Geophysical signature and detection of shallow water flow in the deepwater basin of the northern South China Sea

Abstract

With the development of deepwater drilling, deepwater geohazards have become a challenge. Shallow water flow (SWF) is one type of the most serious geohazards in deepwater drilling. SWF hazards are only met in deepwater regions and SWF sands have the properties of low density, low velocity and high V(p)/V(s). Based on the theory of Sequence Stratigraphy, the deepwater channel depositional system was identified in Baiyun depression, Pearl River Basin. With the result of AVA inversion, fullwave inversion and poststack inversion, the region with low density, low velocity and high V(P)/V(S)(>9) value were refined in which the SWF may happen.