A Study on the Acquisition Technology for Weak Seismic Signals from Deep Geothermal Reservoirs

Abstract

There are rich geothermal resources in China and they are widely distributed. After years of continuous exploration and production, most of the shallow geothermal resources have been explored and the current exploration mainly focuses on deep ones. Among a great many geophysical exploration methods, seismic survey is the most effective means of geothermal resource exploration and production, but its weak seismic reflection signal, low S/N ratio and poor imaging of thermal reservoirs due to the seismic geological conditions restrict the production and utilization of deep geothermal resources. It considers through the analysis of the geophysical characteristics of the thermal reservoir that the main causes for the weak seismic reflection signals from deep thermal reservoirs are (1) the shielding effect of the strong wave impedance interface between the thermal reservoir and the caprocks; (2) the small reflection coefficient inside the thermal reservoir; and (3) the serious absorption and attenuation of high-temperature fluids such as hydrothermal fluids and steam in the thermal reservoirs by seismic waves. Accordingly, a series of seismic data acquisition technologies are proposed based on the high-precision vibroseis low-frequency shooting, high-sensitivity geophones long-spread receiving and small bin size highfold technologies, and their application in the seismic acquisition of dry-hot rocks (HDR) in Gonghe Basin, Qinghai, shows a very good application effect.

Keywords

• geothermal reservoir
• weak signal
• seismic acquisition
• high density