Hybrid multiplicative time-reversal imaging reveals the evolution of microseismic events: Theory and field-data tests

Zhu, Tieyuan; Sun, Junzhe; Gei, Davide; Carcione, José M.; Cance, Philippe; Huang, Chao

doi:10.1190/geo2018-0662.1

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Sun et al () extended the traditional TRI to a hybrid multiplicative TR imaging algorithm, which is based on multiplication between wavefields from receiver groups (equation ) and applies a causal integration over time to obtain the source evolution process of multiple asynchronous sources. Both synthetic and field data examples revealed the feasibility and superiority of the method in imaging the spatial and temporal distribution of microseismic events (T. Zhu et al, ). Nakata and Beroza () proposed the geometric‐mean imaging condition by multiplying all receiver wavefields at each space and time sample (equation ) and then take a summation over the time axis.…”

Section: Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances and Challenges of Waveform‐Based Seismic Location Methods at Multiple Scales

Tan

Schwarz

et al. 2020

Reviews of Geophysics

132

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Source locations provide fundamental information on earthquakes and lay the foundation for seismic monitoring at all scales. Seismic source location as a classical inverse problem has experienced significant methodological progress during the past century. Unlike the conventional traveltime‐based location methods that mainly utilize kinematic information, a new category of waveform‐based methods, including partial waveform stacking, time reverse imaging, wavefront tomography, and full waveform inversion, adapted from migration or stacking techniques in exploration seismology has emerged. Waveform‐based methods have shown promising results in characterizing weak seismic events at multiple scales, especially for abundant microearthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing in unconventional and geothermal reservoirs or foreshock and aftershock activity potentially preceding tectonic earthquakes. This review presents a comprehensive summary of the current status of waveform‐based location methods, through elaboration of the methodological principles, categorization, and connections, as well as illustration of the applications to natural and induced/triggered seismicity, ranging from laboratory acoustic emission to field hydraulic fracturing‐induced seismicity, regional tectonic, and volcanic earthquakes. Taking into account recent developments in instrumentation and the increasing availability of more powerful computational resources, we highlight recent accomplishments and prevailing challenges of different waveform‐based location methods and what they promise to offer in the near future.

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Section: Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances and Challenges of Waveform‐Based Seismic Location Methods at Multiple Scales

Tan

Schwarz

et al. 2020

Reviews of Geophysics

132

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“…Nakata and Beroza [47] proposed a location algorithm called GmRTM by using the geometric mean as imaging conditions, which improves spatial resolution of source location. Sun et al [48] and Zhu et al [49] performed hybrid cross-correlation imaging condition by multiplication reduction on grouped back propagating wavefields from each receiver to compute a high-resolution microseismicity image. On this basis, Li et al [50] employed a waveform inversion approach to obtain a finer resolution microseismic source location result to balance the trade-off between computation efficiency and location resolution.…”

Section: Reverse-time Migration Location Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also especially beneficial when the waveform records suffer from poor signal-to-noise ratio, which is the case in this study. In the future, with the increase of the mine monitoring sensor density and the improvement of the algorithm, a more sophisticated hybrid correlation-based imaging condition will be developed to further improve the resolution [49,59].…”

Section: Imaging Condition and Modeling Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Locating Mine Microseismic Events in a 3D Velocity Model through the Gaussian Beam Reverse-Time Migration Technique

