scholarly journals P-wave velocity and density structure beneath Mt. Vesuvius: a magma body in the upper edifice?

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>

Geophysics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. R43-R55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wubshet Alemie ◽  
Mauricio D. Sacchi

Three-term AVO inversion can be used to estimate P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density perturbations from reflection seismic data. The density term, however, exhibits little sensitivity to amplitudes and, therefore, its inversion is unstable. One way to stabilize the density term is by including a scale matrix that provides correlation information between the three unknown AVO parameters. We investigate a Bayesian procedure to include sparsity and a scale matrix in the three-term AVO inversion problem. To this end, we model the prior distribution of the AVO parameters via a Trivariate Cauchy distribution. We found an iterative algorithm to solve the Bayesian inversion and, in addition, comparisons are provided with the classical inversion approach that uses a Multivariate Gaussian prior. It is important to point out that the Multivariate Gaussian prior allows us to include the correlation of the AVO parameters in the solution of the inverse problem. The Trivariate Cauchy prior not only permits us to incorporate correlation but also leads to high-resolution (broadband) P-wave velocity, S-wave velocity, and density perturbations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. SS23-SS42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastien Dupuy ◽  
Anouar Romdhane ◽  
Peder Eliasson ◽  
Etor Querendez ◽  
Hong Yan ◽  
...  

Reliable quantification of carbon dioxide ([Formula: see text]) properties and saturation is crucial in the monitoring of [Formula: see text] underground storage projects. We have focused on quantitative seismic characterization of [Formula: see text] at the Sleipner storage pilot site. We evaluate a methodology combining high-resolution seismic waveform tomography, with uncertainty quantification and rock physics inversion. We use full-waveform inversion (FWI) to provide high-resolution estimates of P-wave velocity [Formula: see text] and perform an evaluation of the reliability of the derived model based on posterior covariance matrix analysis. To get realistic estimates of [Formula: see text] saturation, we implement advanced rock physics models taking into account effective fluid phase theory and patchy saturation. We determine through sensitivity tests that the estimation of [Formula: see text] saturation is possible even when using only the P-wave velocity as input. After a characterization of rock frame properties based on log data prior to the [Formula: see text] injection at Sleipner, we apply our two-step methodology. The FWI result provides clear indications of the injected [Formula: see text] plume being observed as low-velocity zones corresponding to thin [Formula: see text] filled layers. Several tests, varying the rock physics model and [Formula: see text] properties, are then performed to estimate [Formula: see text] saturation. The results suggest saturations reaching 30%–35% in the thin sand layers and up to 75% when patchy mixing is considered. We have carried out a joint estimation of saturation with distribution type and, even if the inversion is not well-constrained due to limited input data, we conclude that the [Formula: see text] has an intermediate pattern between uniform and patchy mixing, which leads to saturation levels of approximately [Formula: see text]. It is worth noting that the 2D section used in this work is located 533 m east of the injection point. We also conclude that the joint estimation of [Formula: see text] properties with saturation is not crucial and consequently that knowing the pressure and temperature state of the reservoir does not prevent reliable estimation of [Formula: see text] saturation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristián Csicsay ◽  
Miroslav Bielik ◽  
Andrej Mojzeš ◽  
Eva Speváková ◽  
Bibiána Kytková ◽  
...  

Linearization of the Sobolev and Babeyko's formulae for transformation of P-wave velocity to density in the Carpathian-Pannonian Basin regionThe initial density model has to be based on a reasonable geological hypothesis and while the modelling process is non-unique, one of the interpretation aims is to define the robust parameters of the model. It is important at this stage to integrate the seismic and gravity data. One of the possibilities how to integrate these data is transformation of the seismic velocities to densities. The Sobolev and Babeyko's formulae belong to the most available relationships for this transformation. They are very complex and rigorous taking into account the PT conditions. On the other hand its application is relatively complicated. Therefore the main goal of the paper is to try to determine more easily the formula for transformation of the seismic velocities to densities. Based on the analysis of the results obtained using the Sobolev and Babeyko's formula on real data, we found out that in the Carpathian-Pannonian Basin region this formula can be transformed to simpler linear velocity-density relationship with required accuracy.


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