Patent ID: 7376517

Claim:
A method for determining interval Values of seismic quality factor Q, the method comprising the steps of: (a) recording a vertical seismic profile (VSP) data for a subterranean region including at least three. traces at different receiver depths; (b) performing Preprocessing on the VSP data; (c) windowing the preprocessed VSP data to isolate wave mode of interest at different receiver depths; (d) estimating at least three temporal amplitude spectra from the windowed at least three traces; (e) taking logarithms of the at least three amplitude spectra to produce at least three log-amplitude spectra; (f) deriving weights from the at least three amplitude spectra; (g) determining interval values of seismic quality factor Q by performing a weighted fit to the at least three log-amplitude spectra with a function that is parameterized by an initial wavelet, an attenuation (1/Q) profile, and an absolute-scaling profile; and (h) utilizing the interval values of seismic quality factor Q to determine characteristics of the subterranean region.