Maximum Kurtosis Phase Correction

Seismic reflectivity sequences have amplitude distributions that are leptokurtic, that is, they are more heavy-tailed than a Gaussian distribution. This property forms the basis of a method of phase adjustment for seismic reflection data, called maximum kurtosis phase correction (MKPC), that maximizes the ‘stand-out ’ of events on seismic sections. The method is normally applied after standard deconvolution and stacking and, unlike methods of minimum entropy deconvolution (MED) which attempt to employ the same property of seismic reflectivities, it is a thoroughly predictable and testable process. The requirements for estimating stable phase corrections can be stated explicitly and, moreover, these show exactly why MED has never been a practical success. The method simply determines, in an efficient way, the frequency-independent phase shift that maximizes the kurtosis of the seismic data. In so doing it realizes the true potential advantage of MED-type methods, the ability to tune the phase, without attempting to control signal whitening and noise amplification, where MED methods offer no advantage over the near-optimum balance already achievable from the usual well-tried deconvolution tests. A constant phase shift is sufficient correction for most post-stack processing and, although stable