AccScience Publishing / JSE / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JSE026270124
Cite this article
17
Download
435
Views
Related Info Links
More by Authors Links
Journal Browser
Volume | Year
Issue
Search
News and Announcements
View All
ARTICLE

Bayesian seismic inversion with improved parallel tempering-based Markov chain Monte Carlo

Jingkun Sui1 Yishan Zhou2 Tengfei Lin1 Sheng Chen1 Qingcai Zeng1 Tongsheng Zeng1 Xinpeng Pan3* Xiaodong Zheng1
Show Less
1 Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina, Beijing , China
2 School of Geosciences and Info-Physics, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan , China
3 State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing , China
Received: 1 July 2026 | Revised: 17 August 2026 | Accepted: 17 August 2026 | Published online: 2 September 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Bayesian amplitude variation with angle (AVA) inversion provides a probabilistic way to estimate elastic parameters and quantify uncertainty, but conventional Metropolis–Hastings Markov chain Monte Carlo may mix slowly in multimodal posterior distributions. This study develops a nonlinear AVA inversion workflow combining an improved parallel tempering Markov chain Monte Carlo scheme with the exact Zoeppritz equations. Multiple temperature chains explore the posterior distribution, and probabilistic state exchanges improve communication among chains. The exact Zoeppritz equations serve as the forward operator, reducing errors from linearized approximations, especially at relatively large incidence angles or strong elastic contrasts. Synthetic tests, including noisy angle gathers and a Marmousi model, show that the proposed workflow recovers P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density with higher correlation coefficients than conventional inversion. A field application to a sandstone–mudstone reservoir in the Tarim Basin, northwestern China, further demonstrates improved lateral continuity, with correlation coefficients between the inverted and well-log P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density increasing from 0.79, 0.76, and 0.74 for conventional inversion to 0.88, 0.84, and 0.81, respectively. These results suggest that the proposed method provides a useful probabilistic framework for nonlinear elastic-parameter inversion, although its computational cost remains higher than that of deterministic inversion methods.

Keywords
Bayesian inversion
Markov chain Monte Carlo
Parallel tempering
Exact Zoeppritz equation
Reservoir characterization
Funding
We would like to express our gratitude to the sponsorship of the program of China National Petroleum Corporation (2023ZZ05-05 and 2023ZZ14YJ05), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42474172), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2025JJ20036), and the Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing (2462026YJRC003).
Conflict of interest
Xinpeng Pan serves as a member of the Early-Career Editorial Board of this journal, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
References
  1. Parker RL. Geophysical Inverse Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 1994.
  2. Sen MK, Stoffa PL. Global Optimization Methods in Geophysical Inversion. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press; 2013.
  3. Tarantola A. Inverse Problem Theory and Methods for Model Parameter Estimation. Published online. 2005. doi: 10.1137/1.9780898717921
  4. Aster R, Borchers B, Thurber CH. Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems. 2nd ed. London, United Kingdom: Elsevier Academic Press; 2012.
  5. Sambridge M. A parallel tempering algorithm for probabilistic sampling and multimodal optimization. Geophys J Int. 2014;196(1):357-374. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggt342
  6. Saraswat P, Sen MK. Prestack inversion of angle gathers using a hybrid evolutionary algorithm. J Seism Explor. 2012;21(1):177-200.
  7. Mosegaard K, Tarantola A. Monte Carlo sampling of solutions to inverse problems. J Geophys Res Solid Earth. 1995;100(B7):12431-12447. doi: 10.1029/94JB03097
  8. Sambridge M, Mosegaard K. Monte Carlo methods in geophysical inverse problems. Rev Geophys. 2002;40(3). doi: 10.1029/2000RG000089
  9. Zhang GZ, Wang DY, Yin XY, Li N. Jiyu MCMC de Dieqian Dizhen Fanyan Fangfa Yanjiu [Study on prestack seismic inversion using Markov chain Monte Carlo]. Chin J Geophys. 2011;54(11):2926-2932. [In Chinese] doi: 10.3969/j.issn.0001-5733.2011.11.022
  10. Pan XP, Zhang GZ, Zhang JJ, Yin XY. Zoeppritz-based AVO inversion using an improved Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Pet Sci. 2017;14(1):75-83. doi: 10.1007/s12182-016-0131-4
