Publication Date:
2023-02-01
Description:
We use PoroTomo experimental data to compare
the performance of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) and
geophone observations in retrieving data to execute standard
subsurface mapping and seismic monitoring activities. The
PoroTomo experiment consists of two “seismic systems”:
(a) a 8.6 km long optical fibre cable deployed across the
Brady geothermal field and covering an area of 1.5 × 0.5 km
with 100 m long segments and (b) a co-located array of
238 geophones with an average spacing of 60 m. The Poro-
Tomo experiment recorded continuous seismic data between
10 and 25 March 2016. During this period, a Ml 4.3 regional
event occurred in the southeast, about 150 km away from the
geothermal field, together with several microseismic local
events related to the geothermal activity. The seismic waves
generated from such seismic events have been used as input
data in this study to tackle similarities and differences be-
tween DAS and geophone recordings of such wavefronts.
To assess the quality of data for subsurface mapping tasks,
we measure the propagation of the P wave generated by the
regional event across the geothermal field in both seismic
systems in term of relative time delays, for a number of con-
figurations and segments. Additionally, we analyse and com-
pare the amplitude and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the
P wave in the two systems at high resolution. For testing the
potential of DAS data in seismic event locations, we first per-
form an analysis of the geophone data to retrieve a reference
location of a microseismic event, based on expert opinion.
Then, we a adopt different workflow for the automatic lo-
cation of the same microseismic event using DAS data. To
assess the quality of the data for tasks related to monitoring
distant events, we retrieve both the propagation direction and
apparent velocity of the wave field generated by the Ml 4.3
regional event, using a standard plane-wave-fitting approach
applied to DAS data.
Our results indicate that (1) at a local scale, the seismic
P-wave propagation (i.e. time delays) and their characteris-
tics (i.e. SNR and amplitude) along a single cable segment
are robustly consistent with recordings from co-located geo-
phones (delay times δt ∼ 0.3 over 400 m for both seismic
systems); (2) the DAS and nodal arrays are in mutual agree-
ment when it comes to site amplifications, but it is not im-
mediately clear which geological features are responsible for
these amplifications. DAS could therefore hold potential for
detailed mapping of shallow subsurface heterogeneities, but
with the currently available information of the Brady Hot
Springs subsurface geology, this potential cannot be quanti-
tatively verified; (3) the interpretation of seismic wave prop-
agation across multiple separated segments is less clear due
to the heavy contamination of scattering sources and local
velocity heterogeneities; nonetheless, results from the plane-
wave-fitting approach still indicate the possibility for a con-
sistent detection and location of the distant event; (4) auto-
matic monitoring of microseismicity can be performed with
DAS recordings with results comparable to manual analysis
of geophone recordings in the case of events within or close
to the DAS system (i.e. maximum horizontal error on event
location around 70 m for both geophone and DAS data); and
(5) DAS data preconditioning (e.g. temporal subsampling
and channel stacking) and dedicated processing techniques
are strictly necessary for making seismic monitoring proce-
dures feasible and trustable.
Description:
Published
Description:
449–468
Description:
1T. Struttura della Terra
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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