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.     

Estimation of soil hydraulic properties and their uncertainty: comparison between laboratory and field experiment

Often the soil hydraulic parameters are obtained by the inversion of measured data (e.g. soil moisture, pressure head, and cumulative infiltration, etc.). However, the inverse problem in unsaturated zone is ill‐posed due to various reasons, and hence the parameters become non‐unique. The presence of multiple soil layers brings the additional complexities in the inverse modelling. The generalized likelihood uncertainty estimate (GLUE) is a useful approach to estimate the parameters and their uncertainty when dealing with soil moisture dynamics which is a highly non‐linear problem. Because the estimated parameters depend on the modelling scale, inverse modelling carried out on laboratory data and field data may provide independent estimates. The objective of this paper is to compare the parameters and their uncertainty estimated through experiments in the laboratory and in the field and to assess which of the soil hydraulic parameters are independent of the experiment. The first two layers in the field site are characterized by Loamy sand and Loamy. The mean soil moisture and pressure head at three depths are measured with an interval of half hour for a period of 1 week using the evaporation method for the laboratory experiment, whereas soil moisture at three different depths (60, 110, and 200 cm) is measured with an interval of 1 h for 2 years for the field experiment. A one‐dimensional soil moisture model on the basis of the finite difference method was used. The calibration and validation are approximately for 1 year each. The model performance was found to be good with root mean square error (RMSE) varying from 2 to 4 cm³ cm^?3. It is found from the two experiments that mean and uncertainty in the saturated soil moisture (θ_s) and shape parameter (n) of van Genuchten equations are similar for both the soil types. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experiment to gauge an ungauged catchment: rapid data assessment and eco-hydrological modelling in a data-scarce rural catchment

Abstract

We conducted a PUB (predictions in ungauged basins) experiment looking at hydrology and crop dynamics in the semi-arid rural Mod catchment in India. The experiment was motivated by the aims (a) to develop a coupled eco-hydrological model capable of analysing land-use strategies concerning crop water need, erosion protection, crop yield and resistivity against droughts and floods, and (b) to assess the feasibility of a strategy for collecting the necessary data in a data-scarce region. Our experiment combines parsimonious data assessment and eco-hydrological model coupling at the lower mesoscale. Linking bottom-up sampling of functionally representative soil classes and top-down regionalization based on spectral properties of the same resulted in a comprehensive distributed data basis for the model. A clear focus on the dominating processes and the catena as the organizing landscape element in the given environmental setting enabled this. We employed the WASA (Water Availability in Semi-Arid environments) model for uncalibrated process-based water balance modelling and integrated a crop simulation subroutine based on the SWAP (Soil Water Atmosphere Plant) model to account for crop dynamics, feedbacks and yield estimation. While we found the data assessment strategy and the hydrological model application largely feasible, in terms of its accounting for scale, processes and model concepts, the simulation of feedbacks with crops was problematic. Contributing to the PUB issue, more general conclusions are drawn concerning spatially-distributed structural information and uncalibrated modelling.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor F. Hattermann     

Severe soil erosion during a 3‐day exceptional rainfall event: combining modelling and field data for a fallow cereal field

Exceptional rainfall events cause significant losses of soil, although few studies have addressed the validation of model predictions at field scale during severe erosive episodes. In this study, we evaluate the predictive ability of the enhanced Soil Erosion and Redistribution Tool (SERT‐2014) model for mapping and quantifying soil erosion during the exceptional rainfall event (~235 mm) that affected the Central Spanish Pyrenees in October 2012. The capacity of the simulation model is evaluated in a fallow cereal field (1.9 ha) at a high spatial scale (1 × 1 m). Validation was performed with field‐quantified rates of soil loss in the rills and ephemeral gullies and also with a detailed map of soil redistribution. The SERT‐2014 model was run for the six rainfall sub‐events that made up the exceptional event, simulating the different hydrological responses of soils with maximum runoff depths ranging between 40 and 1017 mm. Predicted average and maximum soil erosion was 11 and 117 Mg ha^?1 event^?1, respectively. Total soil loss and sediment yield to the La Reina gully amounted to 16.3 and 9.0 Mg event^?1. These rates are in agreement with field estimations of soil loss of 20.0 Mg event^?1. Most soil loss (86%) occurred during the first sub‐event. Although soil accumulation was overestimated in the first sub‐event because of the large amount of detached soil, the enhanced SERT‐2014 model successfully predicted the different spatial patterns and values of soil redistribution for each sub‐event. Further research should focus on stream transport capacity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

