A parametric level-set approach for seismic full-waveform inversion

In seismic exploration, the delineation of large bodies with hard exterior contrasts but nearly constant interior properties is a challenge. Examples include salt diapirs, salt slabs, anhydrite or basalt layers. Salt geometries are of particular interest because they often have hydrocarbon reservoirs on their sides or underneath. This papers introduces a parametric level-set method for the reconstruction of such geometries in seismic full-waveform inversion (FWI). The level-set determines the outline of the salt geometry and evolves during the inversion in terms of its underlying parameters. For the latter, we employ Gaussian radial basis functions that can represent a large class of shapes with a small number of parameters. This keeps the dimensionality of the inverse problem small, which makes it easier to solve. First tests on a simple 2-D square box model show dramatic improvements over classic FWI.