A Framework for Approximation of Elastic Time-lapse Difference AVO Signatures and Validation on Physical Modeling Data

Perturbation theory has been applied widely in exploration and monitoring seismology, more recently for time-lapse problems. In this paper we present a framework for linear and nonlinear modeling of elastic time-lapse difference AVO data. The linear terms are consistent with others in the literature, and higher order terms represent corrections appropriate for large contrasts. We report on the acquisition of physical modelling data from an experiment simulating a time lapse problem, and use it to validate our theoretical results. Results indicate that the higher order approximations can match laboratory data with significantly reduced error in comparison to linearized forms.