  11. Geyer CJ. Markov chain Monte Carlo maximum likelihood. Comput Sci Stat. 1991;23:156-163.
  12. Falcioni M, Deem MW. A biased Monte Carlo scheme for zeolite structure solution. J Chem Phys. 1999;110(3):1754-1766. doi: 10.1063/1.477812
  13. Dosso SE, Holland CW, Sambridge M. Parallel tempering for strongly nonlinear geoacoustic inversion. J Acoust Soc Am. 2012;132(5):3030-3040. doi: 10.1121/1.4757639
  14. Hansen TM, Cordua KS, Looms MC, Mosegaard K. SIPPI: a Matlab toolbox for sampling the solution to inverse problems with complex prior information: Part 1—Methodology. Comput Geosci. 2013;52:470-480. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2012.09.004
  15. Hansen TM, Cordua KS, Looms MC, Mosegaard K. SIPPI: a Matlab toolbox for sampling the solution to inverse problems with complex prior information: Part 2—Application to crosshole GPR tomography. Comput Geosci. 2013;52:481-492. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2012.10.001
  16. Yin B, Hu XY. Fei xianxing fanyan de Beiyesi fangfa yanjiu zongshu [Overview of nonlinear inversion using Bayesian method]. Prog Geophys. 2016;31(3):1027-1032. [In Chinese] doi: 10.6038/pg20160313
  17. Smith GC, Gidlow PM. Weighted stacking for rock property estimation and detection of gas. Geophys Prospect. 1987;35(9):993-1014. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2478.1987.tb00856.x
  18. Fatti JL, Smith GC, Vail PJ, Strauss PJ, Levitt PR. Detection of gas in sandstone reservoirs using AVO analysis: a 3-D seismic case history using the Geostack technique. Geophysics. 1994;59(9):1362-1376. doi: 10.1190/1.1443695
  19. Goodway WN, Chen T, Downton J. Improved AVO fluid detection and lithology discrimination using Lamé petrophysical parameters: lambda-rho, mu-rho, and lambda/mu fluid stack, from P and S inversions. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 1997. November 2-7, 1997; Dallas, TX. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 1997:183-186. doi:10.1190/1.1885795
  20. Gray D, Goodway B, Chen T. Bridging the gap: using AVO to detect changes in fundamental elastic constants. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 1999. January 1, 1999. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 1999:852-855. doi:10.1190/1.1821163
  21. Aki K, Richards PG. Quantitative Seismology. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W H Freeman and Co; 2002.
  22. Zong ZY, Yin XY, Wu GC. Multi-parameter nonlinear inversion with exact reflection coefficient equation. J Appl Geophys. 2013;98:21-32. doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2013.07.012
  23. Zhang FQ, Wei FJ, Wang YC, Wang WJ, Li Y. Jiyu Jingque Zoeppritz Fangcheng San Bianliang Ke Xi Fenbu Xianyan Yue Shu de Guangyi Xianxing AVO Fanyan [Generalized linear AVO inversion with the a priori constraint of trivariate Cauchy distribution based on Zoeppritz equation]. Chin J Geophys. 2013;56(6):2098-2115. [In Chinese] doi: 10.6038/cjg20130630
  24. Huang HD, Wang YC, Guo F, Zhang S, Ji YZ, Liu CH. Zoeppritz equation-based prestack inversion and its application in fluid identification. Appl Geophys. 2015;12(2):199-211. doi:10.1007/s11770-015-0483-3
  25. Lavaud B, Kabir N, Chavent G. Pushing AVO inversion beyond linearized approximation. J Seism Explor. 1999;8(3):279-302.
