Abstract

SUMMARYThe localization of passive seismic sources in form of microseismic tremors as well as large-scale earthquakes is a key issue in seismology. While most previous studies are assuming fairly good knowledge of the underlying velocity model, we propose an automatic spatial localization and joint velocity model building scheme that is independent of detailed a priori information. The first step is a coherence analysis, estimating so-called wavefront attributes to locally describe the wavefield in terms of slopes and curvatures. In a similar fashion, we also obtain an initial guess of the source excitation times of the recorded events. The wavefront attributes constitute the input for wavefront tomography which represents the next step of the workflow and allows for a refinement of the previously evaluated source excitation times while simultaneously approximating the velocity distribution. In a last step, we use the final estimate of the velocity distribution and compute the respective image function by reverse time modelling to gain the source locations. This paper introduces the theoretical concept of our proposed approach for the general 3-D case. We analyse the feasibility of our strategy and the influences of different acquisition settings by means of a synthetic 2-D data example. In a final 3-D field data example we use the workflow to localize a deep earthquake without relying on a given velocity model. The approach can deal with high levels of noise and low signal amplitudes, respectively, as well as sparse geophone sampling. The workflow generally delivers good approximations of the long-wavelength velocity variations along with accurate source locations.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.