f The Use of Attenuation as a Possibility to Get Additional Information from Seismic Data

The attenuation may be defined as the frequency dependent damping of the energy of seismic waves caused by the nonideal elastic behaviour of the transmission medium. The main reasons are the conversion of mechanical energy into heat and the movement of pore fluids. The attenuation is superimposed by different disturbing factors, e.g. the sequence of reflection coefficients. lt is expressed by the aftenuation coefficient k or the quality factor Q. Within several research projects of the German Scientific Society for Oil, Gas and Coal (DGMK), like ASW I, ASW II and recently LITASEIS, problems of determination and utilization of attenuation as an important substantial parameter were treated.