• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.133-144
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• 2001

An effective seismic reflection technique for mapping the cavities and bedrock surface in carbonate rocks is described. The high resolution seismic reflection images were successfully registered by using the hydrophones employed in the stream-water driven trench, and were effectively focused by applying optimal data processing sequences. The strategy included enhancement of the signal interfered with the large-amplitude scattering noise, through pre- and post stack processing such as time-variant filtering, bad-trace editing, residual statics, velocity analysis, and careful muting after NMO (normal moveout) correction. The major reflections including the bedrock surface were mapped with the desired resolution and were correlated to the seismic crosshole tomographic data. Shallow major reflectors could be identified and analyzed on the AGC (auto gain control)-applied field records. Three subhorizontal layers were identified with their distinct velocities; overburden (<3000 m/s), sediments (3000-4000 m/s), limestone bedrock (>4000 m/s). Taking into account of no diffraction effects in the field records, gravel-rich overburdens and sediments are considered to be well sorted. Based on the images mapped consistently on the whole survey line and seismic velocity increasing with depth, this area probably lacks in sizable cavities (if any, no air-filled cavities).

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 1999

We have studied a denoising technique involving wavelet transform for improving the quality of geophysical data during the preprocessing stage. To assess the effectiveness of this technique, we have made synthetic data contaminated by random noises and compared the results of denoising with those obtained by conventional low-pass filtering. The low-pass filtering of the sinusoidal signal having a sharp discontinuity between the first and last sample values shows apparent errors related to Gibbs' phenomena. For the case of bump signal, the low-pass filtering induces maximum errors on peak values by removing some high-frequency components of signal itself. The wavelet transform technique, however, denoises these signals with much less adverse effects owing to its pertinent properties on locality of wavelet and easy discrimination of noise and signal in the wavelet domain. The field data of gravity tide are denoised by using soft threshold, which shrinked all the wavelet coefficients toward the origin, and the G-factor is determined by comparing the denoised data and theoretical data.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.129-136
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• 2014

Electromagnetic (EM) methods are generally divided into frequency-domain EM (FDEM) and time-domain EM (TDEM) methods, depending on the source waveform. The FDEM and TDEM fields are mathematically related by the Fourier transformation, and the TDEM field can thus be obtained as the Fourier transformation of FDEM data. For modeling in time-domain, we can use fast frequency-domain modeling codes and then convert the results to the time domain with a suitable numerical method. Thus, frequency-to-time transformations are of interest to EM methods, which is generally attained through fast Fourier transform. However, faster frequency-to-time transformation is required for the 3D inversion of TDEM data or for the processing of vast air-borne TDEM data. The diffusion expansion method (DEM) is one of smart frequency-to-time transformation methods. In DEM, the EM field is expanded into a sequence of diffusion functions with a known frequency dependence, but with unknown diffusion-times that must be chosen based on the data to be transformed. Especially, accuracy of DEM is sensitive to the diffusion-time. In this study, we developed a method to determine the optimum range of diffusion-time values, minimizing the RMS error of the frequency-domain data approximated by the diffusion expansion. We confirmed that this method produces accurate results over a wider time range for a homogeneous half-space and two-layered model.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.60-68
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• 2007

Conventional analysis of spectral induced polarization (SIP) data consists of measuring impedances over a range of frequencies, followed by spectral analysis to estimate spectral parameters. For the quantitative and accurate estimation of subsurface SIP parameter distribution, however, a sophisticated and stable inversion technique is required. In this study, we have developed a two-step inversion approach to obtain the two-dimensional distribution of SIP parameters. In the first inversion step, all the SIP data measured over a range of frequencies are simultaneously inverted, adopting cross regularisation of model complex resistivities at each frequency. The cross regularisation makes it possible to enhance the noise characteristics of the inversion by imposing a strong assumption, that complex resistivities should show similar characteristics over a range of frequencies. In numerical experiments, we could verify that our inversion approach successfully reduced inversion artefacts. As a second step, we have also developed an inversion algorithm to obtain SIP parameters based on the Cole-Cole model, in which frequency-dependent complex resistivities from the first step are inverted to obtain a two-dimensional distribution of SIP parameters. In numerical tests, the SIP parameter images showed a fairly good match with the exact model, which suggests that SIP imaging can provide a very useful subsurface image to complement resistivity.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.124-132
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• 2001

Electrical resistivity survey has been conducted for delineating geological fault structure in Kaekok-ri near Kyungju. In general, electrical resistivity survey has an advantage of searching buried faults and its traces compared with other geophysical survey methods. Distribution of electrical conductivity in the ground is influenced by the ratio of pores, groundwater and clay minerals. These properties are evidenced indirectly to explain for weathering condition, faults and fracture Bones. Thus the electrical resistivity survey can be an effective method to find buried faults. We have carried out two dimensional (2-D) interpretation by means of smoothness-constrained least-squares and finite element method. Field data used in this paper was acquired at Kaekok-ri, Wuedong-eup, Kyungju-si, where is Ulsan Fault and is close to the region in which debatable quaternary fault traces were found recently. The dipole-dipole array resistivity survey which could show the 2-D subsurface electrical resistivity structure, was carried out in the area with three lines. The results showed good property of fault, fracture zone and fault traces which we estimated were congruous with the results. Through this study, 2-D electrical resistivity survey interpretation for fault is useful to apply.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.85-98
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• 2009

