Causes of compressional‐wave anisotropy in carbonate‐bearing, deep‐sea sediments

Geophysics ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 525-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Carlson ◽  
C. H. Schaftenaar ◽  
R. P. Moore

Forty indurated sediment samples from DSDP site 516 were studied with the principle objective of determining which of several proposed mechanisms is the cause of acoustic anisotropy in carbonate‐bearing deep‐sea sediments. Recovered from sub‐bottom depths between 388 and 1222 m, the samples have properties exhibiting the following ranges: wet‐bulk density, 1.90 to [Formula: see text]; fractional porosity, 0.46 to 0.14; carbonate content, 34 to 88 percent; compressional‐wave velocity (at 0.1 kbar), 1.87 to 4.87 km/sec; anisotropy, 1 to 13 percent. Velocities were measured in three mutually perpendicular directions through the same specimen in 29 of the 40 samples studied. Calcite fabric has been estimated by x‐ray pole figure goniometry. The major findings of this study are. (1) Carbonate‐bearing deep‐sea sediments may be regarded as transversely isotropic media with symmetry axes normal to bedding. (2) Calcite c‐axes are weakly concentrated in a direction perpendicular to bedding, but the preferred orientation of calcite does not contribute significantly to velocity anisotropy. (3) The properties of bedded and unbedded samples are distinctly different. Unbedded sediments exhibit low degrees of acoustic anisotropy (1 to 5 percent). By contrast, bedded samples show higher degrees of anisotropy (to 13 percent), and anisotropy increases markedly with depth of burial. Thus, bedding must be regarded as the principal cause of acoustic anisotropy in calcareous, deep‐sea sediments.

Geophysics ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 1564-1574 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. S. Byun ◽  
D. Corrigan ◽  
J. E. Gaiser

A new velocity analysis technique is presented for analyzing moveout of signals on multichannel surface seismic or VSP data. An approximate, skewed hyperbolic moveout formula is derived for horizontally layered, transversely isotropic media. This formula involves three measurement parameters: the average vertical velocity and horizontal and skew moveout velocities. By extending Dix‐type hyperbolic moveout analysis, we obtain improved coherence over large source‐geophone offsets for more accurate moveout correction. Compared with the stacking velocity obtained by simple hyperbolic analysis methods, the three velocity parameters estimated by this technique contain more physically meaningful geologic information regarding the anisotropy and/or velocity heterogeneity of the subsurface. Synthetic P‐wave model experiments demonstrate that the skewed hyperbolic moveout formula yields an excellent fit to time‐distance curves over a wide range of ray angles. Consequently, the measurement parameters are shown to reflect adequately the characteristics of velocity dependence on ray angle, i.e., velocity anisotropy. The technique is then applied to two field offset VSP data sets to measure and analyze the velocity parameters. The results show that the apparent anisotropy, defined as the ratio between the horizontal moveout velocity and average vertical velocity, correlates reasonably well with lithology. Highly anisotropic shale and chalk exhibit higher horizontal‐to‐vertical velocity ratios and sandstones show lower ratios.


Geophysics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih‐Hsiung Chang ◽  
Gerald H. F. Gardner ◽  
John A. McDonald

Velocity anisotropy of surface‐wave propagation in a transversely isotropic solid has been observed in a laboratory study. In this study, Phenolite™, an electrical insulation material, was used as the transversely isotropic media (TIM), and a vertical seismic profiling (VSP) geometry was used to record seismic arrivals and to separate surface waves from shear waves. Results show that surface waves that propagate with different velocities exist at certain directions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Razec Cezar Sampaio Pinto da Silva Torres ◽  
Leandro Di Bartolo

ABSTRACT. Reverse time migration (RTM) is one of the most powerful methods used to generate images of the subsurface. The RTM was proposed in the early 1980s, but only recently it has been routinely used in exploratory projects involving complex geology – Brazilian pre-salt, for example. Because the method uses the two-way wave equation, RTM is able to correctly image any kind of geological environment (simple or complex), including those with anisotropy. On the other hand, RTM is computationally expensive and requires the use of computer clusters. This paper proposes to investigate the influence of anisotropy on seismic imaging through the application of RTM for tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) media in pre-stack synthetic data. This work presents in detail how to implement RTM for TTI media, addressing the main issues and specific details, e.g., the computational resources required. A couple of simple models results are presented, including the application to a BP TTI 2007 benchmark model.Keywords: finite differences, wave numerical modeling, seismic anisotropy. Migração reversa no tempo em meios transversalmente isotrópicos inclinadosRESUMO. A migração reversa no tempo (RTM) é um dos mais poderosos métodos utilizados para gerar imagens da subsuperfície. A RTM foi proposta no início da década de 80, mas apenas recentemente tem sido rotineiramente utilizada em projetos exploratórios envolvendo geologia complexa, em especial no pré-sal brasileiro. Por ser um método que utiliza a equação completa da onda, qualquer configuração do meio geológico pode ser corretamente tratada, em especial na presença de anisotropia. Por outro lado, a RTM é dispendiosa computacionalmente e requer o uso de clusters de computadores por parte da indústria. Este artigo apresenta em detalhes uma implementação da RTM para meios transversalmente isotrópicos inclinados (TTI), abordando as principais dificuldades na sua implementação, além dos recursos computacionais exigidos. O algoritmo desenvolvido é aplicado a casos simples e a um benchmark padrão, conhecido como BP TTI 2007.Palavras-chave: diferenças finitas, modelagem numérica de ondas, anisotropia sísmica.


1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 431-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick N.(Jr). Okoye ◽  
N. F. Uren ◽  
W. Waluyo

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 805-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jidong Yang ◽  
Biaolong Hua ◽  
Paul Williamson ◽  
Hejun Zhu ◽  
George McMechan ◽  
...  

1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Robert S. Crosson ◽  
Nikolas I. Christensen

Abstract Several recent investigations suggest that portions of the Earth's upper mantle behave anisotropically to seismic wave propagation. Since several types of anisotropy can produce azimuthal variations in Pn velocities, it is of particular geophysical interest to provide a framework for the recognition of the form or forms of anisotropy most likely to be manifest in the upper mantle. In this paper upper mantle material is assumed to possess the elastic properties of transversely isotropic media. Equations are presented which relate azimuthal variations in Pn velocities to the direction and angle of tilt of the symmetry axis of a transversely isotropic upper mantle. It is shown that the velocity data of Raitt and Shor taken near the Mendocino and Molokai fracture zones can be adequately explained by the assumption of transverse isotropy with a nearly horizontal symmetry axis.


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