Application of Frequency-dependent Traveltime Tomography and Full Waveform Inversion to Realistic Near-surface Seismic Refraction Data

We present a synthetic test that uses a workflow consisting of a new frequency-dependent traveltime tomography (FDTT) method to provide a starting model for full waveform inversion (FWI) for near-surface seismic velocity estimation from refraction data. Commonly used ray-theory-based traveltime tomography methods may not be valid in the near surface given the likelihood of relatively large seismic wavelengths compared to the length scales of heterogeneities that are possible in the near surface. FDTT makes use of the frequency content in the seismic waves in both the forward and inverse modeling steps. In this application to a near-surface benchmark model, the results show that FDTT can better recover the magnitude of velocity anomalies than infinite frequency (ray-theory) traveltime tomography (IFTT). FWI can fail by converging to a local minimum when there is an absence of sufficiently low frequency data and an accurate starting model, either of which, if present, can provide long-wavelength constraints on the inverted velocity model. Both IFTT and FDTT models can serve as adequate starting models for FWI. However, FWI produces significantly better results starting from the FDTT model as compared to the IFTT model when low frequency data are not available. The final FWI models provide wavelength-scale structures allowing for direct geologic interpretation from the velocity model itself, demonstrating the effectiveness of FDTT and FWI in near-surface studies given the modest experiment and data requirements of refraction surveys

Detection and Production of Methane Hydrate

This project seeks to understand regional differences in gas hydrate systems from the perspective of as an energy resource, geohazard, and long-term climate influence. Specifically, the effort will: (1) collect data and conceptual models that targets causes of gas hydrate variance, (2) construct numerical models that explain and predict regional-scale gas hydrate differences in 2-dimensions with minimal 'free parameters', (3) simulate hydrocarbon production from various gas hydrate systems to establish promising resource characteristics, (4) perturb different gas hydrate systems to assess potential impacts of hot fluids on seafloor stability and well stability, and (5) develop geophysical approaches that enable remote quantification of gas hydrate heterogeneities so that they can be characterized with minimal costly drilling. Our integrated program takes advantage of the fact that we have a close working team comprised of experts in distinct disciplines. The expected outcomes of this project are improved exploration and production technology for production of natural gas from methane hydrates and improved safety through understanding of seafloor and well bore stability in the presence of hydrates. The scope of this project was to more fully characterize, understand, and appreciate fundamental differences in the amount and distribution of gas hydrate and how this would affect the production potential of a hydrate accumulation in the marine environment. The effort combines existing information from locations in the ocean that are dominated by low permeability sediments with small amounts of high permeability sediments, one permafrost location where extensive hydrates exist in reservoir quality rocks and other locations deemed by mutual agreement of DOE and Rice to be appropriate. The initial ocean locations were Blake Ridge, Hydrate Ridge, Peru Margin and GOM. The permafrost location was Mallik. Although the ultimate goal of the project was to understand processes that control production potential of hydrates in marine settings, Mallik was included because of the extensive data collected in a producible hydrate accumulation. To date, such a location had not been studied in the oceanic environment. The project worked closely with ongoing projects (e.g. GOM JIP and offshore India) that are actively investigating potentially economic hydrate accumulations in marine settings. The overall approach was fivefold: (1) collect key data concerning hydrocarbon fluxes which is currently missing at all locations to be included in the study, (2) use this and existing data to build numerical models that can explain gas hydrate variance at all four locations, (3) simulate how natural gas could be produced from each location with different production strategies, (4) collect new sediment property data at these locations that are required for constraining fluxes, production simulations and assessing sediment stability, and (5) develop a method for remotely quantifying heterogeneities in gas hydrate and free gas distributions. While we generally restricted our efforts to the locations where key parameters can be measured or constrained, our ultimate aim was to make our efforts universally applicable to any hydrate accumulation

Blind Test of Methods for Obtaining 2-D Near-Surface Seismic Velocity Models from First-Arrival Traveltimes

