Body-wave passive seismic interferometry revisited: mining exploration using the body waves of local microearthquakes

As the global need for mineral resources is constantly rising and the exploitable concentrations of these resources tend to become increasingly complex to explore and exploit, the mining industry is in a constant quest for innovative and cost-effective exploration solutions. In this context, and in the framework of the Smart Exploration action, an integrated passive seismic survey was launched in the Gerolekas bauxite mining site in Central Greece. A passive seismic network, consisting of 129 three-component short-period stations was installed and operated continuously for 4 months. The acquired data permitted detection of approximately 1000 microearthquakes of very small magnitude (duration magnitude ranging between –1.5 and 2.0), located within or at a very close distance from the study area. We use this microseismicity as input for the application of passive seismic interferometry for reflection retrieval, using the body waves (P- and S-wave coda) of the located microearthquakes. We retrieve by autocorrelation zero-offset virtual reflection responses, per component, below each of the recording stations. We process the acquired results using reflection processing techniques to obtain zero-offset time and depth sections, both for P- and for S-waves. In the context of the present work, we evaluate one of the acquired depth sections, using an existing seismic line passing through the Gerolekas passive seismic network, and we perform forward modelling to assess the quality and value of the acquired results. We confirm that passive seismic reflected-wave interferometry could constitute a cost-effective and environmentally friendly innovative exploration alternative, especially in cases of difficult exploration settings.     

Direct migration of ambient seismic data

Utilising ambient seismic energy naturally propagating in the Earth as an alternative approach to active body-wave seismic investigations has been a topic of interest for a number of decades. However, because ambient surface-wave arrivals typically are of much greater amplitude than ambient body-wave energy, significant data signal processing and long recording times are required to mitigate this and other coherent noise sources, and to correlate sufficient reflected body-wave energy to converge to a stable image. Even for these scenarios, identifying and validating imaged body-wave reflection events remain challenging. In active-source investigations, extended imaging condition gathers are used to examine velocity (in)accuracy. Herein, we develop an ambient direct migration approach that uses a novel ambient (deconvolution) extended imaging condition. We simulate synthetic ambient-wavefield seismic data for two different models and use a field data set from Lalor Lake in Manitoba, Canada, to conduct a series of numerical experiments to demonstrate the velocity sensitivity and long-term stationarity of ambient-wavefield seismic data in the migration image domain. Tests with varying global velocity perturbations show a characteristic reflector moveout in deconvolution extended imaging condition gathers that can serve as a diagnostic of reflected ambient body-wave energy. We illustrate that this imaging formalism, under idealised circumstances, gives comparable results to conventional seismic methods, which extends the use of extended imaging condition gather-based image validation to ambient-wavefield seismic data scenarios. We assert that this may be a valuable tool for the validation of ambient migration techniques that to date have yielded largely inconclusive results.     

被动源面波和体波成像在内蒙古浅覆盖区勘探应用

地震勘探具有勘探深度和分辨率的优势,在矿产勘探中多被采用.但主动源反射地震具有成本高、在矿区采集困难等难题,限制了其广泛应用.无需主动源激发、利用天然噪声的被动源地震应用于勘探,可成为其低成本替代选项.本文在内蒙古浅覆盖区矿区进行了被动源勘探试验,采用相关计算获得拟炮集记录,并基于频率域信噪比计算,在生成拟炮集前实现了面波和体波甄选,分离了面波和体波.应用面波反演的横波速剖面识别了覆盖层厚度.体波数据经反射波常规处理,获得了成像剖面.经与主动源反射剖面对比,主要结构的反射特征呈现了良好的一致性.本文试验验证了被动源勘探在内蒙浅覆盖区具有良好应用前景,为低成本的面积性勘探实施提供了新的选择.

     

地震勘探中的时间-暴光声学

本文提出用于地下成像无源地震方法的分析,在该方法中应用环境地震噪声作为地下散射体的照明源。该成像算法能够以递归方式将新的数据融入到成像中,这使成像背景噪声随时间减少。在空间域不相干环境背景噪声的假设前提下推导出成像算法的点-扩展函数。点-扩展函数表征成像的分辨率,即接收排列长度和环境带宽的函数。     

Joint 3D processing of active and passive seismic data

Passive seismic provides additional illumination sources in producing reservoirs, improving the Earth's imaging obtained by standard 3D seismic surveys. The joint tomographic inversion of surface and borehole data, both active and passive, even allows the delineation of thin reservoirs that cannot be resolved by reflection tomography. As an application example, we present a feasibility study for a real case of CO₂ geological storage, showing that this operation may benefit both environment and reservoir monitoring. The origin time of micro‐earthquakes due to production operations is critical for merging active and passive data. We show here that the Wadati's method is not accurate for borehole data in a layered earth model, when the ratio between P and S velocities is not constant, as occurs in most hydrocarbon reservoirs. This drawback can be solved by deploying a few receivers at the surface close to the well.     

