Exploring deep Australia: 3-D imaging of the lithosphere beneath south-east Australia using multiple high density seismic arrays. The successful completion of this project will significantly improve our knowledge of the seismic structure of the Australian lithosphere, and hence improve our understanding of how the Australian continent came to be formed. In addition, the tomographic imaging methods that will be developed and applied to the individual and combined seismic arrays have a direct rele ....Exploring deep Australia: 3-D imaging of the lithosphere beneath south-east Australia using multiple high density seismic arrays. The successful completion of this project will significantly improve our knowledge of the seismic structure of the Australian lithosphere, and hence improve our understanding of how the Australian continent came to be formed. In addition, the tomographic imaging methods that will be developed and applied to the individual and combined seismic arrays have a direct relevance to the seismic imaging techniques used by the exploration industry. Finally, the creation of a combined dataset comprising records from ~300 stations will help keep Australia at the leading edge of observational seismology, as other countries (e.g. U.S.) begin to deploy very large seismic arrays.Read moreRead less
Theoretical and experimental study of elastic properties of porous media permeated by aligned fractures. The aim of the project is to develop a theoretical model for the elastic properties of fractured porous reservoir rocks, taking into account the wave-induced fluid flow between pores and fractures. This will be done by theoretical analysis based on the model of fractures as planes of discontinuity in porous rock, and on the theory of wave propagation in anisotropic porous media. The theoretic ....Theoretical and experimental study of elastic properties of porous media permeated by aligned fractures. The aim of the project is to develop a theoretical model for the elastic properties of fractured porous reservoir rocks, taking into account the wave-induced fluid flow between pores and fractures. This will be done by theoretical analysis based on the model of fractures as planes of discontinuity in porous rock, and on the theory of wave propagation in anisotropic porous media. The theoretical model will be verified using numerical simulations and ultrasonic measurements made on synthetic porous and fractured samples. The results are expected to benefit seismic exploration and the production of oil and gas in fractured reservoirs.Read moreRead less
The seismic signature of crustal fluids. Fluids are expected to profoundly modify the seismic properties of the cracked rocks of Earth's upper crust (to depths of about 15 km) but there are so far few relevant laboratory measurements. Through the development and application of novel experimental techniques we plan to build a better laboratory-based understanding of the seismic properties of fluid-saturated crustal rocks. The outcome will be an improved capacity to monitor the presence of fluid ....The seismic signature of crustal fluids. Fluids are expected to profoundly modify the seismic properties of the cracked rocks of Earth's upper crust (to depths of about 15 km) but there are so far few relevant laboratory measurements. Through the development and application of novel experimental techniques we plan to build a better laboratory-based understanding of the seismic properties of fluid-saturated crustal rocks. The outcome will be an improved capacity to monitor the presence of fluids in diverse situations ranging from geothermal power generation and waste disposal to earthquake fault zones. Read moreRead less
Seismic response of partially saturated petroleum reservoir zones: towards quantitative recovery monitoring. In most Australian reservoirs less than 50% of the original oil in place is recovered. A major factor that contributes to low recovery rates is bypassed oil/gas. Even a small, 1% improvement in recovery is of substantial economic significance. The proposed project aims to develop quantitative models for reservoir monitoring of zones with bypassed hydrocarbons using time-lapse (4D) seismic ....Seismic response of partially saturated petroleum reservoir zones: towards quantitative recovery monitoring. In most Australian reservoirs less than 50% of the original oil in place is recovered. A major factor that contributes to low recovery rates is bypassed oil/gas. Even a small, 1% improvement in recovery is of substantial economic significance. The proposed project aims to develop quantitative models for reservoir monitoring of zones with bypassed hydrocarbons using time-lapse (4D) seismic measurements, and thus to improve the hydrocarbon recovery factors. Developing these models will be a cutting edge research achievement, which will make a significant contribution to the knowledge base of the discipline and advance the international reputation of Australian science.Read moreRead less
Seismic attenuation and dispersion in reservoir rocks: broad-band experiments versus theoretical modelling. We propose to develop theoretical models of seismic attenuation and dispersion in hydrocarbon reservoirs, and a new method for experimental testing of these models. These models will provide new information to substantially improve characterisation of hydrocarbon reservoirs from geophysical data. The results will help optimise exploration and improve oil and gas recovery through developmen ....Seismic attenuation and dispersion in reservoir rocks: broad-band experiments versus theoretical modelling. We propose to develop theoretical models of seismic attenuation and dispersion in hydrocarbon reservoirs, and a new method for experimental testing of these models. These models will provide new information to substantially improve characterisation of hydrocarbon reservoirs from geophysical data. The results will help optimise exploration and improve oil and gas recovery through development of new technologies for quantitative reservoir characterisation in Australian basins. This research will enhance Australian competitiveness in basic and applied geophysical research, and will benefit the Australian geophysical industry as a provider of advanced geophysical technologies for oil exploration and production.Read moreRead less
