High-resolution crustal velocity imaging using ambient noise recordings from a high-density seismic array:An example from the Shangrao section of the Xinjiang basin,China

A profile of shallow crustal velocity structure(1–2 km) may greatly enhance interpretation of the sedimentary environment and shallow tectonic deformation.Recent advances in surface wave tomography, using ambient noise data recorded with high-density seismic arrays, have improved the understanding of regional crustal structure. As the interest in detailed shallow crustal structure imaging has increased, dense seismic array methods have become increasingly efficient. This study used a high-density seismic array deployed in the Xinjiang basin in southeastern China, to record seismic data, which was then processed with the ambient noise tomography method. The high-density seismic array contained 203 short-period seismometers, spaced at short intervals(～ 400 m). The array collected continuous records of ambient noise for 32 days. Data preprocessing,cross correlation calculation, and Rayleigh surface wave phase-velocity dispersion curve extraction, yielded more than 16,000 Rayleigh surface wave phase-velocity dispersion curves, which were then analyzed using the direct-inversion method. Checkerboard tests indicate that the shear wave velocity is recovered in the study area, at depths of 0–1.4 km,with a lateral image resolution of ～ 400 m. Model test results show that the seismic array effectively images a 50 m thick slab at a depth of 0–300 m, a 150 m thick anomalous body at a depth of 300–600 m, and a 400 m thick anomalous body at a depth of 0.6–1.4 km. The shear wave velocity profile reveals features very similar to those detected by a deep seismic reflection profile across the study area. This demonstrates that analysis of shallow crustal velocity structure provides high-resolution imaging of crustal features.Thus, ambient noise tomography with a high-density seismic array may play an important role in imaging shallow crustal structure.

Accurate Source-Receiver Positioning Method for a High-Resolution Deep-Towed Multichannel Seismic Exploration System

The near-seabed multichannel seismic exploration systems have yielded remarkable successes in marine geological disaster assessment,marine gas hydrate investigation,and deep-sea mineral exploration owing to their high vertical and horizontal resolution.However,the quality of deep-towed seismic imaging hinges on accurate source-receiver positioning information.In light of existing technical problems,we propose a novel array geometry inversion method tailored for high-resolution deep-towed multichannel seismic exploration systems.This method is independent of the attitude and depth sensors along a deep-towed seismic streamer,accounting for variations in seawater velocity and seabed slope angle.Our approach decomposes the towed line array into multiline segments and characterizes its geometric shape using the line segment distance and pitch angle.Introducing optimization parameters for seawater velocity and seabed slope angle,we establish an objective function based on the model,yielding results that align with objective reality.Employing the particle swarm optimization algorithm enables synchronous acquisition of optimized inversion results for array geometry and seawater velocity.Experimental validation using theoretical models and practical data verifies that our approach effectively enhances source and receiver positioning inversion accuracy.The algorithm exhibits robust stability and reliability,addressing uncertainties in seismic traveltime picking and complex seabed topography conditions.

Method of high-density seismic imaging exploration and application samples

The paper introduces the method of high-density seismic imaging exploration, discusses its features different from conventional shallow seismic reflection wave technique, and illustrates the application effect of the method using three samples of engineering geological explorations on land and in water exploration of underground cavity, location survey of sunk ship and investigation of channel silt depth.

Determination of the local magnitudes of small earthquakes using a dense seismic array in the Changning-Zhaotong Shale Gas Field,Southern Sichuan Basin

