scholarly journals On the Utility of Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratios of Ambient Noise in Joint Inversion with Rayleigh Wave Dispersion Curves for the Large-N Maupasacq Experiment

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 5946
Author(s):  
Maik Neukirch ◽  
Antonio García-Jerez ◽  
Antonio Villaseñor ◽  
Francisco Luzón ◽  
Jacques Brives ◽  
...  

Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratios (HVSR) and Rayleigh group velocity dispersion curves (DC) can be used to estimate the shallow S-wave velocity (VS) structure. Knowing the VS structure is important for geophysical data interpretation either in order to better constrain data inversions for P-wave velocity (VP) structures such as travel time tomography or full waveform inversions or to directly study the VS structure for geo-engineering purposes (e.g., ground motion prediction). The joint inversion of HVSR and dispersion data for 1D VS structure allows characterising the uppermost crust and near surface, where the HVSR data (0.03 to 10s) are most sensitive while the dispersion data (1 to 30s) constrain the deeper model which would, otherwise, add complexity to the HVSR data inversion and adversely affect its convergence. During a large-scale experiment, 197 three-component short-period stations, 41 broad band instruments and 190 geophones were continuously operated for 6 months (April to October 2017) covering an area of approximately 1500km2 with a site spacing of approximately 1 to 3km. Joint inversion of HVSR and DC allowed estimating VS and, to some extent density, down to depths of around 1000m. Broadband and short period instruments performed statistically better than geophone nodes due to the latter’s gap in sensitivity between HVSR and DC. It may be possible to use HVSR data in a joint inversion with DC, increasing resolution for the shallower layers and/or alleviating the absence of short period DC data, which may be harder to obtain. By including HVSR to DC inversions, confidence improvements of two to three times for layers above 300m were achieved. Furthermore, HVSR/DC joint inversion may be useful to generate initial models for 3D tomographic inversions in large scale deployments. Lastly, the joint inversion of HVSR and DC data can be sensitive to density but this sensitivity is situational and depends strongly on the other inversion parameters, namely VS and VP. Density estimates from a HVSR/DC joint inversion should be treated with care, while some subsurface structures may be sensitive, others are clearly not. Inclusion of gravity inversion to HVSR/DC joint inversion may be possible and prove useful.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maik Neukirch ◽  
Antonio García-Jerez ◽  
Antonio Villaseñor ◽  
Laurent Stehly ◽  
Pierre Boué ◽  
...  

<p>Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratios (HVSR) and Rayleigh group velocity dispersion curves (DC) can be used to estimate the shallow S-wave velocity (Vs) structure. Knowing the shallow Vs structure is important for geophysical data interpretation either in order to better constrain data inversions for P-wave velocity (Vp) structures such as travel time tomography or full waveform inversions, or to directly study the Vs structure for geo-engineering purposes (e.g. ground motion prediction). The purpose of this study is to appraise in particular how much information HVSR can add in a large N experiment and how different instrumentation types affect this. </p><p>During the Maupasacq large-scale experiment, 197 three-component short-period stations, 190 geophone nodes and 54 broadband seismometers were continuously operated in Southern France for 6 months (April to October 2017) covering an area of approximately 1500 km2 with a site spacing of approximately 1 to 3 km. On the obtained HVSR and DC data, a statistical Joint inversion is performed for the shallow Vs structure. The results indicate that the addition of HVSR data to the DC inversion reduces the variance of the recovered shallow Vs model and improves the convergence to a smaller data misfit. While broadband and short period instruments delivered similar results, geophone nodes performed significantly worse due to their much higher cut off frequency. </p>


Geophysics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. D169-D179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zijian Zhang ◽  
De-hua Han ◽  
Daniel R. McConnell

Hydrate-bearing sands and shallow nodular hydrate are potential energy resources and geohazards, and they both need to be better understood and identified. Therefore, it is useful to develop methodologies for modeling and simulating elastic constants of these hydrate-bearing sediments. A gas-hydrate rock-physics model based on the effective medium theory was successfully applied to dry rock, water-saturated rock, and hydrate-bearing rock. The model was used to investigate the seismic interpretation capability of hydrate-bearing sediments in the Gulf of Mexico by computing elastic constants, also known as seismic attributes, in terms of seismic interpretation, including the normal incident reflectivity (NI), Poisson’s ratio (PR), P-wave velocity ([Formula: see text]), S-wave velocity ([Formula: see text]), and density. The study of the model was concerned with the formation of gas hydrate, and, therefore, hydrate-bearing sediments were divided into hydrate-bearing sands, hydrate-bearing sands with free gas in the pore space, and shallow nodular hydrate. Although relations of hydrate saturation versus [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are different between structures I and II gas hydrates, highly concentrated hydrate-bearing sands may be interpreted on poststack seismic amplitude sections because of the high NI present. The computations of elastic constant implied that hydrate-bearing sands with free gas could be detected with the crossplot of NI and PR from prestack amplitude analysis, and density may be a good hydrate indicator for shallow nodular hydrate, if it can be accurately estimated by seismic methods.


