Q estimation using stretch compensated prestack gathers

Q factor extracted from seismic data is helpful to reservoir characterization and hydrocarbon detection. We often extract Q factor from VSP data, pre-stack seismic data and post-stacked seismic data. But there is not a method to consider the normal moveout (NMO) stretch in time migration gathers. In this paper, we propose a method to estimate Q factor from NMO stretch gathers, where the NMO stretch correct factor is taken into account. We deduce equations to estimate Q factor from one-layer and multi-layer time migration gathers with NMO stretch. We choose the peak frequency shift (PFS) method to estimate Q factor due to its briefness. To demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method, we apply it to noise free and noisy synthetic data experiments to estimate Q factor.