With the development of unconventional shale gas in the southern Sichuan Basin,seismicity in the region has increased significantly in recent years.Though the existing sparse regional seismic stations can capture most earthquakes with ML≥2.5,a great number of smaller earthquakes are often omitted due to limited detection capacity.With the advent of portable seismic nodes,many dense arrays for monitoring seismicity in the unconventional oil and gas fields have been deployed,and the magnitudes of those earthquakes are key to understand the local fault reactivation and seismic potentials.However,the current national standard for determining the local magnitudes was not specifically designed for monitoring stations in close proximity,utilizing a calibration function with a minimal resolution of 5 km in the epicentral distance.That is,the current national standard tends to overestimate the local magnitudes for stations within short epicentral distances,and can result in discrepancies for dense arrays.In this study,we propose a new local magnitude formula which corrects the overestimated magnitudes for shorter distances,yielding accurate event magnitudes for small earthquakes in the Changning-Zhaotong shale gas field in the southern Sichuan Basin,monitored by dense seismic arrays in close proximity.The formula is used to determine the local magnitudes of 7,500 events monitored by a two-phased dense array with several hundred 5 Hz 3 C nodes deployed from the end of February 2019 to early May 2019 in the Changning-Zhaotong shale gas field.The magnitude of completeness(MC)using the dense array is-0.1,compared to MC 1.1 by the sparser Chinese Seismic Network(CSN).In addition,using a machine learning detection and picking procedure,we successfully identify and process some 14,000 earthquakes from the continuous waveforms,a ten-fold increase over the catalog recorded by CSN for the same period,and the MC is further reduced to-0.3 from-0.1 compared to the catalog obtained via manual processing using the same dense array.The proposed local magnitude formula can be adopted for calculating accurate local magnitudes of future earthquakes using dense arrays in the shale gas fields of the Sichuan Basin.This will help to better characterize the local seismic risks and potentials.

Improving Airgun Signal Detection with Small-Aperture Seismic Array in Yunnan

Repeating airgun sources are eco-friendly sources for monitoring the changes in the physical properties of subsurface mediums,but their signals decay quickly and are buried in the noises soon after traveling short distances.Stacking waveforms from different airgun shots recorded by a single seismic station(shot stacking)is the most popular technique to detect weak signals from noisy backgrounds,and has been widely used to process the data of Fixed Airgun Signal Transmission Stations(FASTS)in China.However,shot stacking sacrifices the time resolution in monitoring to recover a qualified airgun signal by stacking many shots at distance stations,and also suffers from persistent local noises.In this paper,we carried out several small-aperture seismic array experiments around the Binchuan FAST Station(BCFASTS)in Yunnan Province,China,and applied the array technique to improve airgun signal detection.The results show that seismic array processing combining with shot stacking can suppress seismic noises more efficiently,and provide better signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)and coherent airgun signals with less airgun shots.This work suggests that the array technique is a feasible and promising tool in FAST to increase the time resolution and reduce noise interference on routine monitoring.

Analysis, Implementation, and Application of Acoustic and Seismic Arrays

In this paper, we consider the analysis, implementation, and application of wideband sources using both seismic and acoustic sensors. We use the approximate maximum likelihood (AML) algorithm to perform acoustic direction of arrival (DOA). For non-uniform noise spectra, whitening filtering was applied to the received acoustic signals before the AML operation. For short-range seismic DOA applications, one method was based on eigen-decomposition of the covariance matrix and a second method was based on surface wave analysis. Two well-known optimization schemes were used to estimate the source locations from the estimated DOAs at sensors of known locations. Experimental estimation of the DOAs and resulting localizations using the acoustic and seismic signals generated by striking a heavy metal plate by a hammer were reported.

Preliminary analysis of the shear-wave splitting observations from the Qiaojia seismic array

A total of 351 shear-wave splitting results at 25 stations were obtained from the seismic data recorded in period of January,2013 to December,2016,by a broadband seismic array deployed in the northern segment of Xiaojiang Fault Zone(n-XJFZ).Meanwhile,the stress field of the n-XJFZ was determined by inverting 140 focal mechanism solutions of the small earthquakes within the study area which were recorded in the same period.This determination confirmed a compressive stress in NW-SE orientation and an extensional stress in the NE-SW orientation,with little difference from those released by previous studies.The shear-wave splitting results show a spatial complexity in polarization orientation,different from one site to another.How-ever,the polarization orientations integrated for the subareas suggest that the fault trends seemingly played important roles.All the subareas bear two dominant orientations,N10°E and N90°E,both of which are different from the azimuths of the principal compressive stress,due to the fault distribution.The time delay averaged over the entire region is 4.56 ms/km,close to that of the upper boundary of the generally accepted interval worldwide but larger than those in most of the investigated regions in the Chinese mainland,which probably implies an alignment of more micro-cracks in the n-XJFZ.Interestingly,the 2014 Ms6.5 Ludian earthquake was found to have caused a variation in the time delays of the slow shear waves within the study area though its epicenter was outside.This earthquake resulted in an evident drop of the time delays remaining for 4 months,however,lifted a bit the time-delay level with respect to that prior to the earthquake.