Probing crustal anisotropy by receiver functions at the deep continental drilling site KTB in Southern Germany

Seismic anisotropy is a unique observational tool for remotely studying deformation and stress within the Earth. Effects of anisotropy can be seen in seismic data; they are due to mineral alignment, fractures or layering. Seismic anisotropy is linked to local stress and strain, allowing modern geophysics to derive geomechanical properties from seismic data for supporting well planning and fracking. For unravelling anisotropic properties of the crust, the teleseismic receiver functions methodology has started to be widely applied recently due to its ability in retrieving the three-dimensional characteristics of the media sampled by the waves. The applicability of this technique is tested here by a field test carried out around the Kontinental Tiefbohrung site in southeastern Germany. We compare our results to previous investigations of the metamorphic rock pile of the Zone Erbendorf-Vohenstrauss, drilled down to 9 km depth, which sampled an alternating sequence of paragneiss and amphibolite, in which a strong foliation has been produced by ductile deformation. The application of the receiver functions reveals the presence of two distinct anisotropic layers within the metamorphic rock pile at 0–4 km and below 6 km depth, with up to 8% anisotropy; the depth of these two layers corresponds to the location of mica-rich paragneiss which show intense foliation, and finally proves the relation between the signal in the receiver functions, rock texture and presence of cracks. We have now the capability of providing insights from passive seismic data on geomechanical properties of the rocks, useful for geological exploration and engineering purposes, which will help influencing expensive drilling decisions thanks to future application of this seismic technique.     

Marine vibrators: the new phase of seismic exploration

Marine seismic vibrators are generally considered to be less intrusive than airguns from an environmental perspective. This is because they emit their energy spread out in time, rather than in a single, high-intensity pulse. There are also significant geophysical benefits associated with marine vibrators, and they stem from the ability to specify in detail the output acoustic waveform. The phase can be specified independently at each frequency. Such detailed control cannot be achieved with conventional airgun sources, where the phase can only be modified using simple overall time delays. The vibrator phase can be employed in several different ways: it can be applied to the overall source phase in a sequence so that it varies from one source point to the next; it can be applied to the individual vibrators within the source array so the source directivity is changed; it can be applied to the overall source phase of each source in a simultaneous source acquisition. Carefully designed phase sequences can attenuate the residual source noise, and this in turn allows extra source points to be interleaved between the conventional ones. For these extra source points, the relative phase of the vibrators within the array can be chosen to create a transverse gradient source, which illuminates the earth predominantly in directions out of the plane of the sail line without left/right ambiguity. If seismic vibrator data are acquired using interleaved conventional and transverse gradient sweeps, more information is collected per kilometre of vessel travel than is the case in conventional acquisition. This richer data acquisition leads to the possibility of acquiring all the necessary seismic data in a shorter time. Three-dimensional reconstruction techniques are used to recover the same image quality that would have been obtained using the conventional, more time-consuming acquisition. For a marine vibrator to be suitable for these techniques it must, in general terms, have ‘high fidelity’. The precise device specifications are defined through realistic end-to-end simulations of the physical systems and the processing. The specifications are somewhat more onerous than for a conventional vibrator, but they are achievable. A prototype vibrator that satisfies these requirements has been built. In a simulated case study of a three-dimensional deep-water ocean bottom node survey, the seismic data could have been acquired using marine vibrators in one third of the time that it would have taken using airguns.     

Designing and testing a network of passive seismic surveying and monitoring in Dehdasht (South Western Iran)

From August 2016 to July 2017, a passive seismic survey was conducted in South Western Iran as a part of a pilot project aimed to improve the imaging in geologically complex areas. Passive seismic methods have shown to be a useful tool to infer the physical properties of the underground geological structures where traditional hydrocarbon exploration methods are challenging. For this purpose, a dense passive seismic network consisting of 119 three-component borehole seismic stations was deployed over an area of 400 km² around the city of Dehdasht. This paper focuses on the details of the network design, which was devoted to high-resolution seismological applications, including local earthquake tomography and seismic attenuation imaging. In this regard, we describe the instrument types and the station installation procedures used to obtain high-quality data that were used to retrieve three-dimensional models of P- and S-wave velocity and P-wave attenuation in the area using tomographic inversion techniques. We also assess the network performance in terms of the seismic ambient noise levels recorded at each station site, and we revise the horizontal orientation of the sensors using surface waves from teleseismic earthquakes.     

