Patent ID: 7373251

Claim:
A method for determining a value of a designated rock or fluid property in a subterranean geologic volume, the method comprising: assigning a first predicted value of a rock or fluid property to a cell within a multi-dimensional layered model that is correlated to a subterranean geologic volume; calculating first predicted values of seismic response for said cell from a response model using said first predicted value of said rock or fluid property and based upon compressional velocity, shear velocity and bulk density, wherein said response model is responsive to changes in predicted values of said rock or fluid property; comparing synthetic traces that are generated from said first predicted values of seismic response to the corresponding traces obtained from sets of actual seismic data corresponding to the subterranean geologic volume to ascertain a difference between said synthetic traces and said corresponding traces, said step of comparing involving maintaining consistency between the types, scales and dimensions of said first predicted value of a designated rock or fluid property and said sets of actual seismic data; adjusting said first predicted value of said designated rock or fluid property in response to said difference to create a second predicted value of said designated rock or fluid property, wherein said second predicted value generally reduces said difference; and storing said second predicted value for later use.