利用深反射地震数据构建的多阶面波频散曲线反演近地表横波速度结构——以跨班公湖—怒江缝合带深反射地震资料为例

深反射地震剖面法为了获取深部结构特征常常采取大的偏移距采集数据.目前公开发表的相关资料中,鲜有利用深反射地震炮集数据获取近地表的结构特征.为此,本文通过正演测试了相关数据处理流程,即利用有限差分正演了起伏地表模型的大偏移距地震单炮弹性波场特征,通过共检波点域面波信号F-K频谱叠加构建新方法,从深反射地震数据集中提取了高品质的多阶面波频散曲线,再利用多阶面波联合反演获得了近地表的结构特征.在前述正演流程基础上,利用跨越班公湖—怒江缝合带的SinoProbe深反射地震剖面中的实际炮集数据,求取了基阶和一阶瑞利波频散曲线,联合反演后得到近地表横波速度结构.该结果与初至波走时反演获取的纵波速度结构具有较好的一致性,且在近地表的浅层分辨率较纵波速度结构特征更高,而更与已有地质认识相吻合.本文提供的相关数据处理流程表明利用深反射地震炮集数据,也能够获取近地表浅层的横波速度结构.

     

利用深反射地震数据构建的多阶面波频散曲线反演近地表横波速度结构——以跨班公湖—怒江缝合带深反射地震资料为例

深反射地震剖面法为了获取深部结构特征常常采取大的偏移距采集数据.目前公开发表的相关资料中,鲜有利用深反射地震炮集数据获取近地表的结构特征.为此,本文通过正演测试了相关数据处理流程,即利用有限差分正演了起伏地表模型的大偏移距地震单炮弹性波场特征,通过共检波点域面波信号F-K频谱叠加构建新方法,从深反射地震数据集中提取了高品质的多阶面波频散曲线,再利用多阶面波联合反演获得了近地表的结构特征.在前述正演流程基础上,利用跨越班公湖—怒江缝合带的SinoProbe深反射地震剖面中的实际炮集数据,求取了基阶和一阶瑞利波频散曲线,联合反演后得到近地表横波速度结构.该结果与初至波走时反演获取的纵波速度结构具有较好的一致性,且在近地表的浅层分辨率较纵波速度结构特征更高,而更与已有地质认识相吻合.本文提供的相关数据处理流程表明利用深反射地震炮集数据,也能够获取近地表浅层的横波速度结构.     

Sensitivity analysis and application of time‐lapse full‐waveform inversion: synthetic testing and field data example from the North Sea,Norway

Time‐lapse refraction can provide complementary seismic solutions for monitoring subtle subsurface changes that are challenging for conventional P‐wave reflection methods. The utilization of refraction time lapse has lagged behind in the past partly due to the lack of robust techniques that allow extracting easy‐to‐interpret reservoir information. However, with the recent emergence of the full‐waveform inversion technique as a more standard tool, we find it to be a promising platform for incorporating head waves and diving waves into the time‐lapse framework. Here we investigate the sensitivity of 2D acoustic, time‐domain, full‐waveform inversion for monitoring a shallow, weak velocity change (?30 m/s, or ?1.6%). The sensitivity tests are designed to address questions related to the feasibility and accuracy of full‐waveform inversion results for monitoring the field case of an underground gas blowout that occurred in the North Sea. The blowout caused the gas to migrate both vertically and horizontally into several shallow sand layers. Some of the shallow gas anomalies were not clearly detected by conventional 4D reflection methods (i.e., time shifts and amplitude difference) due to low 4D signal‐to‐noise ratio and weak velocity change. On the other hand, full‐waveform inversion sensitivity analysis showed that it is possible to detect the weak velocity change with the non‐optimal seismic input. Detectability was qualitative with variable degrees of accuracy depending on different inversion parameters. We inverted, the real 2D seismic data from the North Sea with a greater emphasis on refracted and diving waves’ energy (i.e., most of the reflected energy was removed for the shallow zone of interest after removing traces with offset less than 300 m). The full‐waveform inversion results provided more superior detectability compared with the conventional 4D stacked reflection difference method for a weak shallow gas anomaly (320 m deep).