Feasibility study of near-surface dispersion imaging using passive seismic data

Abstract

Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves is a seismic technique used to define the near-surface structures and rock properties. It has been commonly used for both geotechnical engineering as well as seismic exploration purposes with active sources. It can also provide information about regolith heterogeneity that is of relevance to reflection seismic data processing. However active surface wave investigations are not always possible due to site restrictions and environmental constraints. In this research, we studied the feasibility of passive seismic for the analysis of surface waves caused by different type of ambient noise and ground motion. The example presented comes from a data set collected over a hard-rock environment. We showed that the achieved results from passive data have a considerable correlation with the results from active data of the same acquisition survey.