Application of passive source surface-wave method in site engineering seismic survey

Site engineering seismic survey provides basic data for seismic effect analysis. As an important parameter of soil, shear-wave velocity is usually obtained through wave velocity testing in borehole. In this paper, the passive source surface-wave method is introduced into the site engineering seismic survey and practically applied in an engineering site of Shijingshan District. By recording the ubiquitous weak vibration on the earth surface, extract the dispersion curve from the surface-wave components using the SPAC method and obtain the shear-wave velocity structure from inversion. Over the depth of 42 m underground, it totally consists of five layers with interface depth of 3.31, 4.50, 7.23, 17.41, and 42.00 m; and shear-wave velocity of 144.0, 198.3, 339.4, 744.2, and 903.7 m/s, respectively. The inversion result is used to evaluate site classification, determine the maximum shear modulus of soil, provide basis for further seismic hazard analysis and site assessment or site zoning, etc. The result shows that the passive source surface-wave method is feasible in the site engineering seismic survey and can replace boreholes, shorten survey period, and reduce engineering cost to some extent.     

弹性波被动源数据一次波估计方法研究

与声波被动源数据相比,弹性波被动源数据含有更加丰富的地下地质信息.弹性波被动源数据合成的虚拟炮记录中,同样存在表面相关多次波,影响数据的后续处理以及对地下地质构造的准确判断.对弹性波被动源数据合成的虚拟炮记录进行多次波的预测与匹配相减,将比声波数据更加困难.本文提出弹性波被动源数据一次波估计方法,针对各向同性介质条件下的弹性波被动源数据进行研究,依据声波被动源数据一次波估计方法的研究思路,推导弹性波被动源数据一次波估计方法的理论过程,充分考虑弹性波被动源数据所包含的波场成分,包括纵波、横波以及在传播过程中产生的转换波.在传播过程中,由于能量的损失,略去多次传播的高阶项,进而给出相应的目标函数.利用数据的稀疏性,结合L₁范数约束的最优化问题求解方法,避免对弹性波虚拟炮记录进行多次波的预测与匹配相减,解决多次波影响问题.本文通过合成的弹性波被动源数据,进行一次波估计的测试,并与主动源和合成的虚拟炮记录进行对比,验证本文提出方法的有效性与准确性.

     

利用远震接收函数揭示的喜马拉雅东构造结台阵下方地壳结构及其动力学意义

在喜马拉雅造山带的东缘,雅鲁藏布江缝合带在这里发生急剧转折,南迦巴瓦变质体快速隆起,然而关于东构造结的形成机制一直未有定论.利用围绕南迦巴瓦峰的48个宽频带地震台站记录的远震数据提取P波接收函数,采用改进的H-κ叠加方法和共转换点叠加方法综合研究了东构造结的地壳厚度、波速比分布和地壳结构特征.结果表明：研究区平均地壳厚度为64.03 km,大部分台站介于60.48~66.55 km范围;平均波速比为1.728,主要集中范围为1.696~1.742.东构造结地壳厚度横向变化剧烈,构造结西端和北端厚而中间薄,东构造结核部Moho面呈现上隆的构造形态,东西向上隆幅度约为6~7 km,南北向的上隆超过9~10 km.东构造结核部地壳上隆减薄可能由高密度、高波速的岩石圈撕裂残片拆沉到上地幔软流圈后重力失衡所致.平均波速比超过1.8的高值异常展布于东构造结的两侧,推测为环东构造结的壳内部分熔融体.东构造结地壳上隆减薄和壳内部分熔融的存在很可能均与幔源热物质的上涌有关,而软流圈地幔的上涌则可能由印度板片的撕裂引起.

     

Mapping of underground cavities by the passive seismic standing waves method: the case study of Barsukovskaya cave (Novosibirsk region,Russia)

