Determining Shear Wave Velocities in Soft Marine Sediments

Abstract

The inversion technique presented in this volume (Cheng, 1987) that simultaneously inverts full waveform acoustic logs for shear wave velocity (V[subscript 3]) and compressional wave attenuation (Q[subscript p]) was applied to selected full waveform acoustic logs taken in soft sediments from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 613. Besides V[subscript 3] and Q[subscript p], the sensitivity of the inversion to perturbations in the fixed parameters, P-wave velocity (V[subscript p]), fluid velocity (V[[subscript f]), borehole diameter, bulk density (P[subscript b]), and borehole fluid attenuation (Q[subscript f]), were tested. Our study shows that the inversion technique is most sensitive to the estimate of V[subscript p] because the inversion is based on the P leaky mode energy portion of the spectrum. The Poisson's ratio, however, which primarily controls the amplitude of the waveforms, is rather stable with different estimates in V[subscript p]. The inversion technique is less sensitive to small perturbations in borehole diameter, P[subscript b], V[subscript f], and Q[subscript f] The shear wave velocities inferred from these inversions correlate well with the attendant velocity logs run at Site 613 and the diagenetic changes identified by shipboard stratigraphers. For example, there is an increase in both V[subscript p] and V[subscript 3] at the diagenetic boundary between siliceous nannofossil oozes and porcellanite. This boundary is responsible for a sharp seismic reflector in a USGS. seismic line run nearby. Over the depth interval that we analyzed, from 390.0 to 582.0 meters below sea floor, we determined shear wave velocities ranging from 0.74 to 1.06 km/sec corresponding to compressional wave velocities from 1.70 to 2.20 km/sec.