  26. Bao Y, Chen J, Liu X, Zhao Z, Wang M, Liu F. Joint PP and PS anisotropic AVO inversion using exact Zoeppritz equations. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2019. September 15-20, 2019; San Antonio, TX. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 2019:659-663. doi: 10.1190/segam2019-3215825.1
  27. Zhou L, Li JY, Chen XH. Jiyu Jingque Zoeppritz Fangcheng de Feixianxing AVO San Canshu Fanyan [Nonlinear three-term AVO inversion based on exact Zoeppritz equation]. Chin J Geophys. 2016;59(7):2663-2673. [In Chinese] doi: 10.6038/cjg20160729
  28. Zhi L, Chen S, Li XY. Amplitude variation with angle inversion using the exact Zoeppritz equations: theory and methodology. Geophysics. 2016;81(1):N1-N15. doi: 10.1190/geo2014-0582.1
  29. Liu HX, Li JY, Chen XH, Hou B, Chen L. Amplitude variation with offset inversion using the reflectivity method. Geophysics. 2016;81(5):R185-R195. doi: 10.1190/geo2015-0332.1
  30. Zhou L, Li JY, Chen XH, Liu XY, Chen L. Prestack amplitude versus angle inversion for Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio based on the exact Zoeppritz equations. Geophys Prospect. 2017;65(6):1462-1476. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.12493
  31. Zhou L, Li JY, Chen XH. Prestack AVA inversion of exact Zoeppritz equations based on modified trivariate Cauchy distribution. J Appl Geophys. 2017;138:80-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2017.01.009
  32. Zhang GZ, Pan XP, Sun CL, Yin XY. Zonghengbo Lianhe Dieqian Zishiying MCMC Fanyan Fangfa [PP- and PS-wave prestack nonlinear inversion based on adaptive MCMC algorithm]. Oil Geophys Prospect. 2016;51(5):938-946. [In Chinese] doi: 10.13810/j.cnki.issn.1000-7210.2016.05.014
  33. Zeng Y, Zong Z, Pan X, Li K. Research on prestack wide-azimuth inversion methods for anisotropic media with two orthogonal sets of vertical fractures. In: Proceedings of the 85th EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition. June 10-13, 2024; Oslo, Norway. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers; 2024:1-5. doi: 10.3997/2214-4609.202410754
  34. Pan XP, Xu H, Sun Z, et al. Amplitude variation with angle of incidence and azimuth inversion for pore pressure and horizontal stresses in shale gas reservoirs. IEEE Geosci Remote Sens Lett. 2025;22:1-5. doi: 10.1109/LGRS.2025.3584930
  35. Wang Z, Ma L, Liu Z, Zhou J, Pan X. Acoustoelastic PP-wave Amplitude Variation with Offset and Azimuth Inversion for Stress-Induced Orthorhombic Anisotropy. In: Proceedings of the 86th EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition. June 2-5, 2025; Toulouse, France. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers; 2025:1-5. doi: 10.3997/2214-4609.202510828
  36. Sui J, Xu H, Chen S, Zheng X, Pan X. Fourier coefficients-based stepwise Bayesian inversion for elastic and fracture parameters using azimuthal seismic data. Front Earth Sci. 2025;13:1596402. doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1596402
  37. Li P, Grana D, Liu M. Bayesian neural network and Bayesian physics-informed neural network via variational inference for seismic petrophysical inversion. Geophysics. 2024;89(6):M185-M196. doi: 10.1190/geo2023-0737.1
  38. Kjønsberg H, Hauge R, Nilsen CIC, Ndingwan AO, Kolbjørnsen O. Bayesian seismic 4D inversion for lithology and fluid prediction. Geophysics. 2024;89(6):R551-R567. doi: 10.1190/geo2024-0092.1
