Indirect determination of shear wave velocity in slow formations using full-wave sonic logging technique

This article presents a case study concerning a seismic characterization project.Full-wave sonic logging was used to characterize the shallow compressional wave and shear wave velocity profiles in the site.Anomalous values of the Poisson’s ratio derived from the velocity profiles suggested that the boreholes might have traversed slow formations(i.e.with shear wave velocity smaller than the borehole fluid compressional wave velocity or“mud-wave speed”)and that conventional processing of the sonic logs might have misinterpreted the direct arrivals of fluid acoustic waves as arrivals caused by shear wave propagation in the rock.Consequently,the shear wave velocity profiles provided by the contractor were considered to be unreliable by the project team.To address these problems,a non-conventional determination of the shear wave velocity was implemented,based on the relationship between the Poisson’s ratio of the rock formation and the shape of the first train of sonic waves which arrived to the receivers in the sonic probe.The relationship was determined based on several hundreds of finite element simulations of the acoustic wave propagation in boreholes with the same diameter as used in the perforations.The present article describes how this non-conventional approach was developed and implemented to obtain the shear wave velocity profiles from the raw sonic logs.The approach allows an extension of the range of applicability of full-wave sonic logging to determination of shear wave velocity profiles in formations with low compressional wave velocities.The method could be used to obtain shear wave velocity profiles where compressional wave velocity is as low as slightly larger than the mud-wave speed.A sample sonic log in Log ASCII Standard(LAS)format is provided as supplementary material to this paper via Mendeley Data,together with the FORTRAN source code used to process the log following the approach described in this study.

S-wave velocity and Poisson's ratio structure of crust in Yunnan and its implication

Receiver function of body wave under the 23 stations in Yunnan was extracted from 3-component broadband digital recording of teleseismic event. Thus, the S-wave velocity structure and distribution characteristics of Poisson's ratio in crust of Yunnan are obtained by inversion. The results show that the crustal thickness is gradually thinned from north to south. The crustal thickness in Zhongdian of northwest reaches as many as 62.0 km and the one in Jinghong of further south end is only 30.2 km. What should be especially noted is that there exists a Moho upheaval running in NS in the Chuxiong region and a Moho concave is generally parallel to it in Dongchuan. In addition, there exists an obvious transversal inhomogeneity for the S-wave velocity structure in upper mantle and crust in the Yunnan region. The low velocity layer exists not only in 10.0-15.0 km in upper crust in some regions, but also in 30.0-40.0 km in lower crust. Generally, the Poisson's ratio is on the high side, however it has a better corresponding relation to the crustal velocity structure. An obvious block distribution feature is still shown on such a high background of Poisson's ratio. It is discovered by synthetically analyzing the velocity structure and Poisson's ratio distribution that there are high Poisson's ratio and complicated crust-mantle velocity structure feature in the Sichuan-Yunnan Diamond Block with Xiaojiang fault to be the east boundary and Yulong Snow Mountain fault to be the west boundary besides the frequent seismicity. This feature differs obviously from that of surrounding areas, which would provide geophysical evidence to deeply study the eastwardly flowage of lithospheric substances in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Interpretation of S-Wave Data from Fanshi-Taipusiqi DSS Profile and Analysis of Correlation between Deep Structural Characteristics and Seismicity

By processing S-wave data from the Fanshi-Huai’an-Taipusiqi DSS profile,which is a three-component,wide-angle reflection/refraction profile,and in the light of the results from P-wave interpretation,two-dimensional(2-D)structures of the crust and upper mantle are presented,including S-wave velocity Vs and the physical parameter of medium-Poisson’s ratio a.Taking other geological and geophysical information into account,and with reference to the results from petrophysical experiments at home and abroad,we carried out interpretation and inference with respect to deep crustal structure,tectonics,and lithologic characters.It has been concluded that in the upper and middle crust,a values are mostly not greater than 0.25,and rocks,which generally assume brittle,are mainly composed of granite; the rocks in the lower layer of the upper crust between Yangyuan-Huai’an containing inorganic CO2 itself releases carbon; for the rocks in the lower crust and crust-mantle transitional zone,which are comparatively

