Ambient Noise Tomography for Coral Islands

Abstract

As valuable land in the ocean, coral islands are not only important bases for making use of marine resources and protecting marine rights and interests, but also important for breakthrough research in many fields of earth science. Hence, the economical and efficient determination of the underground structure of coral islands has become significant in coral island engineering geology, but remains challenging for traditional marine geophysical prospecting and drilling methods. While ambient noise tomography with dense arrays has been widely used in continental regions, its applicability to coral islands remains undetermined. In this study, based on the data recorded by a dense array on an isolated coral island in the South China Sea, we analyzed the ambient noise characteristics and obtained a 3D subsurface structure of the coral island using ambient noise tomography. We made the following findings: ① The ambient noise frequencies can be roughly categorized into three levels: < 1, 1–5, and > 5 Hz. The spectral characteristics of the noise below 5 Hz were consistent at different stations, but there were significant differences in the characteristics of the noise above 5 Hz. ② For ambient noise frequencies below 5 Hz, cross-correlation functions with high quality could be obtained with only 24 h of waveform data. However, it was difficult to extract meaningful cross-correlation functions for ambient noise frequencies above 5 Hz. ③ The S-wave velocity in the coral island was higher toward the sea and lower toward the lagoon, which was consistent with the high degree of cementation of the outer reef flat stratum on the seaward side. ④ There were two low-velocity horizons at 25–75 and 200–300 m, which were in good agreement with the high-porosity horizons that were revealed by drilling core samples, reflecting the weathering history of the reef. Our research demonstrates that ambient noise tomography is a potentially economical, efficient, and environmentally friendly method for the geological prospecting of coral reefs.