Elastic Anisotropy of Deformation Zones in both Seismic and Ultrasonic Frequencies: An Example from the Bergslagen Region, Eastern Sweden

Abstract: Estimation of elastic anisotropy, which is usually caused by rock fabrics and mineral orientation, has an important role in exploration seismology and better understanding of crustal seismic reflections. If not properly taken care of during processing steps, it may lead to wrong interpretation or distorted seismic image. In this thesis, a state-of-the-art under the development Laser Doppler Interferometer (LDI) device is used to measure phase velocities on the surface of rock samples from a major deformation zone (Österbybruk Deformation Zone) in the Bergslagen region of eastern Sweden. Then, a general inversion code is deployed to invert measured phase velocities to obtain full elastic stiffness tensors of two samples from the major deformation zone in the study area. At the end, results are used to correct for the anisotropy effects using three dimensionless Tsvankin's parameters and a non-hyperbolic moveout equation. The resulting stacked section shows partial reflection improvement of the deformation zone compared with the isotropic processing section. This suggests that rock anisotropy may also contribute to the generation of reflections from the deformation zones in the study area but requires further investigations.