CHARACTERIZING MARINE GAS-HYDRATE RESERVOIRS AND DETERMINING MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MARINE GAS-HYDRATE STRATA WITH 4-COMPONENT OCEAN-BOTTOM-CABLE SEISMIC DATA
The technical approach taken in this gas-hydrate research is unique because it is based on applying large-scale, 3-D, multi-component seismic surveys to improve the understanding of marine gas-hydrate systems. Other gas-hydrate research uses only single-component seismic technology. In those rare instances when multi-component seismic data have been acquired for gas-hydrate research, the data acquisition has involved only a few receiver stations and a few source stations, sometimes only three or four of each. In contrast, the four-component, 3-D, ocean-bottom-cable (4C3D OBC) data used in this study were acquired at thousands of receiver stations spaced 50 m apart over an area of approximately 1,000 km{sup 2} using wavefields generated at thousands of source stations spaced 75 m apart over this same survey area. The reason for focusing research attention on marine multi-component seismic data is that 4C3D OBC will provide a converted-SV image of gas-hydrate systems in addition to an improved P-wave image. Because P and SV reflectivities differ at some stratal surfaces, P and SV data provide two independent, and different, images of subsurface geology. The existence of these two independent seismic images and the availability of facies-sensitive SV seismic attributes, which can be combined with conventional facies-sensitive, P-wave seismic attributes, means that marine gas-hydrate systems should be better evaluated using multi-component seismic data than using conventional single-component seismic data. Conventional seismic attributes, such as instantaneous reflection amplitude and reflection coherency, have been extracted from the P and SV data volumes created from the 4C3D OBC data used in this research. Comparisons of these attributes and comparisons of P and SV time slices and vertical slices show that SV data provide a more reliable image of stratigraphy and structure associated with gas-invaded strata than do P-wave data. This finding confirms that multi-component seismic data will be more valuable than conventional P-wave seismic data for exploiting gas-hydrate reservoirs that cause gas invasion into surrounding strata. Published laboratory studies have shown that the ratio of P-wave velocity (V{sub p}) and SV velocity (V{sub s}) is an important parameter for identifying lithofacies. (In this report, the subscript S that accompanies a parameter can be replaced with the subscript SV to more accurately define the type of shear wave data used in this study.) Seismic estimates of V{sub p}/V{sub s} can be made when multi-component seismic data are acquired. Seismic-based V{sub p}/V{sub s} ratios are being analyzed across the research study area to determine what types of shallow lithofacies can be distinguished by this velocity parameter. These research findings will be summarized in the final project report.
- Research Organization:
- University of Texas (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-00NT41024
- OSTI ID:
- 820931
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Jan 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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