1990 ◽  
Vol 80 (6A) ◽  
pp. 1677-1695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ik Bum Kang ◽  
George A. McMechan

Abstract Full wave field modeling of wide-aperture data is performed with a pseudospectral implementation of the elastic wave equation. This approach naturally produces three-component stress and two-component particle displacement, velocity, and acceleration seismograms for compressional, shear, and Rayleigh waves. It also has distinct advantages in terms of computational requirements over finite-differencing when data from large-scale structures are to be modeled at high frequencies. The algorithm is applied to iterative two-dimensional modeling of seismograms from a survey performed in 1985 by The University of Texas at El Paso and The University of Texas at Dallas across the Anadarko basin and the Wichita Mountains in southwestern Oklahoma. The results provide an independent look at details of near-surface structure and reflector configurations. Near-surface (<3 km deep) structure and scattering effects account for a large percentage (>70 per cent) of the energy in the observed seismograms. The interpretation of the data is consistent with the results of previous studies of these data, but provides considerably more detail. Overall, the P-wave velocities in the Wichita Uplift are more typical of the middle crust than the upper crust (5.3 to 7.1 km/sec). At the surface, the uplift is either exposed as weathered outcrop (5.0 to 5.3 km/sec) or is overlain with sediments of up to 0.4 km in thickness, ranging in velocity from 2.7 to 3.4 km/sec, generally increasing with depth. The core of the uplift is relatively seismically transparent. A very clear, coherent reflection is observed from the Mountain View fault, which dips at ≈40° to the southwest, to at least 12 km depth. Velocities in the Anadarko Basin are typical of sedimentary basins; there is a general increase from ≈2.7 km/sec at the surface to ≈5.9 km/sec at ≈16 km depth, with discontinuous reflections at depths of ≈8, 10, 12, and 16 km.


2022 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46
Author(s):  
Öz Yilmaz ◽  
Kai Gao ◽  
Milos Delic ◽  
Jianghai Xia ◽  
Lianjie Huang ◽  
...  

We evaluate the performance of traveltime tomography and full-wave inversion (FWI) for near-surface modeling using the data from a shallow seismic field experiment. Eight boreholes up to 20-m depth have been drilled along the seismic line traverse to verify the accuracy of the P-wave velocity-depth model estimated by seismic inversion. The velocity-depth model of the soil column estimated by traveltime tomography is in good agreement with the borehole data. We used the traveltime tomography model as an initial model and performed FWI. Full-wave acoustic and elastic inversions, however, have failed to converge to a velocity-depth model that desirably should be a high-resolution version of the model estimated by traveltime tomography. Moreover, there are significant discrepancies between the estimated models and the borehole data. It is understandable why full-wave acoustic inversion would fail — land seismic data inherently are elastic wavefields. The question is: Why does full-wave elastic inversion also fail? The strategy to prevent full-wave elastic inversion of vertical-component geophone data trapped in a local minimum that results in a physically implausible near-surface model may be cascaded inversion. Specifically, we perform traveltime tomography to estimate a P-wave velocity-depth model for the near-surface and Rayleigh-wave inversion to estimate an S-wave velocity-depth model for the near-surface, then use the resulting pairs of models as the initial models for the subsequent full-wave elastic inversion. Nonetheless, as demonstrated by the field data example here, the elastic-wave inversion yields a near-surface solution that still is not in agreement with the borehole data. Here, we investigate the limitations of FWI applied to land seismic data for near-surface modeling.


Solid Earth ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1685-1705
Author(s):  
Silvia Salas-Romero ◽  
Alireza Malehmir ◽  
Ian Snowball ◽  
Benoît Dessirier

Abstract. Quick-clay landslides are common geohazards in Nordic countries and Canada. The presence of potential quick clays is confirmed using geotechnical investigations, but near-surface geophysical methods, such as seismic and resistivity surveys, can also help identify coarse-grained materials associated with the development of quick clays. We present the results of reflection seismic investigations on land and in part of the Göta River in Sweden, along which many quick-clay landslide scars exist. This is the first time that such a large-scale reflection seismic investigation has been carried out to study the subsurface structures associated with quick-clay landslides. The results also show a reasonable correlation with radio magnetotelluric and travel-time tomography models of the subsurface. Other ground geophysical data, such as high magnetic values, suggest a positive correlation with an increased thickness of the coarse-grained layer and shallower depths to the top of the bedrock and the top of the coarse-grained layer. The morphology of the river bottom and riverbanks, e.g. subaquatic landslide deposits, is shown by side-scan sonar and bathymetric data. Undulating bedrock, covered by subhorizontal sedimentary glacial and postglacial deposits, is clearly revealed. An extensive coarse-grained layer (P-wave velocity mostly between 1500 and 2500 m s−1 and resistivity from approximately 80 to 100 Ωm) exists within the sediments and is interpreted and modelled in a regional context. Several fracture zones are identified within the bedrock. Hydrological modelling of the coarse-grained layer confirms its potential for transporting fresh water infiltrated in fractures and nearby outcrops located in the central part of the study area. The modelled groundwater flow in this layer promotes the leaching of marine salts from the overlying clays by seasonal inflow–outflow cycles and/or diffusion, which contributes to the formation of potential quick clays.