Wang

Shang

Peng

2020

Sensors

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Microseismic (MS) source location is a fundamental and critical task in mine MS monitoring. The traditional ray tracing-based location method can be easily affected by many factors, such as multi-ray path effects, waveform focusing and defocusing of wavefield propagation, and low picking precision of seismic phase arrival. By contrast, the Gaussian beam reverse-time migration (GBRTM) location method can effectively and correctly model the influences of multi-path effects and wavefield focusing and defocusing in complex 3D media, and it takes advantages of the maximum energy focusing point as the source location with the autocorrelation imaging condition, which drastically reduces the requirements of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and picking accuracy of P-wave arrival. The Gaussian beam technique has been successfully applied in locating natural earthquake events and hydraulic fracturing-induced MS events in one-dimensional (1D) or simple two-dimensional (2D) velocity models. The novelty of this study is that we attempted to introduce the GBRTM technique into a mine MS event location application and considered utilizing a high-resolution tomographic 3D velocity model for wavefield back propagation. Firstly, in the synthetic test, the GBRTM location results using the correct 2D velocity model and different homogeneous velocity models are compared to show the importance of velocity model accuracy. Then, it was applied and verified by eight location premeasured blasting events. The synthetic results show that the spectrum characteristics of the recorded blasting waveforms are more complicated than those generated by the ideal Ricker wavelet, which provides a pragmatic way to evaluate the effectiveness and robustness of the MS event location method. The GBRTM location method does not need a highly accurate picking of phase arrival, just a simple detection criterion that the first arrival waveform can meet the windowing requirements of wavefield back propagation, which is beneficial for highly accurate and automatic MS event location. The GBRTM location accuracy using an appropriate 3D velocity model is much higher than that of using a homogeneous or 1D velocity model, emphasizing that a high-resolution velocity model is very critical to the GBRTM location method. The average location error of the GBRTM location method for the eight blasting events is just 17.0 m, which is better than that of the ray tracing method using the same 3D velocity model (26.2 m).

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“…In this study, we propose a new imaging condition by dividing receivers into different groups and back‐propagating multiple elastic wavefields in order to increase the spatial resolution of the image while suppressing the imaging noise. A similar concept called hybrid imaging condition has been proposed for the earthquake source location (e.g., Sun et al, ; Zhu et al, ), in which neighboring receivers are back‐propagated together while far‐apart receivers are cross‐correlated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grechka et al () imaged the fracture distribution due to HF by applying the 3‐D Kirchhoff migration method to the field microseismic data. Huang and Zhu et al () imaged the fracture zone by a passive seismic imaging method using real microseismic data in the Marcellus gas shale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Source‐Independent Passive Seismic Reverse‐Time Structure Imaging With Grouping Imaging Condition: Method and Application to Microseismic Events Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing

et al. 2020

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Seismic imaging with active seismic sources can be used to image subsurface structures such as faults, fractures, and layer interfaces with higher resolutions than tomographic methods. However, for characterizing large‐scale three‐dimensional structures, oftentimes it is too expensive and thus impractical to conduct active seismic survey. Seismic imaging using passive sources has been used to image structures through the “pseudoactive” source imaging by assuming source information is known. However, in practice there exist some uncertainties on source information including location, origin time, source time function, and radiation pattern, which can inevitably affect the final imaging result. In this study, we propose a new source‐independent passive seismic imaging method based on reverse‐time imaging with converted waves and a new imaging condition. This method uses the interference between P and S waves at conversion points for structure imaging by back‐propagating seismograms recorded by all receivers. Since no forward modeling is needed in this method, source information is not needed. A new grouping imaging condition is proposed to improve the image resolution, in which seismic receivers are divided into several groups and the separated P and S wavefields of different groups are multiplied and then stacked over time to get an image. We test the new method on both synthetic and real data sets based on a downhole microseismic system that is used for monitoring a shale gas hydraulic fracturing treatment. The results show that the proposed passive seismic imaging method does not depend on knowing source information and can achieve higher imaging resolution.

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Hybrid multiplicative time-reversal imaging reveals the evolution of microseismic events: Theory and field-data tests

Cited by 25 publications

References 37 publications

Recent Advances and Challenges of Waveform‐Based Seismic Location Methods at Multiple Scales

Recent Advances and Challenges of Waveform‐Based Seismic Location Methods at Multiple Scales

Locating Mine Microseismic Events in a 3D Velocity Model through the Gaussian Beam Reverse-Time Migration Technique

Source‐Independent Passive Seismic Reverse‐Time Structure Imaging With Grouping Imaging Condition: Method and Application to Microseismic Events Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing

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