In hydrocarbon exploration this is used to provide a 'tie' between changes in rock properties in a borehole and seismic reflection data at the same location.
In the processing of wide-angle reflection and refraction (WARR) data, synthetic seismograms are used to further constrain the results of seismic tomography.
In order that the geology encountered in a borehole can be tied to the seismic data, a 1D synthetic seismogram is generated.
[4] This acoustic impedance log is combined with the velocity data to generate a reflection coefficient series in time.
This can be used to look at such things as the resolution of thin beds or the different responses of various fluids, e.g. oil, gas or brine in a potential reservoir sand.
[18][19] Wide Aperture Reflection and Refraction (WARR) models' initial processing is normally carried out using a tomographic approach in which the time of observed first arrivals is matched by varying the velocity structure of the subsurface.
[1] In areas that have a well understood velocity structure it is possible to use synthetic seismograms to test out the estimated source parameters of an earthquake.
Parameters such as the fault plane, slip vector and rupture velocity can be varied to produce synthetic seismic responses at individual seismometers for comparison with the observed seismograms.