Calculation and analysis of correlation curves between Lanzhou Seismic Array sites and assessment of primary array

By using the waveform data recorded during the site survey of Lanzhou Seismic Array, the author calculated and analyzed the correlation of the signal and noise between the site pairs and found that the ideal radii of the two concentric rings for Lanzhou Seismic Array were 380 m and 1500 m, respectively. According to the radius limit and other requirements, nine sites were chosen to make a seismic array, and then the detection and location ability of the array were estimated.

Automatic onset phase picking for portable seismic array observation

Automatic phase picking is a critical procedure for seismic data processing, especially for a huge amount of seismic data recorded by a large-scale portable seismic array. In this study is presented a new method used for automatic accurate onset phase picking based on the proporty of dense seismic array observations. In our method, the Akaike＇s information criterion （AIC） for the single channel observation and the least-squares cross-correlation for the multi-channel observation are combined together. The tests by the seismic array observation data after triggering with the short-term average/long-term average （STA/LTA） technique show that the phase picking error is less than 0.3 s for local events by using the single channel AIC algorithm. In terms of multi-channel least-squares cross-correlation technique, the clear teleseismic P onset can be detected reliably. Even for the teleseismic records with high noise level, our algorithm is also able to effectually avoid manual misdetections.

Research of Background Noise Characteristics of the Zhangzhou Seismic Array

The data recorded during the site survey in the Zhangzhou area in Fujian Province between October 23, 2007 and December 3, 2007 was analyzed. The main methods adopted for the noise level of this area are the noise root mean square( RMS),noise power spectrum density and noise coherency function. The results indicate that the noise levels of the survey sites are higher in the 1 s-10 s periods,which is the main frequency band of preliminary microseism,and also,two main noise sources were found in 1. 5 Hz and around 5 Hz. According to arithmetic,the direction and frequency band of the noise source were analyzed and academic proofs were presented. At last,we found that the noise source in 1. 5 Hz was made by the water wave aroused by the wind in the reservoir region and the noise source around 5 Hz was made by the power station in the northeast direction.

Enhancement of Seismicity Recorded by the Qiaojia Array before the 2013 Lushan and 2014 Ludian Earthquakes

A seismic array of twenty four seismometers(Qiaojia array) operated by the Institute of Geophysics,China Earthquake Administration was situated along the Zemuhe fault and the north end of Xiaojiang fault,which is a part of the east boundary of the Chuan-Dian( Sichuan-Yunnan) rhombus crustal mass. The Qiaojia array started operation at the end of February,2012. Since then the April 20,2013 Lushan MS7. 0 earthquake and the August 3,2014 Ludian MS6. 5 earthquake have occurred in the vicinity of the Qiaojia array. The earthquake catalogue recorded by the Qiaojia array since March,2012 is used in this study. The temporal variation of the earthquake count before the Lushan event and the Ludian event is analyzed. The results are as follows:(1) A very clear gradually increasing variation of the count of M ≥ 2. 0 earthquakes within the region,where all earthquakes recorded by the Qiaojia array coverage can be found before the Lushan event and the Ludian event,and the increasing range and duration of the count before the Ludian event are both larger than those before the Lushan event.(2) In the region covered by the Qiaojia array,for earthquakes with depth h ≤10 km a rising process of the count was manifested before both events,along with a nearly same duration of about five and a half months,and for earthquakes with depths h > 10 km a rising-dropping process of the count was manifest before the Lushan event,before which the rising-dropping process appeared again. The variation of the count for earthquakes with depth h ≤ 10 km is the reverse of that for earthquakes with depth h > 10 km.(3) Within and near the region covered by the Qiaojia array,the variation of the count manifests a rising process for earthquakes with depth h ≤ 10 km or h > 10 km before the Lushan event and only for earthquakes with depth h ≤ 10 km before the Ludian event. The variation of the count manifests a weakening process for earthquakes with depth h > 10 km before the Lushan event. It is shown from the above results that the seismicity within and near the regioncovered by the Qiaojia array showed a steeply rising change before both the Lushan event and the Ludian event. This phenomenon could be revelatory to understanding the process of seismicity development.