Seismic refraction methods are used in environmental and engineering studies to image the shallow subsurface. We present a blind test of inversion and tomographic refraction analysis methods using a synthetic first-arrival-time dataset that was made available to the community in 2010. The data are realistic in terms of the near-surface velocity model, shot-receiver geometry and the data’s frequency and added noise. Fourteen estimated models were determined by ten participants using eight different inversion algorithms, with the true model unknown to the participants until it was revealed at a session at the 2011 SAGEEP meeting. The estimated models are generally consistent in terms of their large-scale features, demonstrating the robustness of refraction data inversion in general, and the eight inversion algorithms in particular. When compared to the true model, all of the estimated models contain a smooth expression of its two main features: a large offset in the bedrock and the top of a steeply dipping low-velocity fault zone. The estimated models do not contain a subtle low-velocity zone and other fine-scale features, in accord with conventional wisdom. Together, the results support confidence in the reliability and robustness of modern refraction inversion and tomographic Methods

Oceanic Residual Depth Measurements, the Plate Cooling Model and Global Dynamic Topography

Convective circulation of the mantle causes deflections of the Earth's surface that vary as a function of space and time. Accurate measurements of this dynamic topography are complicated by the need to isolate and remove other sources of elevation, arising from flexure and lithospheric isostasy. The complex architecture of continental lithosphere means that measurement of present-day dynamic topography is more straightforward in the oceanic realm. Here, we present an updated methodology for calculating oceanic residual bathymetry, which is a proxy for dynamic topography. Corrections are applied that account for the effects of sedimentary loading and compaction, for anomalous crustal thickness variations, for subsidence of oceanic lithosphere as a function of age, and for non-hydrostatic geoid height variations. Errors are formally propagated to estimate measurement uncertainties. We apply this methodology to a global database of 1,936 seismic surveys located on oceanic crust and generate 2,297 spot measurements of residual topography, including 1,161 with crustal corrections. The resultant anomalies have amplitudes of ±1 km and wavelengths of ∼1,000 km. Spectral analysis of our database using cross-validation demonstrates that spherical harmonics up to and including degree 30 (i.e. wavelengths down to 1,300 km) are required to accurately represent these observations. Truncation of the expansion at a lower maximum degree erroneously increases the amplitude of inferred long-wavelength dynamic topography. There is a strong correlation between our observations and free-air gravity anomalies, magmatism, ridge seismicity, vertical motions of adjacent rifted margins, and global tomographic models. We infer that shorter wavelength components of the observed pattern of dynamic topography may be attributable to the presence of thermal anomalies within the shallow asthenospheric mantle.This research is supported by a BP-Cambridge collaboration

