Abstract
It has been long known that the preferred crack alignments and fractures
in rock cause seismic anisotropy and corresponding S-wave birefringence.
Here the S-wave birefringence caused by the preferred alignment of
cracks due to subcritical stress in the granitic basement of north
central Oklahoma is examined. The data used for this study was collected
during the IRIS Community Wavefields Experiment (CWE) in June and July
of 2016, where more than 300 3-component (3-C) short-period seismographs
were deployed in dense arrays with station spacings of 100m or less.
These arrays were also in an area where many small earthquakes were
occurring on a monthly basis, so that many were recorded by these
arrays. The seismic data were cut from the original 30-day field records
to produce short 3-C SEG-Y records of local earthquakes and explosions
at a variety of back azimuths from the CWE array. Each 3-C record was
rotated to the back azimuth of the source, such that the components
become vertical, radial, and transverse with respect to the source.
Vertical components are dominated by P arrivals, while radial components
are dominated by SV arrivals and transverse components are dominated by
SH arrivals. Seismic sections of the radial components of the array are
then plotted in one color and overlain by the corresponding transverse
components from the same array in another color. S-wave birefringence
can then be directly observed as the time difference between arrivals,
particularly first arrivals. S-wave birefringence is proof of seismic
anisotropy and some characteristics of that anisotropy can be observed
in record sections. For instance, birefringence is high along some
azimuths and absent along other azimuths. Where birefringence is absent
arrivals coincide, this could be either due to arrivals crossing or
arrivals meeting but do not crossing. The latter case is important
because it is the direction of an axis of symmetry for the anisotropic
medium where the arrivals are propagating. This is also the case is
observed in the record sections. The axis of symmetry observed in the
record sections has an azimuth of 335 +/- 5 degrees. The fact that an
axis of symmetry with no birefringence exists in the horizontal plane
indicates that the anisotropic medium exhibits hexagonal symmetry, also
known as horizontal transverse isotropy (HTI). It indicates that cracks
and fractures are open perpendicular to the axis of symmetry and closed
in other directions. Because of the large number of earthquakes
occurring in this area a number of studies have been conducted on the
in-situ stress orientations. In the sedimentary section overlaying the
basement close to the CWE seismic array, borehole image logs indicate
that the azimuth of drilling induced tensile fractures is 59 +/- 12
degrees. This is interpreted as the orientation of the maximum
horizontal stress in the borehole. The axis of seismic anisotropy, which
indicates the direction of minimum horizontal stress.