Seismic Acquisition Parameters Analysis for Deep Weak Reflectors in the South Yellow Sea

The Mesozoic-Paleozoic marine residual basin in the South Yellow Sea(SYS) is a significant deep potential hydrocarbon reservoir. However, the imaging of the deep prospecting target is quite challenging due to the specific seismic-geological conditions. In the Central and Wunansha Uplifts, the penetration of the seismic wavefield is limited by the shallow high-velocity layers(HVLs) and the weak reflections in the deep carbonate rocks. With the conventional marine seismic acquisition technique, the deep weak reflection is difficult to image and identify. In this paper, we could confirm through numerical simulation that the combination of multi-level air-gun array and extended cable used in the seismic acquisition is crucial for improving the imaging quality. Based on the velocity model derived from the geological interpretation, we performed two-dimensional finite difference forward modeling. The numerical simulation results show that the use of the multi-level air-gun array can enhance low-frequency energy and that the wide-angle reflection received at far offsets of the extended cable has a higher signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) and higher energy. Therefore, we have demonstrated that the unconventional wide-angle seismic acquisition technique mentioned above could overcome the difficulty in imaging the deep weak reflectors of the SYS, and it may be useful for the design of practical seismic acquisition schemes in this region.

Joint Inversion of the 3D P Wave Velocity Structure of the Crust and Upper Mantle under the Southeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau Using Regional Earthquake and Teleseismic Data

The special seismic tectonic environment and frequent seismicity in the southeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau show that this area is an ideal location to study the present tectonic movement and background of strong earthquakes in China's Mainland and to predict future strong earthquake risk zones. Studies of the structural environment and physical characteristics of the deep structure in this area are helpful to explore deep dynamic effects and deformation field characteristics, to strengthen our understanding of the roles of anisotropy and tectonic deformation and to study the deep tectonic background of the seismic origin of the block＇s interior. In this paper, the three-dimensional （3D） P-wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle under the southeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is obtained via observational data from 224 permanent seismic stations in the regional digital seismic network of Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces and from 356 mobile China seismic arrays in the southern section of the north-south seismic belt using a joint inversion method of the regional earthquake and teleseismic data. The results indicate that the spatial distribution of the P-wave velocity anomalies in the shallow upper crust is closely related to the surface geological structure, terrain and lithology. Baoxing and Kangding, with their basic volcanic rocks and volcanic clastic rocks, present obvious high-velocity anomalies. The Chengdu Basin shows low-velocity anomalies associated with the Quaternary sediments. The Xichang Mesozoic Basin and the Butuo Basin are characterised by low- velocity anomalies related to very thick sedimentary layers. The upper and middle crust beneath the Chuan-Dian and Songpan-Ganzi Blocks has apparent lateral heterogeneities, including low-velocity zones of different sizes. There is a large range of low-velocity layers in the Songpan-Ganzi Block and the sub-block northwest of Sichuan Province, showing that the middle and lower crust is relatively weak. The Sichuan Basin, which is located in the western margin of the Yangtze platform, shows high-velocity characteristics. The results also reveal that there are continuous low-velocity layer distributions in the middle and lower crust of the Daliangshan Block and that the distribution direction of the low-velocity anomaly is nearly SN, which is consistent with the trend of the Daliangshan fault. The existence of the low-velocity layer in the crust also provides a deep source for the deep dynamic deformation and seismic activity of the Daliangshan Block and its boundary faults. The results of the 3D P-wave velocity structure show that an anomalous distribution of high-density, strong-magnetic and high-wave velocity exists inside the crust in the Panxi region. This is likely related to late Paleozoic mantle plume activity that led to a large number of mafic and ultra-mafic intrusions into the crust. In the crustal doming process, the massive intrusion of mantle-derived material enhanced the mechanical strength of the crustal medium. The P-wave velocity structure also revealed that the upper mantle contains a low-velocity layer at a depth of 80-120 km in the Panxi region. The existence of deep faults in the Panxi region, which provide conditions for transporting mantle thermal material into the crust, is the deep tectonic background for the area＇s strong earthquake activity.