Seismic structure of the crust and upper mantle in the Peace River Arch region

The Peace River Arch (PRA) is a regional ~E-W trending geological structure within the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin whose Phanerozoic history of vertical movements is anomalous with respect to the basin as a whole. Four intersecting ~300-km-long reversed refraction lines within the PRA region in northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia have been interpreted for crustal and upper mantle P-wave velocity structure. The data have been analyzed using a new two-dimensional ray-trace forward modelling algorithm to match travel times and amplitudes of first and coherent later arrivals. An inversion of first arrival travel times along a fan shot profile has been performed to constrain crustal thickness northwest of the arch in a region not sampled by the in-line profiles. 5-waves and the observed spectra of the refraction data have been analyzed to infer a regional Poisson's ratio and Q structure, respectively. The consistency of the seismic models with the observed Bouguer gravity data was studied. The new algorithm for tracing rays and calculating amplitudes in two-dimensional media is based on a simple, layered, large-block velocity model parameterization in which velocity is an analytic function of position. This allows for computationally efficient ray tracing. The user's ability to specify kinematically-similar ray families permits practical and rapid forward modelling of refraction data. In addition, the routine allows for 5-wave propagation, converted phases, multiple and surface reflections, approximate attenuation, head waves, a simulation of smooth layer boundaries, and a reverse ray-direction amplitude calculation. Amplitude calculations are based on zero- and first-order asymptotic ray theory. The main attributes of the routine are illustrated with several examples. The major features of the interpreted structural model of the PRA region are (1) weak to moderate lateral variations in crustal structure with no evidence of significant layering or thick low-velocity zones within the crust, (2) an average sub-basement RMS crustal velocity of 6.6 km/s, average upper mantle velocity of 8.25 km/s and average crustal thickness of 40 km, (3) a high-velocity (> 7.0 km/s) lower crust of 5 to 10 km thickness, (4) westward crustal thinning north of the arch, (5) regional variations in structure that appear related to the N-S Precambrian trends as revealed by aeromagnetic data, including crustal thickness, upper crustal and upper mantle velocities and P[sub m]P character, and (6) subtle variations in structure that may be associated with the E-W trending Devonian axis of the PRA, including a shallowing of high lower-crustal velocities, thickening of the crust, and an anisotropic P[sub m]P character beneath the arch and along-axis low-amplitude P[sub n] arrivals. A high-velocity lower crust and localized shallowing of high lower-crustal velocities are commonly observed in continental rift zones. These features and the ~E-W trend of the arch perpendicular to the ancient western margin suggest that the PRA originated as a Paleozoic failed-rift. The results of supplementary studies show (1) an average crustal Poisson's ratio of 0.25, (2) Q increases with depth from ~500 to ~1000 in the crust and is ~1000 in the upper mantle, and (3) a seismic-gravity relationship that suggests that localized velocity anomalies of the refraction models are not associated with density anomalies. Also, extended-listen-time processing of a 10-km-long industry Vibroseis reflection line coincident with one of the refraction lines shows prominent dipping events that correlate with the zero-offset two-way travel time of a strong intracrustal reflector and the crust-mantle boundary of the refraction model. A series of reflections over 1.5 s terminating at the refraction Moho indicates a complex, possibly layered crust-mantle transition zone of 5 km thickness.Science, Faculty ofEarth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department ofGraduat

Comparison of Full Wavefield Synthetics with Frequency-Dependent Traveltimes Calculated Using Wavelength-Dependent Velocity Smoothing

Ray theory-based traveltime calculation that assumes infinitely high frequency wave propagation is likely to be invalid in the near-surface (upper tens of meters) due to the relatively large seismic wavelength compared with the total travel path lengths and the scale of the near-surface velocity heterogeneities. The wavelength-dependent velocity smoothing (WDVS) algorithm calculates a frequency-dependent, first-arrival traveltime by assuming that using a wavelength-smoothed velocity model and conventional ray theory is equivalent to using the original unsmoothed model and a frequency-dependent calculation. This paper presents comparisons of WDVS-calculated traveltimes with band-limited full wavefield synthetics including the results from 1) different velocity models, 2) different frequency spectra, 3) different values of a free parameter in the WDVS algorithm, and 4) different levels of added noise to the synthetics. The results show that WDVS calculates frequency-dependent traveltimes that are generally consistent with the first arrivals from band-limited full wavefield synthetics. Compared to infinite-frequency traveltimes calculated using conventional ray theory, the WDVS frequency-dependent traveltimes are more consistent with the first arrivals picked from full wavefield synthetics in terms of absolute time and trace-to-trace variation. The results support the use of WDVS as the forward modeling component of a tomographic inversion method, or any seismic method that involves modeling first-arrival traveltimes

Searching for the Onset of Seafloor Spreading West of Galicia: Wide-Angle Seismic Constraints

Davy, R. ... et. al.-- 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 15-19 december 2014, San FranciscoRifting and the subsequent breakup of continental lithosphere has given rise to the magma-poor Galicia Bank rifted margin in the North Atlantic Ocean. Hyperextension of continental crust is observed at the deep Galicia margin (west of Spain) and has been accommodated by the rotation of continental fault blocks, which are underlain by the S-reflector, an interpreted detachment fault, which has exhumed serpentinized mantle peridotite. West of these features is the enigmatic Peridotite Ridge (PR) which has been suggested to delimit the western extent of the ocean-continent transition. An outstanding question at this margin is where unequivocal oceanic crust begins, with little existing data to constrain this boundary. We present results from a 160-km-long wide-angle seismic profile, which encompasses the S-reflector to the east, the PR, and the unidentified basement west of the PR. This profile consists of 32 OBS/H recording wide angle seismic data from coincident multichannel seismic surveying. First-arrival travel time tomography models of the crustal velocity structure were produced using two algorithms, with the best fit model having a RMS travel time misfit of 38ms, a χ2 of 0.99 and strong correlation with the structure observed in seismic reflection images. East of the PR, the 3.0-3.5 kms-1 velocity contours match top of crust and the S-reflector generally lies between the 6.0-6.5 kms-1 velocity contours, giving a crustal thickness of 1.5-3.5 km and an average velocity gradient of 0.75 s-1. Similarly, west of the PR we observe a basement layer which is 2.0-4.0 km thick and has an average velocity gradient of 0.72 s-1. High velocity gradients, an absence of velocities typical of oceanic layer 3 and no clear mantle reflections suggest the continued presence of exhumed, serpentinized mantle peridotite west of the PR, which could be analogous to the large expanses of mantle peridotite exposed at the seafloor on the flanks of the ultra-slow Southwest Indian ridgePeer Reviewe

P- and SV-velocity structure of the South Portuguese Zone fold-and-thrust belt, SW Iberia, from traveltime tomography

Imaging the architecture of the shallow crust of the South Portuguese Zone fold-and-thrust belt is essential to extend surface mapped geological information to depth and to help in developing models of the ore-bearing Iberian Pyrite Belt part of the Variscan orogeny. The recently acquired IBERSEIS seismic-reflection data set provides, for the first time, detailed images of the entire crust, but source-generated noise masks the earliest reflections and limits the shallowest observed signals to depths >500 m. We inverted P- and SV first-arrival traveltimes for the smoothest minimum-structure velocity models, imaging the shallowest few hundreds of metres along four in total ∼60-km-long profiles. A comparison of a 2-D and 2.5-D (3-D forward and 2-D inverse problem) crooked-line inversion scheme revealed that the crooked-line geometry has a negligible effect on the final images. Resolution of the final preferred models was assessed on the basis of an extensive series of checkerboard tests, showing a slightly lower resolution capability of the SV -data due to greater data uncertainty, fewer number of picks and more limited source–receiver offsets compared with the P-data. The preferred final models compare favourably with the mapped surface geology, showing relatively high and uniform velocities (>5.25 km s−1) for the flysch group in the southern part of the investigation area. Low velocities (∼4.5 km s−1) are found for the 'La Puebla de Guzman antiform' in the centre of the investigation area, where the phyllite–quartzite group is exposed. Velocities fluctuate the most along the northernmost ∼20 km. Velocity variations reflect more the state of tectonic deformation than being directly correlated with the mapped lithologies. Based on a comparison with coincident seismic-reflection data along the southern half of the area, we suggest that two areas of low to intermediate ratios (∼1.85–1.9) correspond to occurrences of thick and less deformed flysch-group units, whereas high ratios (∼1.95) are interpreted to indicate increased porosity due to intense fracturing.Peer reviewe

Magma reservoirs from the upper crust to the Moho inferred from high-resolution Vp and Vs models beneath Mount St. Helens, Washington State, USA

