Abstract: Based on the good time-frequency focusing of S-transform, this paper introduces the generalized S-transform (GST) into extraction of characteristic information of seismic signals, which can flexibly chose the window function, and systematically studies the application of GST to partial depiction and general description of seismic signals. The theoretic model and actual seismic data prove that GST is a feasible and effective method in extracting the characteristic information for its anti-interference ability. According to research goal, we can reasonably select instantaneous frequency amplitude-spectrum profile, frequency ranges seismic profile and single frequency seismic profile to identify the characteristic information, hence providing the reliable basis for the further processing and interpretation of seismic data.

Key words: S-transform, generalized S-transform, time-frequency analysis, characteristic information extraction, spectral decomposition