Locating scatterers while drilling using seismic noise due to tunnel boring machine

Unexpected geological structures can cause safety and economic risks during underground excavation. Therefore, predicting possible geological threats while drilling a tunnel is important for operational safety and for preventing expensive standstills. Subsurface information for tunneling is provided by exploratory wells and by surface...

Application of seismic interferometry by multidimensional deconvolution to ambient seismic noise recorded in Malargüe, Argentina

Obtaining new seismic responses from existing recordings is generally referred to as seismic interferometry (SI). Conventionally, the SI responses are retrieved by simple crosscorrelation of recordings made by separate receivers: one of the receivers acts as a ‘virtual source’ whose response is retrieved at the other receivers.When SI is applied...

Crustal-scale reflection imaging and interpretation by passive seismic interferometry using local earthquakes

We have developed an application of passive seismic interferometry (SI) using P-wave coda of local earthquakes for the purpose of crustal-scale reflection imaging. We processed the reflection gathers retrieved from SI following a standard seismic processing in exploration seismology. We applied SI to the P-wave coda using crosscorrelation,...

Reflection imaging of aseismic zones of the Nazca slab by global-phase seismic interferometry

Obtaining detailed images of aseismic parts of subducting slabs remains a large challenge for understanding slab dynamics. Hypocenter mapping cannot be used for the purpose due to the absence of seismicity, whereas the use of receiver functions might be compromised by the presence of melt. Global tomography can be used to identify the presence...

Reflection imaging of the Moon's interior using deep-moonquake seismic interferometry

The internal structure of the Moon has been investigated over many years using a variety of seismic methods, such as travel time analysis, receiver functions, and tomography. Here we propose to apply body-wave seismic interferometry to deep moonquakes in order to retrieve zero-offset reflection responses (and thus images) beneath the Apollo...

Estimating the location of a tunnel using correlation and inversion of Rayleigh wave scattering

The investigation of near-surface scatterers, such as cavities, tunnels, abandoned mine shafts, and buried objects, is important to mitigate geohazards and environmental hazards. By inversion of travel times of cross-correlated scattered waves, due to the incident Rayleigh waves, we estimate the location of a near-surface tunnel from seismic...

Estimating the location of a tunnel using correlation and inversion of Rayleigh wave scattering

The investigation of near-surface scatterers, such as cavities, tunnels, abandoned mine shafts, and buried objects, is important to mitigate geohazards and environmental hazards. By inversion of travel times of cross-correlated scattered waves, due to the incident Rayleigh waves, we estimate the location of a near-surface tunnel from seismic...

Seismic exploration?scale velocities and structure from ambient seismic noise (>1?Hz)

The successful surface waves retrieval in solid?Earth seismology using long?time correlations and subsequent tomographic images of the crust have sparked interest in extraction of subsurface information from noise in the exploration seismology. Subsurface information in exploration seismology is usually derived from body?wave reflections >?1?Hz,...

Improved surface?wave retrieval from ambient seismic noise by multi?dimensional deconvolution

The methodology of surface?wave retrieval from ambient seismic noise by crosscorrelation relies on the assumption that the noise field is equipartitioned. Deviations from equipartitioning degrade the accuracy of the retrieved surface?wave Green's function. A point?spread function, derived from the same ambient noise field, quantifies the...

Seismic interferometry using multidimensional deconvolution and crosscorrelation for crosswell seismic reflection data without borehole sources

Crosswell reflection method is a high-resolution seismic imaging method that uses recordings between boreholes. The need for downhole sources is a restrictive factor in its application, for example, to time-lapse surveys. An alternative is to use surface sources in combination with seismic interferometry. Seismic interferometry (SI) could...

High-resolution lithospheric imaging with seismic interferometry

In recent years, there has been an increase in the deployment of relatively dense arrays of seismic stations. The availability of spatially densely sampled global and regional seismic data has stimulated the adoption of industry-style imaging algorithms applied to converted- and scattered-wave energy from distant earthquakes, leading to...

Tutorial on seismic interferometry: Part 1 — Basic principles and applications

Seismic interferometry involves the crosscorrelation of responses at different receivers to obtain the Green's function between these receivers. For the simple situation of an impulsive plane wave propagating along the x-axis, the crosscorrelation of the responses at two receivers along the x-axis gives the Green's function of the direct wave...

Reflection images from ambient seismic noise

One application of seismic interferometry is to retrieve the impulse response (Green's function) from crosscorrelation of ambient seismic noise. Various researchers show results for retrieving the surface-wave part of the Green's function. However, reflection retrieval has proven more challenging. We crosscorrelate ambient seismic noise,...

Global-scale seismic interferometry: Theory and numerical examples

Progress in the imaging of the mantle and core is partially limited by the sparse distribution of natural sources; the earthquake hypocenters are mainly along the active lithospheric plate boundaries. This problem can be approached with seismic interferometry. In recent years, there has been considerable progress in the development of seismic...

Retrieving reflection responses by crosscorrelating transmission responses from deterministic transient sources: Application to ultrasonic data

By crosscorrelating transmission recordings of acoustic or elastic wave fields at two points, one can retrieve the reflection response between these two points. This technique has previously been applied to measured elastic data using diffuse wave-field recordings. These recordings should be relatively very long. The retrieval can also be...

Retrieval of reflections from seismic background?noise measurements

The retrieval of the earth's reflection response from cross?correlations of seismic noise recordings can provide valuable information, which may otherwise not be available due to limited spatial distribution of seismic sources. We cross?correlated ten hours of seismic background?noise data acquired in a desert area. The cross?correlation results...

Seismic interferometry: Reconstructing the earth's reflection response

In 1968, Jon Claerbout showed that the reflection response of a 1D acoustic medium can be reconstructed by autocorrelating the transmission response. Since then, several authors have derived relationships for reconstructing Green's functions at the surface, using crosscorrelations of (noise) recordings that were taken at the surface and that...

Introduction to the supplement on seismic interferometry