Iterative approach to imaging beneath volcanics: a case study in Brazil's Santos Basin

Summary Brazil’s Santos and Campos basins remain areas of interest after a series of impressive pre-salt discoveries. However, the regions’ complex geology and deep pre-salt targets can create difficulties in seismic imaging. One of the largest challenges faced is imaging beneath igneous intrusives found primarily in the post-salt section. We introduce an iterative approach to updating the velocities beneath these volcanic intrusions and other shallow, post-salt structural anomalies that limit the imaging beneath the salt. We focus on the challenges of identifying the post-salt structural anomalies, and then discuss a workflow for updating the velocity model that assists us in further improving the images of pre-salt targets.