The tau-p inversion algorithm is widely employed to generate starting models with most computer programs, which implement refraction tomography. This algorithm emphasises the vertical resolution of many layers, and as a result, it frequently fails to detect even large lateral variations in seismic velocities, such as the decreases which are indicative of shear zones. This study demonstrates the failure of the tau-p inversion algorithm to detect or define a major shear zone which is 50m or 10 stations wide. Furthermore, the majority of refraction tomography programs parameterise the seismic velocities within each layer with vertical velocity gradients. By contrast, the Generalized Reciprocal Method (GRM) inversion algorithms emphasise the lateral resolution of individual layers. This study demonstrates the successful detection and definition of the 50m wide shear zone with the GRM inversion algorithms. The existence of the shear zone is confirmed by a 2D analysis of the head wave amplitudes and by numerous closely spaced orthogonal seismic profiles carried out as part of a later 3D refraction investigation. Furthermore, an analysis of the shot record amplitudes indicates that a reversal in the seismic velocities, rather than vertical velocity gradients, occurs in the weathered layers. The major conclusion reached in this study is that while all seismic refraction operations should aim to provide as accurate depth estimates as is practical, those which emphasise the lateral resolution of individual layers generate more useful results for geotechnical and environmental applications. The advantages of the improved lateral resolution are obtained with 2D traverses in which the structural features can be recognised from the magnitudes of the variations in the seismic velocities. Furthermore, the spatial patterns obtained with 3D investigations facilitate the recognition of structural features such as faults which do not display any intrinsic variation or 'signature' in seismic velocities.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.211-216
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• 2013

In general, smoothing filters regularize functions by reducing differences between adjacent values. The smoothing filters, therefore, can regularize inverse solutions and produce more accurate subsurface structure when we apply it to full waveform inversion. If we apply a smoothing filter with a constant coefficient to subsurface image or velocity model, it will make layer interfaces and fault structures vague because it does not consider any information of geologic structures and variations of velocity. In this study, we develop a selective smoothing regularization technique, which adapts smoothing coefficients according to inversion iteration, to solve the weakness of smoothing regularization with a constant coefficient. First, we determine appropriate frequencies and analyze the corresponding wavenumber coverage. Then, we define effective maximum wavenumber as 99 percentile of wavenumber spectrum in order to choose smoothing coefficients which can effectively limit the wavenumber coverage. By adapting the chosen smoothing coefficients according to the iteration, we can implement multi-scale full waveform inversion while inverting multi-frequency components simultaneously. Through the successful inversion example on a salt model with high-contrast velocity structures, we can note that our method effectively regularizes the inverse solution. We also verify that our scheme is applicable to field data through the numerical example to the synthetic data containing random noise.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.6-19
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• 2021

Subsurface physical properties can be obtained and imaged by seismic exploration, and various algorithms have been developed for this purpose. In this regard, root mean square error (RMSE) has been widely used to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of the developed algorithms. Although RMSE has the advantage of being numerically simple, it has limitations in assessing structural similarity. To supplement this, full-reference image quality assessment (FR-IQA) techniques, which reflect the human visual system, are being investigated. Therefore, we selected six FR-IQA techniques that could evaluate the obtained physical properties. In this paper, we used the full-waveform inversion, because the algorithm can provide the physical properties. The inversion results were applied to the six selected FR-IQA techniques using three benchmark models. Using salt models, it was confirmed that the inversion results were not satisfactory in some aspects, but the value of RMSE decreased. On the other hand, some FR-IQA techniques could definitely improve the evaluation.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.273-280
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• 2005

Robust magneto-telluric (MT) response function estimators are now in standard use in electromagnetic induction research. Properly devised and applied, these methods can reduce the influence of unusual data (outlier) in the response (electric field) variable, but often not sensitive to exceptional predictor (magnetic field) data, which are termed leverage points. A bounded influence estimator is described which simultaneously limits the influence of both outlier and leverage point, and has proven to consistently yield more reliable MT response function estimates than conventional robust approach. The bounded influence estimator combines a standard robust M-estimator with leverage weighting based on the statistics of the hat matrix diagonal, which is a standard statistical measure of unusual predictors. Further extensions to MT data analysis are proposed, including a establishment of data rejection criterion which minimize the influence of both electric and magnetic outlier in frequency domain based on statistical distribution of electromagnetic field. The rejection scheme made in this study seems to have an effective performance on eliminating extreme data, which is even not removed by BI estimator, in frequency domain. The effectiveness and advantage of these developments are illustrated using real MT data.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.195-201
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• 2019

The logarithmic objective function used in waveform inversion minimizes the logarithmic differences between the observed and modeled data. Laplace-domain waveform inversions usually adopt the logarithmic objective function and the diagonal elements of the pseudo-Hessian for optimization. In this case, we apply the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm to prevent the diagonal elements of the pseudo-Hessian from being zero or near-zero values. In this study, we analyzed the diagonal elements of the pseudo-Hessian of the logarithmic objective function and showed that there is no zero or near-zero value in the diagonal elements of the pseudo-Hessian for acoustic waveform inversion in the Laplace domain. Accordingly, we do not need to apply the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm when we regularize the gradient direction using the pseudo-Hessian of the logarithmic objective function. Numerical examples using synthetic and field datasets demonstrate that we can obtain inversion results without applying the Levenberg-Marquardt method.