A new method to constrain shallow crustal S-wave velocities based on direct P-wave amplitudes in receiver functions and its application in northeastern Tibet

A new method is developed to constrain S-wave velocity structures of the shallow crust based on frequencydependent amplitudes of direct P-waves in P-wave receiver functions(P-RFs). This method involves the following two steps:first, the high-frequency approximate amplitude formula of direct P-waves in P-RFs of individual stations is used to fit the observed amplitude distribution against the ray parameters at different frequencies, and second, the S-wave velocity depth profile beneath each station is constrained according to an empirical correlation between frequency and depth. Unlike traditional inversion techniques, the newly developed method is not dependent on initial velocity models, and the lateral and vertical resolutions of the results are controlled by the interstation distance and the data frequency, respectively. The effectiveness of the method is verified by synthetic tests on various models. The method is then applied to teleseismic P-RF data from a NW-SEtrending linear seismic array extending from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau to the central Sichuan Basin to construct an S-wave velocity image of the shallow crust along the array. The imaged velocity structure is further analysed and compared with the regional geology. In particular, the structural differences of sedimentary basins in the cratonic area of the stable Sichuan Basin and tectonically active belts in northeastern Tibet are investigated. By combining our results with previous observations, the relationship between the surficial geology and deep processes in the study region is also discussed.

Poisson's ratios and S-wave velocities of the Xishancun landslide,Sichuan,China,inferred from high-frequency receiver functions of local earthquakes

Landslides are recurrent geological phenomena on Earth that cause heavy casualties and property losses annually.In this study,we use the V_(p)-k stacking and nonlinear waveform inversion methods of high-frequency receiver functions extracted from local earthquakes,to sequentially invert Poisson’s ratios and S-wave velocities of the Quaternary Xishancun landslide,which is composed of three segments,i.e.,h1,h2,and h3 from bottom to top.Our results show that Poisson’s ratio values are generally higher than 0.33 and that the S-wave velocities vary from 0.1 to 0.9 km s^(-1).High Poisson’s ratios(>0.44)are mainly distributed in the juncture regions between different segments,as well as the western edge of h2.These zones show significant variation in landslide thickness and are potentially hazardous areas.Low velocities of 0.05–0.2 km s^(-1)with thicknesses of 10–30m are widely observed in the lower layer of the landslide.The high Poisson’s ratios and low-velocity layer may be related to water-rich materials in these areas.Our study suggests that the high-frequency receiver functions from local earthquakes can be used to delineate geotechnical structures,which is valuable for landslide stability analysis and hazard mitigation.

Petrophysical properties and their influencing factors of carbonates in the fourth member of Sinian Dengying Formation, Sichuan Basin, SW China

Based on the measurements of petrological, petrophysical and elastic properties of the samples of different sedimentary facies in the fourth member of Sinian Dengying Formation (Deng 4 Member) in the Sichuan Basin, the diagenetic processes of reservoirs of different sedimentary facies and their controls on the petrophysical properties were discussed. The results show that cracks and mineral composition jointly control the petrophysical properties, and both are significantly influenced by sedimentary environment and diagenesis. The microbial dolomite of mound-shoal facies mainly experienced multi-stage dolomitization, penecontemporaneous dissolution, tectonic rupture and hydrothermal/organic acid dissolution processes, giving rise to cracks and dissolved pores. The grannular dolomite of inter-mound-shoal bottomland or dolomitic lagoon facies mainly underwent mechanical compaction, burial dolomitization and tectonic-hydrothermal action, creating cracks and intercrystalline pores. The diagenesis related to crack development increases the pressure- and saturation-dependent effects of samples, leading to significant decrease in the compressional wave impedance and Poisson's ratio. Dolomitization changes the properties of mineral particles, resulting in a Poisson's ratio close to dolomite. The muddy, siliceous and calcareous sediments in the low-energy environment lead to the decrease of impedance and the differential change of Poisson's ratio (significantly increased or decreased). The samples with both cracks and dissolved pores show high P-wave velocity dispersion characteristics, and the P-wave velocity dispersion of samples with only fractures or pores is the lowest.