Preliminary seismic anisotropy in the upper crust of the south segment of Xiaojiang faults and its tectonic implications

The Xiaojiang faults,striking north-tosouth(NS),and the Honghe faults,striking north-to-west(NW),are first-order block boundaries that intersect to form a concentrated stress zone at an acute angle in the southern part of the Sichuan-Yunnan rhombic block(SYB).It is also a crucial zone for material escaping from the Tibetan Plateau(TP)due to the collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.In December 2017,the Institute of Earthquake Forecasting of the China Earthquake Administration(CEA)deployed a linear temporary seismic broadband array,the Honghe-Xiaojiang temporary Seismic Array(HX Array),across first-order block boundaries in the southern SYB.By using the waveform data of small earthquakes recorded by stations in the HX Array across Xiaojiang faults from 2017 to 2019,and by permanent seismic stations of the China National Earthquake Networks from 2012 to 2019,this paper adopts the systematic analysis method of shear-wave splitting(SWS),SAM method,to obtain preliminary results for seismic anisotropy in the upper crust.The study area can be divided into two subzones according to the spatial distribution of the directions of polarization of the fast shear-wave(PFS)at the stations:the northern zone(zone A,where the HX Array is located)and the southern zone(zone B,to the south of the HX Array).The results show that the directions of the PFS at stations in zone A were highly consistent,dominant in the NE direction,correlated with the in-situ principal compressive stress,and were seemingly unaffected by the Xiaojiang faults.The directions of the PFS as recorded at stations in zone B were more complicated,and were dominant in the NS direction parallel to that of the regional principal compressive stress.This suggests the joint influence of complex tectonics and regional stress in this narrow wedge area.By referring to the azimuthal anisotropy derived from seismic ambient noise in the southeast margin of the TP,the NS direction of the PFS in the middle and lower crust,and its EW direction in the upper mantle,this paper concludes that azimuthal anisotropy in the upper crust differed from that in the lower crust in the south segment of Xiaojiang faults,at least beneath the observation area,and azimuthal anisotropy in the crust was different from that in the upper mantle.The results support the pattern of deformation of ductile flow in the lower crust,and the decoupling between the upper and lower crusts as well as that between the crust and the mantle in the study area.The crustal directions of the PFS appeared to be independent of the Xiaojiang faults,suggesting that the influence of the South China block on the SYB passed through the Xiaojiang faults to the Yimen region.The results of this study indicate that anisotropic studies based on data on the dense temporary seismic array can yield clearer tectonic information,and reveal the complex spatial distribution of stress and deformation in the upper crust of the south segment of Xiaojiang faults.

Recent advances in earthquake monitoring I:Ongoing revolution of seismic instrumentation

Seismic networks have significantly improved in the last decade in terms of coverage density,data quality,and instrumental diversity.Moreover,revolutionary advances in ultra-dense seismic instruments,such as nodes and fiber-optic sensing technologies,have recently provided unprecedented high-resolution data for regional and local earthquake monitoring.Nodal arrays have characteristics such as easy installation and flexible apertures,but are limited in power efficiency and data storage and thus most suitable as temporary networks.Fiber-optic sensing techniques,including distributed acoustic sensing,can be operated in real time with an in-house power supply and connected data storage,thereby exhibiting the potential of becoming next-generation permanent networks.Fiber-optic sensing techniques offer a powerful way of filling the observation gap particularly in submarine environments.Despite these technological advancements,various challenges remain.First,the data characteristics of fiber-optic sensing are still unclear.Second,it is challenging to construct software infrastructures to store,transfer,visualize,and process large amount of seismic data.Finally,innovative detection methods are required to exploit the potential of numerous channels.With improved knowledge about data characteristics,enhanced software infrastructures,and suitable data processing techniques,these innovations in seismic instrumentation could profoundly impact observational seismology.

