Locating microseismic sources based upon L-shaped single-component geophone array: A synthetic study

Abstract

We have developed a type of L-shaped single-component geophone array as a single station (L-array station) for surface microseismic monitoring. The L-array station consists of two orthogonal sensor arrays, each being a linear array of single-component sensors. L-array stations can be used to accurately estimate the polarization of first arrivals without amplitude picking. In a synthetic example, we first use segmentally iterative ray tracing (SIRT) method and forward model to calculate the travel time and polarization of first arrivals at a set of L-array stations. Then, for each L-array station, the relative delay times of first arrivals along sensor arrays are used to estimate the polarization vector. The small errors in estimated polarization vectors show the reliability and robustness of polarization estimation based on L-array stations. We then use reverse-time ray-tracing (RTRT) method to locate the source position based on estimated polarizations at a set of L-array stations. Very small errors in inverted source location and origin time indicate the great potential of L-array stations for source localization applications in surface microseismic monitoring.