• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

A magnetotelluric (MT) survey has been performed to delineate deeply extended fracture systems at the geothermal field in Seokmo Island, Korea. To assist interpretation of the MT data, geological surveying and well logging of existing wells were also performed. The surface geology of the island shows Cretaceous and Jurassic granite in the north and Precambrian schist in the south. The geothermal regime has been found along the boundary between the schist and Cretaceous granite. Because of the deep circulation along the fracture system, geothermal gradient of the target area exceeds $45^{\circ}C/km$, which is much higher than the average geothermal gradient in Korea. 2D and 3D inversions of MT data clearly showed a very conductive anomaly, which is interpreted as a fracture system bearing saline water that extends at least down to 1.5 km depth and is inclined eastwards. After drilling down to the depth of 1280 m, more than 4000 tons/day of geothermal water overflowed with temperature higher than $70^{\circ}C$. This water showed very similar chemical composition and temperature to those from another existing well, so that they can be considered to have the same origin; i.e. from the same fracture system. A new geothermal project for combined heat and power generation was launched in 2009 in Seokmo Island, based on the survey. Additional geophysical investigations including MT surveys to cover a wider area, seismic reflection surveys, borehole surveys, and well logging of more than 20 existing boreholes will be conducted.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.73-77
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• 2021

Induced polarization (IP) is useful for mineral exploration and hydrogeological studies by visualizing the electrochemical reactions at the interface between polarized minerals and groundwater. Frequency-domain IP (FDIP) is not actively applied to field surveys because it takes longer to acquire data, despite its higher data quality than conventional time-domain IP. However, data quality is more important in current mineral exploration as the targets gradually shift to deep or low-grade ore bodies. In addition, the measurement time reduced by automated instrumentation increases the potential for FDIP field applications. Therefore, we demonstrate that FDIP can detect mineral exploration targets by performing geophysical logging in the boreholes of a skarn deposit, in South Korea. Alternating current (AC) resistivity, percent frequency effect (PFE) and metal factor (MF) were calculated from impedance values obtained at two different frequencies. Skarn zones containing magnetite or pyrite showed relatively low AC resistivity, high PFE, and high MF compared to other zones. Therefore, FDIP surveys are considered to be useful for mineral exploration.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2001

The discrete wavelet transform(DWT) has potential as a tool for supplying discriminatory attributes with which to distinguish seismic events. The wavelet transform has the great advantage over the Fourier transform in being able to localize changes. In this study, a discrete wavelet transform is applied to seismic traces for identifying seismic events and picking of arrival times for first breaks and S-wave arrivals. The precise determination of arrival times can greatly improve the quality of a number of geophysical studies, such as velocity analysis, refraction seismic survey, seismic tomography, down-hole and cross-hole survey, and sonic logging, etc. provide precise determination of seismic velocities. Tests for picking of P- and S- wave arrival times with the wavelet transform method is conducted with synthetic seismic traces which have or do not have noises. The results show that this picking algorithm can be successfully applied to noisy traces. The first arrival can be precisely determined with the field data, too.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.157-167
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• 2020

With the recent advancement of computer hardware and the contribution of open source libraries to facilitate access to artificial intelligence technology, the use of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) technologies in various fields of exploration geophysics has increased. In addition, ML researchers have developed complex algorithms to improve the inference accuracy of various tasks such as image, video, voice, and natural language processing, and now they are expanding their interests into the field of automatic machine learning (AutoML). AutoML can be divided into three areas: feature engineering, architecture search, and hyperparameter search. Among them, this paper focuses on hyperparamter search with Bayesian optimization, and applies it to the problem of facies classification using seismic data and well logs. The effectiveness of the Bayesian optimization technique has been demonstrated using Vincent field data by comparing with the results of the random search technique.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2020

This tutorial summarizes the coordinate transforms for formulating geophysical problems. To ensure mathematical consistency, this discussion begins with the right-hand rule. Further, the concepts of active and passive transforms are introduced. By extending these concepts, the coordinate transform and its inverse between two coordinates are related to the matrix transpose. The yaw-pitch-roll rotation and the azimuth-deviation-tool face rotation transforms are described as the most frequently used schemes, and the relation between the Rodrigues' rotation formula and these two transforms are mathematically explained. The "Gimbal Lock" problem inherent in yaw-pitch-roll rotation is schematically presented and mathematically derived. As a useful tool overcome this problem, the principle and usage of the quaternion is also described.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.174-183
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• 2004

