High-Resolution Seismic Characterization of Shallow Gas Accumulations in the Southern Shelf of Marmara Sea,Turkey

High-resolution seismic survey was conducted to investigate acoustic characteristics of gassy sediments along the southern shelf of the Sea of Marmara. The acoustic turbidity zones outlined within the study area are generally below 2–9 m (2-10 ms TWT) the seafloor whilst this vertical distance varies between 9 and 21 m (10–25 ms TWT) for acoustic blanket type reflections. The gassy sediments cover an area of sea floor of about 45, 110, and 75 km² in front of Gönen River, Kocasu River, and Gemlik Bay, respectively. The gassy sediments in the center of Gemlik Bay exhibited an elliptical geometry similar to its basin while the others have deltaic forms in front of the rivers. The sea bottom and near surface sedimentary units are made-up of organic-rich sediments, mostly transported by the southern rivers. The gas observed in sediments is thought to be of biogenic origin, which may be caused by degradation of organic matter in the sediment.     

Comparison of Two Nonstationary Flood Frequency Analysis Methods within the Context of the Variable Regime in the Representative Polish Rivers

Changes in river flow regime resulted in a surge in the number of methods of non-stationary flood frequency analysis. Common assumption is the time-invariant distribution function with time-dependent location and scale parameters while the shape parameters are time-invariant. Here, instead of location and scale parameters of the distribution, the mean and standard deviation are used. We analyse the accuracy of the two methods in respect to estimation of time-dependent first two moments, time-invariant skewness and time-dependent upper quantiles. The method of maximum likelihood (ML) with time covariate is confronted with the Two Stage (TS) one (combining Weighted Least Squares and L-moments techniques). Comparison is made by Monte Carlo simulations. Assuming parent distribution which ensures the asymptotic superiority of ML method, the Generalized Extreme Value distribution with various values of linearly changing in time first two moments, constant skewness, and various time-series lengths are considered. Analysis of results indicates the superiority of TS methods in all analyzed aspects. Moreover, the estimates from TS method are more resistant to probability distribution choice, as demonstrated by Polish rivers’ case studies.     

Pareto Joint Inversion of 2D Magnetotelluric and Gravity Data — Towards Practical Applications

In this paper, a Pareto inversion based global optimization approach, to obtain results of joint inversion of two types of geophysical data sets, is formulated. 2D magnetotelluric and gravity data were used for tests, but presented solution is flexible enough to be used for combination of any kind of two or more target functions, as long as misfits can be calculated and forward problems solved. To minimize dimensionality of the solution, space and introduce straightforward regularization Sharp Boundary Interface (SBI) method was applied. As a main optimization engine, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) was used. Synthetic examples based on a real geological model were used to test proposed approach and show its usefulness in practical applications.     

Scaling Analysis of Time Distribution between Successive Earthquakes in Aftershock Sequences

The earthquake inter-event time distribution is studied, using catalogs for different recent aftershock sequences. For aftershock sequences following the Modified Omori’s Formula (MOF) it seems clear that the inter-event distribution is a power law. The parameters of this law are defined and they prove to be higher than the calculated value (2–1/p). Based on the analysis of the catalogs, it is determined that the probability densities of the inter-event time distribution collapse into a single master curve when the data is rescaled with instantaneous intensity, R(t; M _th ), defined by MOF. The curve is approximated by a gamma distribution. The collapse of the data provides a clear view of aftershock-occurrence self-similarity.     

Digitized Database of Old Seismograms Recorder in Romania

The aim of this paper is to describe a managing system for a unique Romanian database of historical seismograms and complementary documentation (metadata) and its dissemination and analysis procedure. For this study, 5188 historical seismograms recorded between 1903 and 1957 by the Romanian seismological observatories (Bucharest-Filaret, Foc?ani, Bac?u, Vrincioaia, Câmpulung-Muscel, Ia?i) were used. In order to reconsider the historical instrumental data, the analog seismograms are converted to digital images and digital waveforms (digitization/ vectorialisation). First, we applied a careful scanning procedure of the seismograms and related material (seismic bulletins, station books, etc.). In a next step, the high resolution scanned seismograms will be processed to obtain the digital/numeric waveforms. We used a Colortrac Smartlf Cx40 scanner which provides images in TIFF or JPG format. For digitization the algorithm Teseo2 developed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome (Italy), within the framework of the SISMOS Project, will be used.     

