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Inverting Shear-Wave Splitting Measurements for Fracture Properties

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Microseismic Monitoring and Geomechanical Modelling of CO2 Storage in Subsurface Reservoirs

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Abstract

Seismic anisotropy refers to the situation where the velocity of a seismic wave is dependent on its direction of propagation and/or polarisation. Seismic anisotropy in sedimentary rocks can have many causes, which act at many length-scales. These mechanisms include mineral alignment (e.g., Valcke et al., 2006), alignment of grain-scale fabrics (e.g., Hall et al., 2008), which can be distorted by non-hydrostatic stresses (e.g., Zatsepin and Crampin, 1997; Verdon et al., 2008), larger scale sedimentary layering (e.g., Backus, 1962) and the presence of aligned fracture sets (e.g., Hudson, 1981). In hydrocarbon settings, the most common anisotropic mechanisms are horizontally aligned sedimentary layers, and horizontally aligned mineral and grain-scale fabrics. Such an anisotropic system will have a vertical axis of symmetry, and is referred to as Vertical Transverse Isotropy (VTI).

Images / split the truth / in fractions. Denise Levertov

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queen’s Road, Wills Memorial Building, BS8 1RJ, Bristol, UK

    James P. Verdon

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  1. James P. Verdon
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Correspondence to James P. Verdon .

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Verdon, J.P. (2012). Inverting Shear-Wave Splitting Measurements for Fracture Properties. In: Microseismic Monitoring and Geomechanical Modelling of CO2 Storage in Subsurface Reservoirs. Springer Theses. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25388-1_3

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