A comprehensive crosshole seismic experiment in glacial sediments at the ICDP DOVE site in the Tannwald Basin

Abstract

Glaciers have shaped the Alpine landscape by carving deep valleys and depositing sediments to form overdeepened basins. Understanding these processes provides information on the evolution of the climate and landscape. One such overdeepened structure is the Tannwald Basin (ICDP site 5068_1) north of Lake Constance, which was formed by the Rhine Glacier in several glacial cycles. In order to study these sediments and their seismic properties down to about 160 m depth, we conducted seismic crosshole experiments between three boreholes, obtaining compressional (P) wave data. The P-wave data are generated by a sparker source and recorded by a 24-station hydrophone string. We present the data acquisition and review our approach for future optimization, suggesting a finer time sampling interval and a separate registration of borehole and surface receivers. Travel-time tomography of the P-wave first-arrival picks under geostatistical constraints yields initial subsurface models. The tomograms correlate well with cased-hole sonic logs and the lithology derived from the core of one of the boreholes. These results will be further investigated in future research, which will include full-waveform inversion (FWI) to obtain high-resolution subsurface models.