An approach to balance the amplitude of seismic data in the Ï -Ï domain is introduced in this study. The idea of amplitude balancing technique is based on the following observation: In the Ï -Ï domain, direct wave, ground-roll, primary reflection, multiple and refraction arrivals are located at different regions. These regions can be viewed as signal region and noise region. By increasing the amplitudes in the signal region and suppressing the amplitudes in the noise region, so called amplitude balancing in T-Ï domain, the signal-to-noise ratio of seismic data can be improved. The Ï -Ï domain amplitude balancing scheme is tested and calibrated on synthetic seismic data using AIMS®' package. The modeled data is also used to illustrate transformation (slant stacking) to and from Ï -Ï domain. The signal-to-noise ratio enhancement using amplitude balancing in Ï -Ï domain is illustrated. This general discussion also includes aliasing effect of slant stack and deconvolution in Ï -Ï domain.

After the calibration with syn1hetic data, the amplitude balancing in Ï -Ï domain is applied to real seismic data recorded on the Atlantic Coastal Plain near Richmond, Virginia and Aiken, South Carolina to explore the possibilities of enhancing the quality of seismic data. Processing of synthetic and real data is carried out on VAX 11/785 and Sun Sparc 10 workstation at the Regional Geophysics Laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University using DISCO@2 seismic data processing package.

The results suggest that Ï -Ï domain amplitude balancing can be combined into conventional seismic data processing sequence to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and thus give a better imaged seismic section. Extensive tests carried out indicate that choice of ray parameter range, the degree of amplitude change, are important aspects of the processing in Ï -Ï domain.

In this study, a complete data processing was carried out to generate a stack section of NRC line 2 in Virginia while the amplitude balancing in Ï -Ï domain was incorporated into a conventional processing scheme. The Ï -Ï domain processing of NRC line 2 improved the data quality. The signal-to-noise ratio enhancement obtained by the amplitude balancing in Ï -Ï domain led to test the method to improve weak reflections from within the Dunbarton Triassic basin on SRP line 2EXP in South Carolina. After the application of amplitude balancing in Ï -Ï domain, CMP gathers showed enhanced signal-to-noise ratio, although the improvement became almost indiscernible after stack.