A real-time AI-assisted seismic monitoring system based on new nodal stations with 4G telemetry and its application in the Yangbi M_(S) 6.4 aftershock monitoring in southwest China

A rapidly deployable dense seismic monitoring system which is capable of transmitting acquired data in real time and analyzing data automatically is crucial in seismic hazard mitigation after a major earthquake.However,it is rather difficult for current seismic nodal stations to transmit data in real time for an extended period of time,and it usually takes a great amount of time to process the acquired data manually.To monitor earthquakes in real time flexibly,we develop a mobile integrated seismic monitoring system consisting of newly developed nodal units with 4G telemetry and a real-time AI-assisted automatic data processing workflow.The integrated system is convenient for deployment and has been successfully applied in monitoring the aftershocks of the Yangbi M_(S) 6.4 earthquake occurred on May 21,2021 in Yangbi County,Dali,Yunnan in southwest China.The acquired seismic data are transmitted almost in real time through the 4G cellular network,and then processed automat-ically for event detection,positioning,magnitude calculation and source mechanism inversion.From tens of seconds to a couple of minutes at most,the final seismic attributes can be presented remotely to the end users through the integrated system.From May 27 to June 17,the real-time system has detected and located 7905 aftershocks in the Yangbi area before the internal batteries exhausted,far more than the catalog provided by China Earthquake Networks Center using the regional permanent stations.The initial application of this inte-grated real-time monitoring system is promising,and we anticipate the advent of a new era for Real-time Intelligent Array Seismology(RIAS),for better monitoring and understanding the subsurface dynamic pro-cesses caused by Earth's internal forces as well as anthropogenic activities.

A multi-channel approach for automatic microseismic event association using RANSAC-based Arrival Time Event Clustering(RATEC)

In the presence of background noise,arrival times picked from a surface microseismic data set usually include a number of false picks that can lead to uncertainty in location estimation.To eliminate false picks and improve the accuracy of location estimates,we develop an association algorithm termed RANSAC-based Arrival Time Event Clustering(RATEC)that clusters picked arrival times into event groups based on random sampling and fitting moveout curves that approximate hyperbolas.Arrival times far from the fitted hyperbolas are classified as false picks and removed from the data set prior to location estimation.Simulations of synthetic data for a 1-D linear array show that RATEC is robust under different noise conditions and generally applicable to various types of subsurface structures.By generalizing the underlying moveout model,RATEC is extended to the case of a 2-D surface monitoring array.The effectiveness of event location for the 2-D case is demonstrated using a data set collected by the 5200-element dense Long Beach array.The obtained results suggest that RATEC is effective in removing false picks and hence can be used for phase association before location estimates.

The seismicity in the middle section of the Altyn Tagh Fault system revealed by a dense nodal seismic array

The left-lateral Altyn Tagh Fault(ATF) system is the northern boundary of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, separating the Tarim Basin and the Qaidam Basin. The middle section of ATF has not recorded any large earthquakes since1598 AD, so the potential seismic hazard is unclear. We develope an earthquake catalog using continuous waveform data recorded by the Tarim-Altyn-Qaidam dense nodal seismic array from September 17 to November23, 2021 in the middle section of ATF. With the machine learning-based picker, phase association, location, match and locate workflow, we detecte 233 earthquakes with M_L-1–3, far more than 6 earthquakes in the routine catalog. Combining with focal mechanism solutions and the local fault structure, we find that seismic events are clustered along the ATF with strike-slip focal mechanisms and on the southern secondary faults with thrusting focal mechanisms. This overall seismic activity in the middle section of the ATF might be due to the northeastward transpressional motion of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau block at the western margin of the Qaidam Basin.

Seismic active faults in the northwestern Beijing by seismic tomography

Using the arrival times of 197 earthquakes well recorded by the Beijing Seismic Network and the China-Germany cooperative Yanqing Digital Seismic Array in the period from October of 2001 to December of 2005, we accurately relocate these earthquakes by the joint-inversion program for hypocentral position and 3-D velocity structure The distribution of hypocenters shows that there are two major seismic active belts in the northwestern Beijing. The first belt stretches from Qinghe, Wenquan to the NW direction and the second extends from Nankou, Changping to the ENE direction.