Reflectivity randomness revisited

In seismic exploration, statistical wavelet estimation and deconvolution are standard tools. Both of these processes assume randomness in the seismic reflectivity sequence. The validity of this assumption is examined by using well-log synthetic seismograms and by using a procedure for evaluating the resulting deconvolutions. With real data, we compare our wavelet estimations with the in-situ recording of the wavelet from a vertical seismic profile (VSP). As a result of our examination of the randomness assumption, we present a fairly simple test that can be used to evaluate the validity of a randomness assumption. From our test of seismic data in Alberta, we conclude that the assumption of reflectivity randomness is less of a problem in deconvolution than other assumptions such as phase and stationarity.