Search results for "Seismic anisotropy"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Inferring rheology and geometry of subsurface structures by adjoint-based inversion of principal stress directions
2020
SUMMARY Imaging subsurface structures, such as salt domes, magma reservoirs or subducting plates, is a major challenge in geophysics. Seismic imaging methods are, so far, the most precise methods to open a window into the Earth. However, the methods may not yield the exact depth or size of the imaged feature and may become distorted by phenomena such as seismic anisotropy, fluid flow, or compositional variations. A useful complementary method is therefore to simulate the mechanical behaviour of rocks on large timescales, and compare model predictions with observations. Recent studies have used the (non-linear) Stokes equations and geometries from seismic studies in combination with an adjoi…
Seismic properties across an amphibolite- to greenschist-facies strain gradient (Neves area, eastern Alps, Italy): New considerations for shear zone …
2021
Abstract Detecting the presence and geometry of crustal shear zones by geophysical methods relies on our understanding of the intrinsic parameters controlling the seismic properties of these deformed rocks, over the range of pressure-temperature conditions expected in the Earth's crust. To this end, we aimed to track changes in P-wave propagation velocity (VP), anisotropy (AVP) and S-wave splitting (AVS) across a natural shear zone using experimental and electron backscatter diffraction methods. Five samples were collected across a meter-scale shear zone developed under amphibolite- to greenschist-facies in the Neves metagranodiorite (Tauern Window, Eastern Alps). With increasing strain, se…
Seismic anisotropy and its impact on imaging the shallow Alpine Fault : an experimental and modeling perspective.
2020
The transpressional Alpine Fault in New Zealand has created a thick shear zone with associated highly anisotropic rocks. Low seismic velocity zones (LVZ) and high seismic reflectivity are recorded in the Alpine Fault Zone, but no study has explored the underlying physical rock parameters of the shallow crust that control these observations. Protomylonites are the volumetrically dominant lithology of the fault zone. Here we combine experimental measurements of P‐wave speeds with numerical models of elastic wave anisotropy of protomylonite samples to explore how the fault zone can be seismically imaged. Numerical models that account for the porosity‐free real samples' fabric elastic tensors f…
Higher-order Hamilton–Jacobi perturbation theory for anisotropic heterogeneous media: dynamic ray tracing in Cartesian coordinates
2018
With a Hamilton–Jacobi equation in Cartesian coordinates as a starting point, it is common to use a system of ordinary differential equations describing the continuation of first-order derivatives of phase-space perturbations along a reference ray. Such derivatives can be exploited for calculating geometrical spreading on the reference ray and for establishing a framework for second-order extrapolation of traveltime to points outside the reference ray. The continuation of first-order derivatives of phase-space perturbations has historically been referred to as dynamic ray tracing. The reason for this is its importance in the process of calculating amplitudes along the reference ray. We exte…