 2022;31(5):407-424.
- Gao B, Ma F. Symmetric alternating direction method with indefinite proximal regularization for linearly constrained convex optimization. J Optimiz Theor Applic. 2017;176(1):178-204. doi: 10.1007/s10957-017-1207-z
- Zhang X, Li YW, Guan X, Long JY, Xiong Y. Research and application of pre-stack fast inversion technology based on lithology data reconstruction. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2024;59(5):1141-1154. doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.2024.05.018
- She YW, Zhang MB, Wang YG, Zhang Y, Li F. Application of phase-controlled pre-stack inversion technique based on rock physics analysis in bauxite reservoir prediction: A case study of the Qingcheng district in the Ordos Basin. Nat Gas Geosci. 2024;35(8):1432-1440. doi: 10.11764/j.issn.1672-1926.2024.05.001
- Zhang S, Chang S, Huang H, et al. Prediction of favorable carbonate reservoirs under extremely thick salts via poststack facies‐controlled and prestack zoeppritz equation inversions in the Santos basin of Brazil. Geofluids. 2020;2020(1):6205185. doi: 10.1155/2020/6205185
- Zhang S, Huang H, Zhu B, Li H, Zhang L. Seismic facies-controlled prestack simultaneous inversion of elastic and petrophysical parameters for favourable reservoir prediction. Explor Geophys. 2018;49(5):655-668. doi: 10.1071/EG17048
- Jia W, Zong Z, Lan T. Elastic impedance inversion incorporating fusion initial model and kernel Fisher discriminant analysis approach. J Petrol Sci Eng. 2023;220:111235. doi: 10.1016/j.petrol.2022.111235
- Lyu Q, Lin Z, She Y, Zhang C. A comparison of typical ℓp minimization algorithms. Neurocomputing. 2013;119:413-424. doi: 10.1016/j.neucom.2013.03.017