Experimental study on dynamic elastic parameters of coal samples

Dynamic elastic parameters of coal are closely linked to crack characteristics and are lithology indicators in seismic exploration. This experimental study measured ultrasonic wave velocity of coal samples considering both parallel(90°) and perpendicular(0°) to bedding planes, and then calculated the dynamic elastic parameters(Edand ld) and their anisotropy values(AEdand Ald). The variations of Edand ld,as well as AEdand Aldwere analyzed under various confining stresses. The results show that: Firstly, a critical confining pressure exists, and significant variation in the parameters can be seen below this point and weak variation appears above it. Secondly, a positive correlation exists between Edand the square of P-wave velocity(VP2), and between AEdand the P-wave velocity anisotropy(AEP) as well; however, there is no clear correlation between ldand P-wave velocity(VP). Thirdly, according to the major controlling factors of anisotropy, the coal samples with different Edand ldas well as AEdand Aldcan be divided into two types: one is mainly controlled by bedding and cracks and the other one is mainly controlled by differences of mineral compositions in directions. Consequently, this study can provide theoretical basis for future research on the dynamic elastic parameters and anisotropy of coal.

Allowable Bearing Capacity for Shallow Foundation in Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria

P-wave and S-wave velocities were obtained from seismic refraction survey in the foundation layer of Eket, the study area. The Tezcan’s approach discussed extensively in the work was used in conjunction with the existing mathematical relations between elastic parameters and seismic refraction velocities for the study of foundation layers in the study area. Based on the results, the elastic constants, allowable bearing pressure/capacity, ultimate bearing capacity and other parameters in Table 1 were determined. The result shows that allowable bearing pressure increases with increase in shear modulus and shear wave velocity. The empirical relation between allowable bearing capacity and shear modulus shows that the allowable bearing capacity increases with depth. Comparing our findings with some ranges of safe allowable bearing capacities of similar non cohesive/granular soils in literatures, the second layer with allowable bearing capacity range of 72.56 - 206.63 kN·m-2?(average = 154.78 kN·m-2) has been considered to be the safe shallow engineering foundation in the study area. The empirical relations between allowable bearing capacities shear modulus and shear wave velocity, in conjunction with the inferred maps, which serve as our findings, will be used as guide in the location of foundations. The inferred ultimate and allowable capacities correlate maximally for the two shallow foundations penetrated by the seismic waves. This perfect correlation reflects the uniqueness of the method.

East-west crustal structure and “down-bowing” Moho under the northern Tibet revealed by wide-angle seismic profile

We recognized 6 sets of reflecting P- and S-wave events from Moho and other interfaces within the crust, respectively, with the wide-angle seismic data acquired from 510 km-long Selincuo-Ya'anduo profile in the northern Tibet, fitted the observed events with forward modeling, and interpreted crustal structure of P- and S-wave velocities and Poisson's ratio under the profile. The results demonstrate that the crustal structure between Yarlungzangbo and Bangong-Nujiang sutures changes abruptly, and the crust is the thickest at the middle part of the profile with thickness of 80 km or more. The 'down-bowing' Moho is the striking feature for the crustal variation along the west-east direction. The Moho uplifts with steps, and the uplifting rate westward is greater than that eastward. The heterogeneity of P- and S-wave velocities exists both vertically and horizontally, and one lower velocity layer (LVL) exists with the depth range of 27-34 km and the thickness range of 5-7 km. For the upper crust, Poisson's ratio is the lowest at the middle part of the profile; for the lower crust, the Poisson's ratio at the east segment is lower than that at west segment, which means that the crustal rigidity for the upper crust is different from the lower crust, and the lower crust under the east segment of the profile is more ductile. We infer that the substance in the lower crust endured eastward flow along with the collision between Eurasian and Indian plates, and the 'down-bowing' Moho is attributable to the multi-phase E-W tectonic processes.