The Use of Wave-field Directivity for Velocity Estimation: Moving Source Profiling (MSP) Experiments at KTB

Abstract

—Within the "Integrated Seismics Oberpfalz 1989 (ISO89)" a three-component Moving Source Profiling (MSP) experiment, also named walk-away VSP, was carried out at the drilling site of the "Kontinentales Tiefbohrprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (KTB)" in Germany. Analysis of transmitted waves traveling from the source locations at the surface down to the receiver array in the borehole reveals velocity information about the illuminated part of the subsurface. Complementary to the widely used evaluation of travel-time perturbations to locate velocity inhomogeneities we suggest the use of the directivity of transmitted wave types down in the borehole. To determine the wave-field directivity we focus on transmitted arrivals by employing principles of "Controlled Directional Reception (CDR)." We calculate local slant-stacks for three different depth positions as a function of the source offset, thus obtaining the variation of the vertical slowness (vertical ray parameter) of incident waves along the horizontal source profile and the vertical receiver array. The slowness data combined with travel times are interpreted by forward modeling taking into account geological information of the survey area. Our findings confirm results from gravity measurements which suggest the existence of large amphibolite/metabasite complexes in the vicinity of the borehole. The described method is also used to identify P-to-S converted energy originating from fracture zones above the receiver array and to locate the region in which conversion occurs.