Premium
Combining seismic reflection with multifold wide‐aperture profiling: An effective strategy for high‐resolution shallow imaging of active faults
Author(s) -
Improta L.,
Bruno P. P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl031893
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , offset (computer science) , high resolution , geophysical imaging , reflection (computer programming) , remote sensing , tomography , structural basin , optics , computer science , geomorphology , physics , programming language
Shallow imaging of fault zones is a challenging task. We investigate if this issue can be successfully addressed by combining reflection seismics with non‐standard multifold wide‐aperture profiling, a strategy pertaining to crustal scale exploration so far. Near‐offset reflection and multifold wide‐aperture data are simultaneously recorded along two profiles in a small basin crossed by an active fault in Southern Italy. Imaging consists of multiscale seismic tomography complemented by CDP processing of near‐offset reflections and of data spanning a large offset range. By combining smooth Vp and reflectivity images we pinpoint the fault location and yield a valuable picture of the basin. Performance of each exploration technique strongly varies in the two surveys depending on the local geology. Thus, the combined exploration strategy not only yields complementary images for enhanced interpretation, but also allows extending the range of applicability of shallow seismics for fault detection, reducing the risk of unsuccessful investigations.