This article presents the results of mapping a karst cave by the passive seismic standing waves method. Barsukovskaya cave is located about 100 km southeast of the city of Novosibirsk (Russia). The total length of the cave's passages and grottoes is estimated at about 200 m, the maximum depth from the earth's surface is about 19 m. The method for studying underground cavities used is based on the effect of the generation of standing waves by microtremor in the space between the earth's surface and the cave roof. The accumulation of amplitude spectra of a large number of microtremor records makes it possible to determine the frequencies of the first few modes of these waves. Areal passive seismic survey on the earth's surface above the cave made it possible to construct a map of the lowest mode frequency distribution over the cave roof. Since no standing waves were observed at other points, this map reflects the cave structure in plan, which confirms the comparison with the cave diagram drawn up earlier by one of the speleologists. A schematic map of the depth of the cave roof was constructed using the longitudinal wave velocity V_p = 3120 m/s determined by the rock samples selected near the entrance to the cave. This map at a qualitative level also agrees with the data of speleologists, which indicate that the cave, on average, gradually becomes deeper from the entrance to its dead‐end branches. The shallower depths in comparison with the data of speleologists are apparently explained by a very low estimate of the velocity determined from a rock sample taken near the entrance to the cave. The reliability of the obtained cave mapping results is confirmed by the numerical simulation results using the finite‐element method.     

Three‐dimensional receiver deghosting of seismic streamer data using L1 inversion and redundant extended radon dictionary

In this paper, we propose a novel three‐dimensional receiver deghosting algorithm that is capable of deghosting both horizontal and slanted streamer data in a theoretically consistent manner. Our algorithm honours wave propagation phenomena in a true three‐dimensional sense and frames the three‐dimensional receiver deghosting problem as a Lasso problem. The ultimate goal is to minimise the mismatch between the actual measurements and the simulated wavefield with an L1 constraint applied in the extended Radon space to handle the underdetermined nature of this problem. We successfully demonstrate our algorithm on a modified three‐dimensional EAGE/SEG Overthrust model and a Red Sea marine dataset.     

时间推移地震反演的连续模型与算法

针对时间推移地震反演问题建立了依赖勘探时间的数学模型,并在此基础上设计了全局收敛的连续型及逐次递归算法.将同伦方法与Tikhonov正则化方法相结合,设计了初次勘探反演的同伦-正则化方法.以三维时间推移地震为例,在连续型及逐次递归算法的基础上构造了快速的局域化反演算法.数值模拟结果说明了上述方法都是有效的.     

Scattering pattern analysis and true-amplitude generalized Radon transform migration for acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical axis of symmetry

In multi-parameter ray-based anisotropic migration/inversion, it is essential that we have an understanding of the scattering mechanism corresponding to parameter perturbations. Because the complex nonlinearity in the anisotropic inversion problem is intractable, the construction of true-amplitude linearized migration/inversion procedures is needed and important. By using the acoustic medium assumption for transversely isotropic media with a vertical axis of symmetry and representing the anisotropy with P-wave normal moveout velocity, Thomsen parameter δ and anelliptic parameter η, we formalize the linearized inverse scattering problem for three-dimensional pseudo-acoustic equations. Deploying the single-scattering approximation and an elliptically anisotropic background introduces a new linear integral operator that connects the discontinuous perturbation parameters with the multi-shot/multi-offset P-wave scattered data. We further apply the high-frequency asymptotic Green's function and its derivatives to the integral operator, and then the scattering pattern of each perturbation parameter can be explicitly presented. By naturally establishing a connection to generalized Radon transform, the pseudo-inverse of the integral operator can be solved by the generalized Radon transform inversion. In consideration of the structure of this pseudo-inverse operator, the computational implementation is done pointwise by shooting a fan of rays from the target imaging area towards the acquisition system. Results from two-dimensional numerical tests show amplitude-preserving images with high quality.     

Acoustic emissions associated with the formation of fracture sets in sandstone under polyaxial stress conditions‡

A polyaxial (true‐triaxial) stress‐loading system, developed originally for determining all nine components of P‐ and S‐wave velocities and attenuation and fluid permeability for 50.8 mm‐side cubic rock specimens tested to failure, has been modified to permit the measurement of acoustic emission events associated with the failure process. Results are reported for Crosland Hill sandstone tested to failure under loading conditions leading to the formation of sets of aligned microcracks, achieved by maintaining the minor principal stress at a low value while increasing the two other principal stresses until failure of the rock. An ultrasonic survey associated with the test has been employed to map the transversely‐isotropic velocity structure created by through‐going parallel fractures resulting from the sets of aligned microcracks. This velocity structure has then been employed to locate acoustic emission events recorded during the test by four acoustic emission sensors located in each of the six specimen loading platens. A selection of acoustic emission events associated with one of the fractures has been processed for moment tensor analysis information, in order to determine the source type and orientation of microcracking as the fracture grows. The mechanisms indicate tensile behaviour during initial fracture propagation. Shear failure, however, appears to dominate as the fracture finally approaches the opposite face of the cubic specimen. The work presented here has, in part, led to the development of new rock testing systems and geophysical monitoring and processing technologies that will enable laboratory study of rock behaviour under conditions better resembling those experienced in situ.     

