Multigeophysics Joint Inversion for Complex Land Seismic Imaging in Saudi Arabia

A high-resolution EM and gravity dataset coincident with two existing seismic lines was acquired in a region of Saudi Arabia characterized by a wadi structure with complex near surface conditions. Previous attempts in solving the imaging problem through the wadi had limited success despite the use of specialized seismic acquisition and processing techniques. The high-quality multigeophysics dataset was jointly inverted with seismic first break travel-times to obtain an enhanced velocity model for the near surface. Reprocessing of the seismic data indicates that the integrated near surface velocity model provides a general improvement of the seismic sections when compared to processing based on first break tomography models. Results suggest that multigeophysics integration can represent the solution to velocity model building for several challenging near surface conditions typical of Saudi Arabia.