The Influence of a Local Fault Zone on High Energy Tremor Occurrence During Longwall Mining of a Coal Seam

Underground mining of coal seams in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in Poland is accompanied by seismic activity of varying magnitude. The investigations which have been performed for several years distinguished high energy mine tremors connected directly with mining or coupled with geological structures, such as large faults. In mined seams, local fault zones occur. Faults in these zones are usually small, with throws comparable with coal seams thicknesses. Local fault zone may be responsible for the occurrence of high energy tremors as well as large faults, as presented in this article. An analysis of source mechanism of high energy tremors generated during longwall mining of the coal seam No. 510, with presence of a local fault zone, in one of the Polish hard coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin was performed. For this purpose, the seismic moment tensor inversion method was used. In most of foci, the process of shear predominated. Determined nodal plane parameters were correlated with parameters of faults forming the local fault zone. High energy tremors were generated mostly by dislocations on faults of the local fault zone. Weakening of roof rocks in the neighborhood of local fault zone takes an important role too, and was responsible for share of implosion in the focal mechanism.     

Tectonic Plate Parameters Estimated in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame ITRF2008 Based on SLR Stations

This paper concerns an analysis of the accuracy of estimated parameters Ω (Φ, Λ, ω) which define the tectonic plate motions. The study is based on the velocities of station positions published by ITRF2008 for Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) technique. The Eurasian, African, North American and Australian plates were used in the analysis. Influence of the number and location of stations on the plate surface on estimation accuracy of the tectonic plate motion parameters was discussed. The results were compared with the APKIM 2005 IGN model. In general, a remarkable concurrence agreement between our solutions and the APKIM 2005 model was found.     

Implementation of Elastic Prestack Reverse-Time Migration Using an Efficient Finite-Difference Scheme

Elastic reverse-time migration (RTM) can reflect the underground elastic information more comprehensively than single-component Pwave migration. One of the most important requirements of elastic RTM is to solve wave equations. The imaging accuracy and efficiency of RTM depends heavily on the algorithms used for solving wave equations. In this paper, we propose an efficient staggered-grid finite-difference (SFD) scheme based on a sampling approximation method with adaptive variable difference operator lengths to implement elastic prestack RTM. Numerical dispersion analysis and wavefield extrapolation results show that the sampling approximation SFD scheme has greater accuracy than the conventional Taylor-series expansion SFD scheme. We also test the elastic RTM algorithm on theoretical models and a field data set, respectively. Experiments presented demonstrate that elastic RTM using the proposed SFD scheme can generate better images than that using the Taylor-series expansion SFD scheme, particularly for PS images. FurH. thermore, the application of adaptive variable difference operator lengths can effectively improve the computational efficiency of elastic RTM.     

Enhancement of Seismic Data Processing and Interpretation of Fracture Zones on the Upper Part of Granitic Basement in Cuu Long Basin,Vietnam

The fractured granite basement is the primary oil and gas reservoir in the Cuu Long Basin, Vietnam. Due to the complexity of this nonlayered unconventional target, combined with complicated fault and fracture systems, the seismic data quality near and within the basement section is very low. For this reason, it is important to apply improved seismic data processing workflows, filtering and migration techniques, as wells as attribute processing methods to enhance the imaging quality.Our studies show that applying different types of filters, including the f-k, Radon transform and Tau-P, improves signal to noise ratio, removing multiples, revealing basement’s top and its related fractured and fault zones. In addition, the application of multi-arrival-solution migration algorithms, such as Kirchhoff Migration and Controlled Beam Migration, provides improved imaging for identifying basement top and faults and fractures within the basement. Furthermore, the application of seismic attributes such as curvature, apparent dip, or energy gradient, is important in locating faults and fractures, whereas mapping of intensity and orientation of such structures assists the delineation of “sweet spots” and assists the planning of exploration.     

An Easy Method for Interpretation of Gravity Anomalies Due to Vertical Finite Lines

A new method is introduced to determine the top and bottom depth of a vertical line using gravity anomalies. For this, gravity at a distance x from the origin and horizontal derivative at that point are utilized. A numerical value is obtained dividing the gravity at point x by horizontal derivative. Then a new equation is obtained dividing the theoretical gravity equation by the derivative equation. In that equation, assigning various values to the depth and length of vertical line, several new numerical values are obtained. Among these values, a curve is obtained for the one that is closest to the first value from attending the depth and length values. The intersection point of these curves obtained by repeating this procedure several times for different points x yield the real depth and length values of the line. The method is tested on two synthetics and field examples. Successful results are obtained in both applications.