  39. Fernandes FJD, Teixeira L, Freire AFM, Lupinacci WM. Stochastic seismic inversion and Bayesian facies classification applied to porosity modeling and igneous-rock identification. Pet Sci. 2024;21(2):918-935. doi: 10.1016/j.petsci.2023.11.020
  40. Ba J, Chen J, Guo Q, Cheng W. Bayesian linearized inversion for petrophysical and pore-connectivity parameters with seismic elastic data of carbonate reservoirs. J Geophys Eng. 2024;21(5):1555-1573. doi: 10.1093/jge/gxae076
  41. Arabpour A, Hamidzadeh Moghadam R, Niri ME. Bayesian seismic inversion by residual flow. Geophysics. 2025;90(5):R345-R362. doi: 10.1190/geo2023-0669.1
  42. Romero J, Heidrich W, Luiken N, Ravasi M. Bayesian seismic inversion with implicit neural representations. Geophys J Int. 2025;242(3). doi: 10.1093/gji/ggaf249
  43. Yin Z, Orozco R, Herrmann FJ. WISER: multimodal variational inference for full-waveform inversion without dimensionality reduction. Geophysics. 2025;90(2):A1-A7. doi: 10.1190/geo2024-0483.1
  44. Liu M, Grana D, Mosegaard K, Sen MK, Xu M, Mukerji T. Bayesian inference for subsurface geophysical inverse problems. Rev Geophys. 2026;64(1):e2025RG000884. doi: 10.1029/2025RG000884
  45. Guo Q, Ba J, Luo C. Nonlinear petrophysical amplitude variation with offset inversion with spatially variable pore aspect ratio. Geophysics. 2022;87(4):M111-M125. doi: 10.1190/geo2021-0583.1
  46. Luo C, Ba J, Guo Q. Probabilistic seismic petrophysical inversion with statistical double-porosity Biot-Rayleigh model. Geophysics. 2023;88(3):M157-M171. doi: 10.1190/geo2022-0288.1
  47. Guo Q, Ba J, Luo C. Seismic rock-physics linearized inversion for reservoir-property and pore-type parameters with application to carbonate reservoirs. Geoenergy Sci Eng. 2023;224:211640. doi: 10.1016/j.geoen.2023.211640
  48. Xie L, Huang L, Wang W, Lin L, Pan X. Fourier-coefficients-based multiscale seismic inversion for elastic and fracture parameters in frequency domain. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens. 2024;62:1-7. doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2024.3361654
  49. Vázquez-Ramírez D, Díaz-Viera MA, Valle-García R. Joint geostatistical seismic inversion of elastic and petrophysical properties using stochastic cosimulation models based on parametric copulas. Pet Sci. 2026;23(2):608-625. doi: 10.1016/j.petsci.2025.10.029
  50. Grana D, de Figueiredo L, Mosegaard K. Markov chain Monte Carlo for petrophysical inversion. Geophysics. 2022;87(1):M13-M24. doi: 10.1190/geo2021-0177.1
  51. Atchadé YF, Roberts GO, Rosenthal JS. Towards optimal scaling of Metropolis-coupled Markov chain Monte Carlo. Stat Comput. 2011;21(4):555-568. doi: 10.1007/s11222-010-9192-1
  52. Gholami A, Aghamiry HS, Abbasi M. Constrained nonlinear amplitude variation with offset inversion using Zoeppritz equations. Geophysics. 2018;83(3):R245-R255. doi: 10.1190/geo2017-0543.1
  53. Schoenberg M, Protazio J. “Zoeppritz” rationalized, and generalized to anisotropic media. J Acoust Soc Am. 1990;88(S1):S46-S46. doi: 10.1121/1.2029011
  54. Pan XP, Zhang GZ, Chen H, Yin X. Elastic impedance parameterization and inversion in a vertical, rotationally invariant fractured HTI medium. J Seism Explor. 2018;27(3):227-254.
  55. Pan XP, Zhang GZ, Liu J, Ren Z. Estimating fluid term and anisotropic parameters in saturated transversely isotropic media with aligned fractures. J Seism Explor. 2021;30(1):65-84.
Share
Back to top
Journal of Seismic Exploration, Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing