Regional Scale Seismological Investigation on the Continent Crust Using Airgun Sources——A Perspective Review

The investigations on the structure and temporal variations of the continent crust have been the long-lasting topics of seismology. The artificial sources play the most important role in these studies for their well-known locations and occur times among all the sources producing elastic waves,so that precise results are obtained. In past decades,we have successfully excited the airgun sources in on-land water bodies such as reservoirs,expanding their applications in marine seismology. Large volume airguns have been used to produce low frequency signals which can travel hundreds of kilometers after stacking,providing a source connecting the exploration seismology and traditional seismology at regional scale. In this review,we introduce the changes through which we turn the airgun into scientific instruments by experiments. We also present the advances on imaging the continental crust structure and monitoring the velocity variations using the highly repeatable signals emitted by airgun sources. The potential applications such as imaging the subsurface of urban areas and high resolution illuminating of mines are proposed and the challenges for further investigations are also discussed.

Study of the Change in Wave Velocity Ratio before and after Two Strong Earthquakes Using Airgun Source Data

Using the signals excited by the large-volume airgun source at the Binchuan transmitting seismic station from January to June,2016,arrival-time data was acquired at four stations near the epicenter of the Eryuan MS4.5 and MS4.0 earthquakes on February 8,2016,as well as the epicenter of the Yunlong MS5.0 and Eryuan MS4.6 earthquakes on May 18,2016 through the waveform cross-correlation technique.The wave velocity ratio of the four stations was calculated using the single-station method.At the same time,the b-value and the focal mechanism consistency parameters of the study area were also calculated.The results show that:(1)the wave velocity ratio of each station experienced a process of decline-recovery-fast rise before the two strong earthquakes,and a significant quasi-synchronous rapid rise occurred within 3-12 days before the earthquake;(2)the timing of the rapid rise of the wave velocity ratio of the four stations before the Yunlong MS5.0 and Eryuan MS4.6 earthquakes were related to the epicentral distance.The station which observed the earliest increase in rapid rise is the farthest one from the epicenter,and the station where the rapid rise appeared in the latest is closest to the epicenter;(3)the form of change of the wave velocity ratio before the earthquake was different between stations located at different directions in the epicenter area;(4)the b-value and the focal mechanism consistency parameter which is commonly used to characterize the stress level both showed a downward trend before the two strong earthquakes,and were consistent with the change in the wave velocity ratio.According to the preliminary analysis,the wave velocity ratio obtained by using airgun source can better reflect the change in the stress state of the underground medium.

Using Airgun Source Signals to Study Regional Wave Velocity Changes before and after the Yunlong M_S5.0 and Yangbi M_S5.1 Earthquakes

On the basis of the airgun source signals recorded by the stations from January,2016 to June,2017,we use cross-correlation detection technology to obtain the characteristics of the stable phase travel time change of each station.We used the Yunlong MS5.0 and Yangbi MS5.1 earthquakes as samples.According to regional characteristics,13 stations with high signal-to-noise ratios and complete data were selected(including 3 fixed stations and 10 active source stations).They are divided into four regions,and on the basis of the GNSS baseline data,the characteristics of regional wave velocity changes before and after the earthquake are analyzed.The results show that the station phase travel time change and the regional stress characteristics represented by the GNSS baseline data have good correlation in the short-term.Due to different degrees of regional stress,there are differences in the travel time changes of different stations in the four regions.Before the Yunlong MS5.0 and Yangbi MS5.1 earthquakes,with regional stress adjustment,there is an upward trend in the travel time changes of related stations in the adjacent areas of up to 0.02 s.The difference is that there are differences in the time nodes and duration of the travel time anomalies,and there is a reverse descent process after the Yangbi MS5.1 earthquake.There are different degrees of travel time fluctuations in the relevant stations before and after the two earthquakes,but the fluctuation range before and after the earthquake was small.Compared with the water level change of the reservoir,the adjustment of the regional stress is more likely to have a substantial impact on the travel time changes of the relevant stations.

Numerical Simulation of the Binchuan Airgun Source Affected by Water Body

The numerical simulation of the influence of a reservoir water body on the Binchuan airgun source could provide a theoretical basis to analyze the data obtained from the active source detection and inversion of regional interior medium structures.Based on a medium model containing limited water body,we use the finite different method to simulate the effect of the water level,excitation energy and focal depth.The results show that the influence on the waveform amplitude caused by the water level changing is very large near the water body,and that a high water level or large amplitude change can have a larger effect.However,for stations beyond a certain epicentral distance,the influence will be weakened and kept stable.As for the Binchuan airgun source,amplitude fluctuation caused by the water level changing becomes very small(±0.05 times)after propagating a certain distance,so we can remove the influence of the water level changing by referring to the numerical simulation result.Wave amplitude increases linearly with the excitation energy and focal depth,therefore,the greater the energy and the deeper the focal depth,the better the effect of the excitation,and is more conducive in detecting remote and deep penetration underground structures.

Study on the Source Characteristics of Downhole Airgun with Different Excitation Environments

The measurement of underground medium variation using a repeated artificial source has gradually become an important goal to pursue. In recent years,we have developed and improved a technology system with large capacity airguns excited in land reservoirs by transplanting marine seismic exploration technology. The excitation effect has a close relationship to airgun capacity,water environment,and excitation conditions. In view that large capacity airgun must be excited without a water environment,we expand the system to use in downhole. Based on the BHS-2200 LL downhole airgun with a capacity of250in3,this paper carries out a comparative analysis on the characteristics of an airgun source excited in 0. 2m- and 5. 0m-diameter wells,and the results show that:( 1) The dominant frequency of the airgun signal excited in a 5. 0m well is mainly from 10 Hz to40Hz,lower than that in a 0. 2m well,and the larger body of water is good for bubble oscillation.( 2) In terms of exciting energy,the signal excited in a 5. 0m well has stronger energy than in a 0. 2m well,with a difference of 1 order in magnitude,and the signal can be detected up to 9km excited in a 5. 0m well with a single shot.( 3) The airgun signal has good repeatability in both excitation wells. The downhole airgun excitation technology system has potential application in dynamic monitoring near a fault zone with a small scale range, exploration of oil and mineral resources, and modern urban geophysical environment.

Study on the Deconvolution Method and Processing Flow of Airgun Source Data

With its high repeatability,the airgun source has been used to monitor the temporal variations of subsurface structures. However,under different working conditions,there will be subtle differences in the airgun source signals. To some extent,deconvolution can eliminate changes of the recorded signals due to source variations. Generally speaking,in order to remove the airgun source wavelet signal and obtain the Green's functions between the airgun source and stations,we need to select an appropriate method to perform the deconvolution process for seismic waveform data. Frequency domain water level deconvolution and time domain iterative deconvolution are two kinds of deconvolution methods widely used in the field of receiver functions,etc. We use the Binchuan( in Yunnan Province,China) airgun data as an example to compare the performance of these two deconvolution methods in airgun source data processing. The results indicate that frequency domain water level deconvolution is better in terms of computational efficiency;time domain iterative deconvolution is better in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio( SNR),and the initial motion of P-wave is also clearer. We further discuss the sequence issue of deconvolution and stack for multiple-shot airgun data processing. Finally,we propose a general processing flow for the airgun source data to extract the Green 's functions between the airgun source and stations.

Research on Energy Radiation Characteristics of an Airgun Source Excited in Land Reservoir

The energy radiation process of an airgun seismic source in land reservoir is studied based on the underwater wavelet data collected in the airgun excitation experiments in Binchuan, Yunnan, China. The empirical formula for calculating the bubble pulsation period and the maximum radius of the underwater airgun seismic source is obtained. The results show that: ① The energy radiation efficiency is higher vertically than horizontally. ② The vertical bubble energy radiation efficiency increases with the increase of the air supply pressure. ③ The vertical energy radiation efficiency of the airgun seismic source is 9.4% when the air supply pressure is 15 MPa. ④ The higher the air supply pressure, the further the propagating distance of the superposition-enhanced pressure wave of an airgun source.

Reliability Evaluation on Weak Signal Extraction for Airgun Source Surveys

Based on the data synthesis simulation and the actual processing of the airgun seismic source signal,three quantitative indicators of signal-to-noise ratio,waveform correlation coefficient and phase offset,are superimposed. We systematically evaluate the functions of the following three stack methods including linearity,phase weighting and S-transform in the extraction of weak signals under strong background noise and quantitatively estimate the reliability of the stack results. Through the comprehensive discussion of the above three methods of stack results,the preliminary comparative analysis believes that the linear stack signal-to-noise ratio is low,but the waveform distortion is minimal; the phase-weighted superimposed signal-to-noise ratio is high and the phase offset is small,but the results of the waveform quality and linear stack are larger than the deviation; the S-transform stack has a relatively higher signal-to-noise ratio and a small loss of waveform amplitude,but there is a certain phase shift phenomenon. It is therefore suggested that linear stack technology should be used when the requirements of both waveform quality and time precision are high. However,the selection of the stack method when the airgun source excitation is limited should be emphasized. If high fidelity is required, the S-transform stack method should be selected; if the required time is high,accuracy can be selected by phase-weighted stack method to achieve reasonable extraction of weak signals.

Drift Control Technology Using Wire-Suspension for the Airgun Source Platform in Qilian Mountain

There are several key issues in dynamic monitoring of subsurface structures,such as signal-to-noise ratio( SNR),repeatability of seismic sources and accurate measurement of velocity. Using a large volume airgun source,we constructed a high-performance active system which mainly consists of airgun excitation and signal reception. In order to reduce the platform drift from the shot position,we put forward the platform drift control technique. Experimental results show that the technique can effectively solve the problem of platform drift from the set position under fluid impact after airgun excitation. The results of this study can be a reference for repeated airgun source detection at certain excitation sites.

A Comparative Study on the Excitation of Large Volume Airgun Source with Different Combinations in Hutubi,Xinjiang,China

In order to study the excitation of large-volume airgun source with different combinations in Hutubi,Xinjiang,China,we conducted a targeted experiment.The method of timefrequency analysis is used to study the signals recorded by a seismometer on the shore of the excited pool,and it is concluded that different gun combinations will lead to different frequency of bubble pulse signals.Besides,linear combination method is used to analyze the signal-to-noise ratios of signals excited by different gun combinations which was recorded by seismic stations around the airgun source.In order to improve the signal-tonoise ratios,it is more effective to increase the activation energy(the number of excited guns at the same time)than to stack the excited signals with smaller energy repeatedly.

Illuminating high-resolution crustal fault zones using multi-scale dense arrays and airgun source

High-resolution imaging of fault zone structure and its temporal changes can not only advance our understanding of earthquake physics,but is also critical for better seismic hazard preparation and mitigation.In the past a few years,we deployed multi-scale dense arrays across the Chenghai fault system in Binchuan,Yunnan,China.The first array consisted of 381 intermediate-period three-component seismometers with an average station spacing of~2 km.The array has been deployed in the field for~3 months in 2017 and recorded numerous local and teleseismic earthquakes.Travel time analyses based on teleseismic earthquakes and an airgun source in the region indicated clear signature of low-velocity fault zones in the southern branch of the Chenghai fault system.In 2018 we deployed two other linear arrays using the same instruments with much smaller inter-station spacing,e.g.30-50 m,across the southern branch the Chenghai fault.The profile lengths were 8 and 5 km,respectively.Record sections of the airgun source on the two linear arrays clearly marked a low-velocity zone(LVZ)within the southern array but no such signature in the northern array,suggesting along-strike variation of the LVZ.Although the instruments within our dense arrays had an intermediate frequency band,we demonstrated that they were capable of characterizing crustal structure with techniques commonly applied to broadband signals such as receiver functions.To our best knowledge,this was the first time to have multi-scale across-fault dense arrays with three-component seismometers in such apertures.These results lay out the pavement to comprehensively investigate fault zone structures as well as to derive subsurface structural changes using dense arrays and the airgun source.

Practices and Advances in Exploring the Subsurface Structure and Its Temporal Evolution with Repeatable Artificial Sources

The earth's structure may change with time under natural or anthropogenic loading.Monitoring the subtle changes of the subsurface structure with repeatable seismic sources such as repeating earthquakes,ambient seismic noise and artificial sources has become one of the hot topics in seismological research. These studies provide important clues in understanding the physical process of hazardous events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In this review we introduce the practices and advances in exploring and monitoring the subsurface structure with artificial seismic sources. This review is orgainzed as follows. Firstly,we describe the studies on the characteristics of different types of seismic source( especially the airgun source). Then the advances on data processing and mechanical understanding are depicted. At the end of this review,we reveal the prospects of future study of exploration and monitoring of the subsurface structure and its temporal variations using artificial sources.

Attenuation Characteristics of Earthquake Ground Motion for Large Volume Airgun

In order to further deepen the understanding of seismic wave propagation characteristics induced by the large volume airgun source,experimental data from multiple fixed excitation points in Fujian Province were used to obtain the equivalent single excitation high signal-to-noise ratio velocity and displacement records through linear stacking and simulation techniques.Then the peak displacements of different epicentral distances were used to calculate the equivalent magnitude of the airgun source excitation at different fixed excitation points so as to establish the attenuation relationship between equivalent magnitude,epicenter distance and velocity peak.Our results show that:①Within 270 km of epicentral distance,for the large-volume airgun’s single shot,the peak velocity range is about 700-4 nm/s,and the peak displacement range is about 200.0-0.2 nm;②The equivalent magnitude of the P-wave from the airgun source with a total capacity of 8,000 in 3 is 0.181-0.760,and the equivalent magnitude of the S-wave is 0.294-0.832.By contrast,the equivalent magnitude of the P-wave from the airgun source with a total capacity of 12,000 in 3 is 0.533-0.896,and the equivalent magnitude of the S-wave is 0.611-0.946.The S-wave energy is greater than the P-wave energy,and the excitation efficiency varies greatly with different excitation environment;③The peak velocity increases with the equivalent magnitude,and decreases with the epicentral distance.The vertical component of the P-wave peak velocity is the largest among those three components,while the S-wave has the smallest vertical component and similar horizontal components.Hence,our research can provide an important basis for the quantitative judgment of the seismic wave propagation distance using the airgun and the design of the observation system in deep exploration or monitoring with airgun.

The Seasonal Variation of Large Volume Airgun Signals in Hutubi,Xinjiang

In order to study the seasonal variation of large volume airgun signals in Hutubi,Xinjiang,we analyzed 2,936 signals of airgun source excitations during 2015-2016 received by a seismograph on the bank of the excitation pool.Firstly,the RMS value of the signal amplitude and the daily average temperature were compared after linearly superimposing the signal in days,to analyze the influence of the surface ice cover on the excitation energy release of the airgun source.The result shows that the ice cover will reduce the excitation energy,and the thicker the ice cover is,the more obvious the excitation energy reduces.Secondly,the time-frequency analysis method was used to analyze the influence of the surface ice cover on the signal frequency.It is concluded that the existence of the ice cover has little effect on the signal frequency,but it will affect the intensity of the signal around 4 Hz between 1-2 s after excitation.The cause of these phenomena is that the ice cover affects the bubble oscillation,which in turn affects the energy conversion.The study shows that when using the cross-correlation delay method to calculate the wave velocity,the signals can be divided into two periods according to the daily average temperature:with or without ice cover on the upper surface of the excitation pool.This can help eliminate the influence of the source variation and improve the accuracy of the monitoring results.

Study on the Influence of Airgun Excitation Conditions on Airgun Signals and Travel Time Variation Measurements

Because of the different excitation conditions of the airgun source,there will be subtle differences in airgun signals.Travel time variation of airgun signals often mix into source information which can’t fully reflect the evolution of the medium.This article uses the airgun signals from the Binchuan Transmitting Seismic Station to analyze the airgun signal′s characteristics of phase and correlation.We conducted a comparative analysis of the effects of the pair difference method and the deconvolution method on eliminating the influence of the excitation conditions in travel time variation.The results show that:(1)The pressure pulse and its subsequent wave of airgun source wavelet are less affected by excitation conditions that we can use it to obtain high-precision excitation moments.(2)Deconvolution can improve the correlation of the airgun signal.(3)The pair difference method can’t eliminate the influence of excitation conditions in travel time variation.Deconvolution can reduce excitation condition interference and the influence of the excitation condition in the travel time variation after deconvolution of the vertical signal is significantly reduced.

Characteristics of Airgun Signals Excited in the Yangtze River from Analysis of Data from Permanent Stations

The Anhui Experiment, a pilot experiment of "Yangtze River Geoscience Project "conducted in October,2015,is a large active-source experiment using airgun sources. It was the first 3-dimensional seismic survey with active sources in the Yangtze River. The sources are airguns in 20 fixed shot points,and the observation system consists mainly of109 permanent stations and 11 wide-angle profiles. Using the data from permanent stations,we investigated the seismic signals generated by airgun sources in the Yangtze River. The results show that the airgun signals are observable in the records from permanent stations to a maximum distance of 300 km. Further analysis on absolute amplitude of airgun signals shows that:( 1) the strength of airgun signals is of the order of10 nm at 50 km away from the source,and then,decreases significantly to less than 1nm at 200 km;( 2) an azimuthal anisotropy is observed in spatial distribution of the strength of airgun signals,which may be related to the geometry of Yangtze River; and( 3) a low ambient noise level is essential for retrieving weak airgun signals from the records,and the high-quality China National Seismic Network and regional networks offer a great opportunity to retrieving airgun signals with amplitude as small as nanometers.

An Experimental Study on Modulating the Large Volume Airgun Array Signals through Asynchronous Excitation

Large volume airgun arrays have been widely used in exploring and monitoring underground structures for nearly a decade.Nowadays,large volume airgun arrays adopt the synchronous excitation mode,and source characteristics are controlled by the source signal of a single airgun,which to some extent limits its application.In order to realize the asynchronous excitation of the airgun array,we developed a new firing system for the airgun array,and carried out a field experiment in the Binchuan Fixed Airgun Signal Transmission station to study the influences of the asynchronous excitation on the source signal.The experimental results show that:the newly developed airgun array firing system can ignite the airguns according to the setting time series with high precision.By designing the excitation time series,the asynchronous excitation can enhance the energy of airgun source signal at 3-5 Hz,and reduce the energy of pressure pulse wave at 6-18 Hz.The signal detection capability of the asynchronous excitation with time series mode is equivalent to the synchronous excitation.

Comparative Study on Two Methods for Measuring Wave Velocity Change of Crustal Medium Based on Large Volume Airgun Excitation Data

This paper proposes the application of dynamic programming method to calculate the relative change of wave velocities and compares its similarities and differences with the cross-correlation delay estimation method based on interference.The results show that:①the trend of wave velocities obtained by cross-correlation method and dynamic programming method are consistent.Besides,it is considered that the calculated result using cross-correlation delay method is reliable.②Compared with the cross-correlation delay method,the calculated result of the dynamic programming method has a magnifying effect and is more sensitive to small disturbances.③Under ideal conditions,the wave velocity change trend calculated by P-wave and S-wave phase should be consistent.In addition,the cross-correlation delay method is used to calculate the wave velocity change.Under appropriate conditions,the process of recovering from the suspected wave velocity before the M_L1.1 earthquake near the airgun source can be observed.

Study on Azimuth Variation of Airgun Signal Propagation

Based on the data recorded by the observation network during the intensive excitation period from November to December 2015 at Binchuan Earthquake Signal Transmitting Seismic Station(BESTSS)in Yunnan Province,the noise in waveform recording is removed by S-transform template filtering method,and the azimuth of airgun signal propagation is calculated and analyzed from the horizontal waveform recordings.The results show that:①the azimuth angle of airgun signal after propagation is sensitive to stress change,and can clearly reflect the diurnal variation of tidal stress,which can be used to monitor the change of stress state in crustal medium;②the azimuth angle of airgun signal in some stations has changed abruptly after propagation on December 4,which may be related to the change of airgun source;③five-shot superposition or fivepoint smoothing of azimuth angle of single shot are carried out for airgun signals in stations far away from epicenter,and results show that azimuth angle from superposition or smoothing is more stable and has clear diurnal variation characteristics after propagation.

基于甘肃气枪主动源的“地下云图”构建

在陆地气枪主动源技术系统不断发展的基础上,使用地震层析成像和计算机图像处理技术,把地震波物理参数(地震波速度和v P/v S)演化过程以气象云图的形式表现出来,达到“看图识天气”的目的。利用地震波速“地下云图”的结果开展地震孕育过程和机理研究,深入了解强震发生前后震源区地震波速度和波速比的时空演化表征,总结提取具有普适性的地震学前兆参数及其指标,对进一步提高地震预测预报效能有着重要科学意义。