GEOL 706 - Geophysical Series, Filtering, and Introduction to Imaging

Course Outline	Instructor: J. Louie, 217 LME, x4219 louie@seismo.unr.edu	Spring, 2008
Learning Objectives: This course gives the fundamentals of time-series analysis for physical scientists, and then goes on with acoustic imaging examples to give the student practical experience in implementing these fundamentals. This is the first course of two at the graduate level in seismic imaging at the University of Nevada. Further objectives from Claerbout (1985):
``As it happens, waves are marvelously geometrical objects, and much can be learned with little mathematical analysis. But you should begin the book having previous familiarity with calculus, complex exponentials, and Fourier transformation.
``Your knowledge won't be complete if you don't know some opinions as well as the facts. You will be getting opinions as well as facts when I explain the discrepancies between theory and industrial practice, and when I explain what should work but doesn't seem to.
``Prospecting for oil begins with seismic soundings. The echoes are processed by computer into images that reveal much geological history. Worldwide, echo sounding and image making constitute about a four-billion-dollar-per-year activity.
``... the skills developed in this book, computer implementations of concepts from physics, will always be of general utility.''

Grading: Labs and Discussions 70%; Midterm 15%; Final Exam 15%
I encourage any student needing to request accommodations for a specific disability to please meet with me at your earliest convenience to ensure timely and appropriate accommodations.

Part I: Geophysical Time Series Analysis

Introduction and Review
    Time Series
        Domains, Models
        Sampling, Z Transform
        Fourier Sums, Spectra
        Correlations
    Discrete Fourier Transform
        Nyquist, Comb Function
        Slow FT, Symmetries
        Fast FT, Doubling
   Lab 1 Z-transforms and spectra


Quasi-Analytic Analyses
    The Z Plane
        Integration, Smoothing
        Causality, Oscillation
        Rational Filters, Instability
        Minimum Phase, Classification
    Lab 2 Spectra and the Z-plane
    Filter Design
        Hilbert Transform, Analytic Signal
        Instantaneous Attributes
        Spectral Factorization, Causality
        Butterworth Filters
        Phase and Group Delay
    Lab 3 Minimum phase
    Resolution and Variance
        Uncertainty Principles
        Expectation, Tradeoffs
        Crosscorrelation, Coherence
        Central Limit Theorem
    Lab 4 Resolution and noise

Part II: Introduction to Seismic Imaging

Texts:

  1. Jon Claerbout, 1992, Earth Soundings Analysis: Processing versus Inversion (PVI), Blackwell, ISBN #0-86542-210-9, out of print. Available from the instructor and in the DeLaMare Library. Read the text on-line at Stanford (or in DVI format for your LaTeX reader here, if you are logged into the Seismology Sun system). Here is a 4 Mb PDF version built by the author in 2006.

  2. Jon Claerbout, 1985, Imaging the Earth's Interior (IEI), Blackwell, ISBN #0-86542-304-0, out of print. Available from the instructor and in the DeLaMare Library. Read it on-line at Stanford; or download your own copy in PDF format, in parts through pages: 50; 100; 150; 200; 250; 300; 350; 400 (up to 1.7 Mb each).

  3. Jon Claerbout, 1999, Geophysical Estimation By Example (GEE), Free. Available only on-line from Stanford; some sections in in a directory of PDF files on the Seismo server.

The lecture notes will be available prior to each lecture for you to copy.

The Labs will include both take-home problem sets and exercises with the an electronic version of the text and its related applications. You will receive a class account for the Seismology Sun system for lab and project use; but exercises can be completed at home if you can obtain C and Java compilers. All students are encouraged to work together on the lab exercises, but each student must turn in his or her own work. The course will give 9 lab assignments of one or two weeks duration each, during the semester.

All of the codes used in the textbook are accessible on-line from the Stanford Exploration Project. We also have local copies of: codes from PVI; codes from GEE; and HTML documentation on SEPlib.

Here is a list of and access to the 9 Lab assignments:

Lab 1 Z-transforms and spectra
Lab 2 Spectra and the Z-plane
Lab 3 Minimum phase
Lab 4 Resolution and noise
Lab 5 Java applications
Lab 6 2-d FFTs and migration
Lab 7 Finite differencing
Lab 8 Monochrome wave extrapolation
Lab 9 Time-domain downward continuation

The Midterm will take place in October, and will cover preceding lecture and lab materials. It will occupy one of the regular lecture periods, and be one hour in length. The Midterm is open book and open note.

The Final Exam will take place during the final exam period, and will cover lecture and lab materials since the midterm. It will be two hours in length. The Final is open book and open note.

No project is required for 706; Geol 757 Advanced Seismic Imaging and Tomography will require two term projects.

Important Dates


Friday		February 15	Lab 1 DUE (2 weeks effort)

Friday		February 29	Lab 2 DUE (2 weeks effort)

Friday		March 14	Lab 3 DUE (2 weeks effort)
Friday		March 21	Lab 4 DUE (1 week effort)
Tuesday		April 1		Complete Lab 5 (not graded)
Tuesday		April 1		MIDTERM - in class

Tuesday		April 15	Lab 6 DUE (2 weeks effort)
Tuesday		April 22	Lab 7 DUE (1 week effort)

Tuesday		May 6		Lab 8 DUE (2 weeks effort)
Tuesday		May 13		Lab 9 DUE (1 week effort), last lecture

Tuesday		May 13		FINAL EXAM (complete at your desks)

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