Optimization of correlation and stacking techniques for retrieving reflected waves out of seismic ambient noise data: Case study of Dehdasht, Iran

• Published in: Journal of applied geophysics Vol. 241; p. 105824
• Main Authors: Hosseini, Fatemeh Alsadat Tayeb, Shomali, Zaher-Hossein, Jamali, Javad, Hatami, Mohammad Reza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2025
• Subjects: Body-wave reflection; Correlation tools; Instantaneous phase; Seismic ambient noise; Stacking techniques; Instantaneous phase; Seismic ambient noise; Body-wave reflection; Stacking techniques; Correlation tools
• ISSN: 0926-9851
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2025.105824

This study aims to identify the most appropriate correlation and stacking techniques for high-resolution retrieval of body-wave reflections from seismic ambient noise fields. To this end, four correlation and two stacking techniques, including classical cross-correlation, geometrically normalized cross-correlation, cross-coherency, phase cross-correlation, linear stacking, and time-frequency phase-weighted stacking, were applied to synthetic dataset, and the results were compared. Furthermore, different combinations of the four correlation and the two stacking methods were developed and applied to passive-seismic data acquired in Dehdasht, southwest Iran. Low-frequency array filtering was successfully employed to attenuate coherent linear events and hence improve the retrieval of target reflection hyperbolas. Regarding the retrieval of seismic reflections from Dehdasht data, optimal outputs were obtained using a combination of the classical cross-correlation with linear stacking. Two other combinations also demonstrated promising results: phase cross correlation combined with time-frequency phase weighted stacking and classical cross-correlation combined with time-frequency phase weighted stacking. Adaptive covariance filtering was codified and applied to correlograms corresponding to the passive seismic data acquired over 5 days, indicating its effectiveness in extracting linear events rather than reconstructing reflection hyperbolas. •Integration of interferometry and seismic processing can image subsurface structures in Dehdasht, southwest Iran.•Correlation and stacking techniques are useful tools for retrieval of body-wave reflections from seismic ambient noise.•High resolution body-wave reflections can be extracted by time-frequency Phase Weighted Stacking.