Seismic wave modelling and inversion for the most general 3-D anisotropic media. Advanced numerical techniques will be developed and applied to simulate the kinematic and dynamic properties of seismic wave propagation in a complex three-dimensional Earth, involving topography, heterogeneity and the most general anisotropy defined by 21 spatially-dependent elastic moduli. We will develop 2D/3D ray-tracing methods for anisotropic traveltime tomography, 2.5D/3D frequency-domain spectral element met ....Seismic wave modelling and inversion for the most general 3-D anisotropic media. Advanced numerical techniques will be developed and applied to simulate the kinematic and dynamic properties of seismic wave propagation in a complex three-dimensional Earth, involving topography, heterogeneity and the most general anisotropy defined by 21 spatially-dependent elastic moduli. We will develop 2D/3D ray-tracing methods for anisotropic traveltime tomography, 2.5D/3D frequency-domain spectral element methods for full waveform inversion of observational data, and make all these techniques applicable for subsurface imaging under various classes of anisotropy in the Earth. Results will be important for petroleum exploration as well as earthquake seismology and probing the structure of the Earth's deep interior.Read moreRead less
Multi-arrival wavefront tracking for improved seismic imaging of the Earth's interior. The complex nature of many seismic wavetrains can usually be attributed to the multi-pathing of elastic wave energy between source and receiver. Typical analysis, e.g., seismic tomography, uses few of these arrivals. This project is designed to improve the exploitation of the information on seismograms by tracking the various arrivals in complex media to provide better constraints on Earth structure. To achiev ....Multi-arrival wavefront tracking for improved seismic imaging of the Earth's interior. The complex nature of many seismic wavetrains can usually be attributed to the multi-pathing of elastic wave energy between source and receiver. Typical analysis, e.g., seismic tomography, uses few of these arrivals. This project is designed to improve the exploitation of the information on seismograms by tracking the various arrivals in complex media to provide better constraints on Earth structure. To achieve this goal, new methods for constructing multi-arrival wavefronts will be developed and applied to a range of seismic data from Tasmania to produce high resolution images of the crust and upper mantle.
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Driving a palaeomagnetic revolution: geophysical and environmental signals from magnetic biominerals. Magnetotactic bacteria biomineralise magnetic nanoparticles. They are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, so their inorganic remains (magnetofossils) should give rise to sedimentary palaeomagnetic signals. Ancient magnetofossil identifications were sparse until new techniques recently demonstrated their extensive geological occurrence. This project proposes to determine: the mechanisms by which ....Driving a palaeomagnetic revolution: geophysical and environmental signals from magnetic biominerals. Magnetotactic bacteria biomineralise magnetic nanoparticles. They are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, so their inorganic remains (magnetofossils) should give rise to sedimentary palaeomagnetic signals. Ancient magnetofossil identifications were sparse until new techniques recently demonstrated their extensive geological occurrence. This project proposes to determine: the mechanisms by which magnetofossils contribute to sedimentary palaeomagnetic signals; if magnetofossil occurrences provide information about the marine carbon cycle; and, if magnetofossil chemistry can constrain the depth of sedimentary palaeomagnetic signal acquisition. These are major outstanding questions in sedimentary palaeomagnetism.Read moreRead less
Data Adaptive Geophysical Inversion. The goal of this project is to develop new techniques for extracting information about the interior structure of the Earth from large geophysical data sets. These methods will be adaptive so that they allow the definition of the physical model to be constrained by the character of the data. The project will utilize advances in computational geometry, nonlinear inversion and interactive computer visualisation to extract robust information from data sets with v ....Data Adaptive Geophysical Inversion. The goal of this project is to develop new techniques for extracting information about the interior structure of the Earth from large geophysical data sets. These methods will be adaptive so that they allow the definition of the physical model to be constrained by the character of the data. The project will utilize advances in computational geometry, nonlinear inversion and interactive computer visualisation to extract robust information from data sets with variable resolving power. The resulting algorithms will be applicable to a wide range of problems in the physical sciences.Read moreRead less
The link between the deep Earth and its dynamic surface. Modelling the two-way interaction of plate tectonics with the actions of erosion and sedimentation gives a fundamentally new view of the dynamics of our planet and the importance of the surface on the deep interior. It will improve our understanding of the formation of sedimentary basins, their evolution and their preservation over geological time.