The knowledge of rock strength is important in assessing wellbore stability problems, effective sanding, and the estimation of in situ stress field. Numerous empirical equations that relate unconfined compressive strength of sedimentary rocks (sandstone, shale, and limestone, and dolomite) to physical properties (such as velocity, elastic modulus, and porosity) are collected and reviewed. These equations can be used to estimate rock strength from parameters measurable with geophysical well logs. Their ability to fit laboratory-measured strength and physical property data that were compiled from the literature is reviewed. While some equations work reasonably well (for example, some strength-porosity relationships for sandstone and shale), rock strength variations with individual physical property measurements scatter considerably, indicating that most of the empirical equations are not sufficiently generic to fit all the data published on rock strength and physical properties. This emphasizes the importance of local calibration before one utilizes any of the empirical relationships presented. Nonetheless, some reasonable correlations can be found between geophysical properties and rock strength that can be useful for applications related to wellhole stability where haying a lower bound estimate of in situ rock strength is especially useful.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2005

We have developed a random heterogeneous velocity model with bimodal distribution in methane hydrate-bearing Bones. The P-wave well-log data have a von Karman type autocorrelation function and non-Gaussian distribution. The velocity histogram has two peaks separated by several hundred metres per second. A random heterogeneous medium with bimodal distribution is generated by mapping of a medium with a Gaussian probability distribution, yielded by the normal spectral-based generation method. By using an ellipsoidal autocorrelation function, the random medium also incorporates anisotropy of autocorrelation lengths. A simulated P-wave velocity log reproduces well the features of the field data. This model is applied to two simulations of elastic wane propagation. Synthetic reflection sections with source signals in two different frequency bands imply that the velocity fluctuation of the random model with bimodal distribution causes the frequency dependence of the Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR) by affecting wave field scattering. A synthetic cross-well section suggests that the strong attenuation observed in field data might be caused by the extrinsic attenuation in scattering. We conclude that random heterogeneity with bimodal distribution is a key issue in modelling hydrate-bearing Bones, and that it can explain the frequency dependence and scattering observed in seismic sections in such areas.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2007

Recent seismic surveys have shown that the presence of methane hydrate (MH) in sediments has significant influence on seismic attenuation. I have used vertical seismic profile (VSP) data from a Nankai Trough exploratory well, offshore Tokai in central Japan, to estimate compressional attenuation in MH-bearing sediments at seismic frequencies of 30-110 Hz. The use of two different measurement methods (spectral ratio and centroid frequency shift methods) provides an opportunity to validate the attenuation measurements. The sensitivity of attenuation analyses to different depth intervals, borehole irregularities, and different frequency ranges was also examined to validate the stability of attenuation estimation. I found no significant compressional attenuation in MH-bearing sediments at seismic frequencies. Macroscopically, the peaks of highest attenuation in the seismic frequency range correspond to low-saturation gas zones. In contrast, high compressional attenuation zones in the sonic frequency range (10-20 kHz) are associated with the presence of methane hydrates at the same well locations. Thus, this study demonstrated the frequency-dependence of attenuation in MH-bearing sediments; MH-bearing sediments cause attenuation in the sonic frequency range rather than the seismic frequency range As a possible reason why seismic frequencies in the 30-110 Hz range were not affected in MH-bearing sediments, I point out the effect of thin layering of MH-bearing zones.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.143-153
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• 2009

Using a discrete wavenumber method, we examine the effects on Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) logs when a mismatch exists between the amplitudes or generating times of the signals from individual monopoles in a LWD multipole source. An amplitude-mismatched LWD dipole/quadrupole source produces non-dipole/non-quadrupole modes as well as flexural and screw modes. The strongest of non-dipole/non-quadrupole modes is the Stoneley mode, whose amplitude increases with increasing mismatch. However, we can recover the flexural mode signals by A-C processing, and the screw mode by A-B+C-D processing, respectively. The Stoneley mode, which has the same amplitude at the same radial distance from the borehole axis, is cancelled out by A-C and A-B+C-D processing as long as the tool is placed at the centre of the borehole. The responses from a time-mismatched LWD multipole source look like the summation of responses by two or four monopole sources off the borehole axis. However, we can avoid the misinterpretation of the formation velocities by referring to the computed dispersion curves, which are independent of the arrival times of the modes, on the frequency semblance plot.