[EN]The size, frequency, and intensity of volcanic eruptions are strongly controlled by the volume and connectivity of magma within the crust. Several geophysical and geochemical studies have produced a comprehensive model of the magmatic system to depths near 7 km beneath Mount St. Helens (Washington State, USA), currently the most active volcano in the Cascade Range. Data limitations have precluded imaging below this depth to observe the entire primary shallow magma reservoir, as well as its connection to deeper zones of magma accumulation in the crust. The inversion of P and S wave traveltime data collected during the active-source component of the iMUSH (Imaging Magma Under St. Helens) project reveals a high P-wave (Vp)/S-wave (Vs) velocity anomaly beneath Mount St. Helens between depths of 4 and 13 km, which we interpret as the primary upper–middle crustal magma reservoir. Beneath and southeast of this shallow reservoir, a low Vp velocity column extends from 15 km depth to the Moho. Deep long-period events near the boundary of this column indicate that this anomaly is associated with the injection of magmatic fluids. Southeast of Mount St. Helens, an upper–middle crustal high Vp/Vs body beneath the Indian Heaven Volcanic Field may also have a magmatic origin. Both of these high Vp/Vs bodies are at the boundaries of the low Vp middle–lower crustal column and both are directly above high Vp middle–lower crustal regions that may represent cumulates associated with recent Quaternary or Paleogene–Neogene Cascade magmatism. Seismicity immediately following the 18 May 1980 eruption terminates near the top of the inferred middle–lower crustal cumulates and directly adjacent to the inferred middle–lower crustal magma reservoir. These spatial relationships suggest that the boundaries of these high-density cumulates play an important role in both vertical and lateral transport of magma through the crust

Detection and Production of Methane Hydrate

This project seeks to understand regional differences in gas hydrate systems from the perspective of as an energy resource, geohazard, and long-term climate influence. Specifically, the effort will: (1) collect data and conceptual models that targets causes of gas hydrate variance, (2) construct numerical models that explain and predict regional-scale gas hydrate differences in 2-dimensions with minimal 'free parameters', (3) simulate hydrocarbon production from various gas hydrate systems to establish promising resource characteristics, (4) perturb different gas hydrate systems to assess potential impacts of hot fluids on seafloor stability and well stability, and (5) develop geophysical approaches that enable remote quantification of gas hydrate heterogeneities so that they can be characterized with minimal costly drilling. Our integrated program takes advantage of the fact that we have a close working team comprised of experts in distinct disciplines. The expected outcomes of this project are improved exploration and production technology for production of natural gas from methane hydrates and improved safety through understanding of seafloor and well bore stability in the presence of hydrates. The scope of this project was to more fully characterize, understand, and appreciate fundamental differences in the amount and distribution of gas hydrate and how this would affect the production potential of a hydrate accumulation in the marine environment. The effort combines existing information from locations in the ocean that are dominated by low permeability sediments with small amounts of high permeability sediments, one permafrost location where extensive hydrates exist in reservoir quality rocks and other locations deemed by mutual agreement of DOE and Rice to be appropriate. The initial ocean locations were Blake Ridge, Hydrate Ridge, Peru Margin and GOM. The permafrost location was Mallik. Although the ultimate goal of the project was to understand processes that control production potential of hydrates in marine settings, Mallik was included because of the extensive data collected in a producible hydrate accumulation. To date, such a location had not been studied in the oceanic environment. The project worked closely with ongoing projects (e.g. GOM JIP and offshore India) that are actively investigating potentially economic hydrate accumulations in marine settings. The overall approach was fivefold: (1) collect key data concerning hydrocarbon fluxes which is currently missing at all locations to be included in the study, (2) use this and existing data to build numerical models that can explain gas hydrate variance at all four locations, (3) simulate how natural gas could be produced from each location with different production strategies, (4) collect new sediment property data at these locations that are required for constraining fluxes, production simulations and assessing sediment stability, and (5) develop a method for remotely quantifying heterogeneities in gas hydrate and free gas distributions. While we generally restricted our efforts to the locations where key parameters can be measured or constrained, our ultimate aim was to make our efforts universally applicable to any hydrate accumulation