A Compact Program for 3D Passive Seismic Source-Location Imaging

Microseismic source-location imaging is important for inferring the dynamic status of reservoirs during hydraulic fracturing. The accuracy and resolution of the located microseismic sources are closely related to the imaging technique. We present an open-source program for high-fidelity and high-resolution 3D microseismic source-location imaging. The presented code is compact in the sense that all required subroutines are included in one single C program, based on which seismic wavefields can be propagated either forward during a synthetic test or backward during a real time-reversal imaging process. The compact C program is accompanied by a Python script known as the SConstruct file in the Madagascar open-source platform to compile and run the C program. The velocity model and recorded microseismic data can be input using the Python script. This compact program is useful for educational purposes and for future algorithm development. We introduce the basics of the imaging method used in the presented package and present one representative synthetic example and a field data example. The results show that the presented program can be reliably used to locate source locations using a passive seismic dataset.

Automated summary

An open-source program for high-fidelity and high-resolution 3D microseismic source-location imaging is introduced, which can be used for educational purposes and future algorithm development.