Why is colored seismic inversion called 'colored'?
Colored inversion is designed to approximately match the average spectrum of inverted seismic data with the average spectrum observed impedance (Lancaster and Whitcombe, 2000). The earth’s reflectivity can be considered fractal, and the resulting amplitude spectrum favors high frequencies (spectral blueing). If there was no preferred frequency, then you would have a "white spectrum", but as there are some frequencies with more energy, then it is called "colored".



Figure 4 from Lancaster and Whitcombe: Acoustic impedance from 4 sites in the North Sea