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Capuano ◽  
Guido Russo ◽  
Roberto Scarpa

<p>A high-resolution image of the compressional wave velocity and density structure in the shallow edifice of Mount Vesuvius has been derived from simultaneous inversion of travel times and hypocentral parameters of local earthquakes and from gravity inversion. The robustness of the tomography solution has been improved by adding to the earthquake data a set of land based shots, used for constraining the travel time residuals. The results give a high resolution image of the P-wave velocity structure with details down to 300-500 m. The relocated local seismicity appears to extend down to 5 km depth below the central crater, distributed into two clusters, and separated by an anomalously high Vp region positioned at around 1 km depth. A zone with high Vp/Vs ratio in the upper layers is interpreted as produced by the presence of intense fluid circulation alternatively to the interpretation in terms of a small magma chamber inferred by petrologic studies. In this shallower zone the seismicity has the minimum energy, whilst most of the high-energy quakes (up to Magnitude 3.6) occur in the cluster located at greater depth. The seismicity appears to be located along almost vertical cracks, delimited by a high velocity body located along past intrusive body, corresponding to remnants of Mt. Somma. In this framework a gravity data inversion has been performed to study the shallower part of the volcano. Gravity data have been inverted using a method suitable for the application to scattered data in presence of relevant topography based on a discretization of the investigated medium performed by establishing an approximation of the topography by a triangular mesh. The tomography results, the retrieved density distribution, and the pattern of relocated seismicity exclude the presence of significant shallow magma reservoirs close to the central conduit. These should be located at depth higher than that of the base of the hypocenter volume, as evidenced by previous studies.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. SM27-SM37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Li ◽  
Kai Lu ◽  
Sherif Hanafy ◽  
Gerard Schuster

Two robust imaging technologies are reviewed that provide subsurface geologic information in challenging environments. The first one is wave-equation dispersion (WD) inversion of surface waves and guided waves (GW) for the shear-velocity (S-wave) and compressional-velocity (P-wave) models, respectively. The other method is traveltime inversion for the velocity model, in which supervirtual refraction interferometry (SVI) is used to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of far-offset refractions. We have determined the benefits and liabilities of both methods with synthetic seismograms and field data. The benefits of WD are that (1) there is no layered-medium assumption, as there is in conventional inversion of dispersion curves. This means that 2D or 3D velocity models can be accurately estimated from data recorded by seismic surveys over rugged topography, and (2) WD mostly avoids getting stuck in local minima. The liability is that WD for surface waves is almost as expensive as full-waveform inversion (FWI) and, for Rayleigh waves, only recovers the S-velocity distribution to a depth no deeper than approximately 1/2 to 1/3 wavelength of the lowest-frequency surface wave. The limitation for GW is that, for now, it can estimate the P-velocity model by inverting the dispersion curves from GW propagating in near-surface low-velocity zones. Also, WD often requires user intervention to pick reliable dispersion curves. For SVI, the offset of usable refractions can be more than doubled, so that traveltime tomography can be used to estimate a much deeper model of the P-velocity distribution. This can provide a more effective starting velocity model for FWI. The liability is that SVI assumes head-wave first arrivals, not those from strong diving waves.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 2991-3006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D. K. Priestley ◽  
Helen F. Dacre ◽  
Len C. Shaffrey ◽  
Kevin I. Hodges ◽  
Joaquim G. Pinto

Abstract. Extratropical cyclones are the most damaging natural hazard to affect western Europe. Serial clustering occurs when many intense cyclones affect one specific geographic region in a short period of time which can potentially lead to very large seasonal losses. Previous studies have shown that intense cyclones may be more likely to cluster than less intense cyclones. We revisit this topic using a high-resolution climate model with the aim to determine how important clustering is for windstorm-related losses. The role of windstorm clustering is investigated using a quantifiable metric (storm severity index, SSI) that is based on near-surface meteorological variables (10 m wind speed) and is a good proxy for losses. The SSI is used to convert a wind footprint into losses for individual windstorms or seasons. 918 years of a present-day ensemble of coupled climate model simulations from the High-Resolution Global Environment Model (HiGEM) are compared to ERA-Interim reanalysis. HiGEM is able to successfully reproduce the wintertime North Atlantic/European circulation, and represent the large-scale circulation associated with the serial clustering of European windstorms. We use two measures to identify any changes in the contribution of clustering to the seasonal windstorm loss as a function of return period. Above a return period of 3 years, the accumulated seasonal loss from HiGEM is up to 20 % larger than the accumulated seasonal loss from a set of random resamples of the HiGEM data. Seasonal losses are increased by 10 %–20 % relative to randomized seasonal losses at a return period of 200 years. The contribution of the single largest event in a season to the accumulated seasonal loss does not change with return period, generally ranging between 25 % and 50 %. Given the realistic dynamical representation of cyclone clustering in HiGEM, and comparable statistics to ERA-Interim, we conclude that our estimation of clustering and its dependence on the return period will be useful for informing the development of risk models for European windstorms, particularly for longer return periods.


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