This paper reviews a new understanding of shear-wave splitting （seismic-birefringence） that is a fundamental revision of conventional fluid-rock deformation. It is a New Geophysics with implications for almost all s...This paper reviews a new understanding of shear-wave splitting （seismic-birefringence） that is a fundamental revision of conventional fluid-rock deformation. It is a New Geophysics with implications for almost all solid-earth geosciences, including hydrocarbon exploration and production, and earthquake forecasting. Widespread observations of shear-wave splitting show that deformation in in situ rocks is controlled by stress-aligned fluid-saturated grain-boundary cracks and preferentially orientated pores and pore-throats pervasive in almost all igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks in the Earth＇s crust. These fluid-saturated microcracks are the most compliant elements of the rock-mass and control rock deformation. The degree of splitting shows that the microcracks in almost all rocks are so closely spaced that they verge on fracture-criticality and failure by fracturing, and are critical systems with the “butterfly wing＇s” sensitivity of all critical systems. As a result of this crack-criticality, evolution of fluid-saturated stress-aligned microcracked rock under changing conditions can be modelled with anisotropic poroelasticity （APE）. Consequently, low-level deformation can be： monitored with shear-wave splitting; future behaviour calculated with APE; future behaviour predicted with APE, if the change in conditions can be quantified; and in principle, future behaviour controlled by feed-back. This paper reviews our current understanding of the New Geophysics of low-level pre-fracturing deformation.展开更多
We present an example of using converted-waves for characterizing onshore gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin in Northwest China. The Ordos basin is the largest gas province in China. The main gas reservoirs （about 3 3...We present an example of using converted-waves for characterizing onshore gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin in Northwest China. The Ordos basin is the largest gas province in China. The main gas reservoirs （about 3 300 m in depth） are in upper Paleozoic sandstone that has low or reversed P-wave impedance and is immediately above a coal seam. This makes it very difficult to image the gas reservoirs using conventional P-wave data. Analysis of core, log and VSP data shows a weak PP reflection but a relatively strong PS-converted wave reflection, or both strong PP- and PS-reflections but with opposite polarity from the gas bearing sands, which indicates the potential of using PS-waves to image the gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin. Subsequently, thirteen seismic lines were acquired, processed and interpreted to verify the PP- and PS-responses, and two corresponding attributes （PP- and PS- amplitude ratio and polarity ratio） are used to map the reservoirs through joint PP and PS analysis.展开更多
文摘This paper reviews a new understanding of shear-wave splitting （seismic-birefringence） that is a fundamental revision of conventional fluid-rock deformation. It is a New Geophysics with implications for almost all solid-earth geosciences, including hydrocarbon exploration and production, and earthquake forecasting. Widespread observations of shear-wave splitting show that deformation in in situ rocks is controlled by stress-aligned fluid-saturated grain-boundary cracks and preferentially orientated pores and pore-throats pervasive in almost all igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks in the Earth＇s crust. These fluid-saturated microcracks are the most compliant elements of the rock-mass and control rock deformation. The degree of splitting shows that the microcracks in almost all rocks are so closely spaced that they verge on fracture-criticality and failure by fracturing, and are critical systems with the “butterfly wing＇s” sensitivity of all critical systems. As a result of this crack-criticality, evolution of fluid-saturated stress-aligned microcracked rock under changing conditions can be modelled with anisotropic poroelasticity （APE）. Consequently, low-level deformation can be： monitored with shear-wave splitting; future behaviour calculated with APE; future behaviour predicted with APE, if the change in conditions can be quantified; and in principle, future behaviour controlled by feed-back. This paper reviews our current understanding of the New Geophysics of low-level pre-fracturing deformation.
文摘We present an example of using converted-waves for characterizing onshore gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin in Northwest China. The Ordos basin is the largest gas province in China. The main gas reservoirs （about 3 300 m in depth） are in upper Paleozoic sandstone that has low or reversed P-wave impedance and is immediately above a coal seam. This makes it very difficult to image the gas reservoirs using conventional P-wave data. Analysis of core, log and VSP data shows a weak PP reflection but a relatively strong PS-converted wave reflection, or both strong PP- and PS-reflections but with opposite polarity from the gas bearing sands, which indicates the potential of using PS-waves to image the gas reservoirs in the Ordos basin. Subsequently, thirteen seismic lines were acquired, processed and interpreted to verify the PP- and PS-responses, and two corresponding attributes （PP- and PS- amplitude ratio and polarity ratio） are used to map the reservoirs through joint PP and PS analysis.