A hybrid optimization scheme for self-potential measurements due to multiple sheet-like bodies in arbitrary 2D resistivity distributions

Self-potential is a passive geophysical method that can be applied in a straightforward manner with minimum requirements in the field. Nonetheless, interpretation of self-potential data is particularly challenging due to the inherited non-uniqueness present in all potential methods. Incorporating information regarding the target of interest can facilitate interpretation and increase the reliability of the final output. In the current paper, a novel method for detecting multiple sheet-like targets is presented. A numerical framework is initially described that simulates sheet-like bodies in an arbitrary 2D resistivity distribution. A scattered field formulation based on finite differences is employed that allows the edges of the sheet to be independent of the grid geometry. A novel analytical solution for two-layered models is derived and subsequently used to validate the accuracy of the proposed numerical scheme. Lastly, a hybrid optimization is proposed that couples linear least-squares with particle-swarm optimization in order to effectively locate the edges of multiple sheet-like bodies. Through numerical and real data, it is proven that the hybrid optimization overcomes local minimal that occurs in complex resistivity distributions and converges substantially faster compared to traditional particle-swarm optimization.     

Optimum size and density of surface grid arrays for retrieving accurate shear-tensile fracturing of microearthquakes

Surface arrays became an important tool for monitoring the induced seismicity in hydraulic fracturing experiments and for assessing the impact of fluid injection on the fracturing process of microearthquakes. The layout of sensors plays a key role in this task because it controls the accuracy of event locations and retrieved seismic moment tensors. We simulate various configurations of grid sensor arrays characterized by a different number of sensors, array span, sensor spacing, depth of sources and various shear/tensile source mechanisms of events. The moment tensor inversion is carried out using synthetically calculated P-wave amplitudes with added random noise. A bias in the solutions is evaluated by errors in the double-couple percentage of inverted moment tensors because the double-couple errors inform us about the sensitivity of the network to detect the shear/tensile fracturing mode of induced microearthquakes. The results show that the accuracy of the double-couple percentage is mostly controlled by the offset-to-depth ratio R defined as the ratio of half of the network size to the event depth. The optimum value of R is in the range of 0.75–1.5 irrespective of the type of the focal mechanism. If 121 (11 × 11) sensors are distributed in a regular grid and recorded data are characterized by a 10% random noise, the double-couple error is less than 6%. This error increases, if R is not optimum or if the number of sensors is reduced. However, even sparse arrays with 49 (7 × 7) or 16 (4 × 4) sensors can yield a reasonable accuracy, provided the surface grid arrays are designed to have an optimum size.     

小尺度散射体稀疏最小二乘逆时偏移方法研究

地震勘探方法在深部固体矿产资源勘探中发展潜力巨大,同时也面临挑战.由于固体矿产资源地下分布呈现陡峭构造、尺度小,物性差异小的特点,常规偏移方法对小尺度矿体成像的分辨率提高有限.本文研究了一种基于稀疏促进约束的最小二乘逆时偏移方法.首先,将非均匀分布的矿体等效为随机介质,建立小尺度扰动的矿体模型;其次,改进现有最小二乘偏移方法,以稀疏模型为先验信息约束成像结果,并通过Curvelet变换压缩成像空间,经过多次迭代计算,可以提高小尺度散射体的成像分辨率;再次,对炮域记录进行随机震源编码,减少成像所需的炮集个数,通过稀疏促进约束条件,降低串扰噪声引起的成像误差.通过庐枞金属矿模型数值计算,验证本文方法可以较好的成像包含小尺度散射体的金属矿地质模型.

     

矿震震动波速度层析成像评估冲击危险的验证

矿震震动波速度层析成像,作为一种新的地球物理方法在冲击矿压危险评估领域具有广阔的应用前景,但截至目前,采用该技术评估冲击危险的现场应用研究还比较少,尤其是与传统监测手段的对比验证研究,还未见有相关文献报道.本文将层析成像技术和微震实时监测相结合,对河南义马跃进煤矿25110工作面回采过程中的P波速度进行了反演,并对比分析了该技术与传统监测手段之间的对应关系.研究结果表明,强矿震主要发生在高波速区或高波速变化梯度区;波速与数值模拟结果、钻屑量、钻孔应力值以及电磁辐射值之间存在正相关关系,且对应一致性较好,进而验证了矿震震动波速度层析成像技术评估冲击危险的可行性,同时也为进一步研究波速与应力或冲击危险的直接及定量关系提供参考.