Joint inversion for effective anisotropic velocity model and event locations using S-wave splitting measurements from downhole microseismic data

An accurate velocity model is essential in microseismic imaging. Layered sediments and subvertical cracks from tectonic stress and hydraulic fracturing make velocity models more complicated than isotropy or simple anisotropy, such as vertical transverse isotropy. Downhole microseismic acquisition usually cannot achieve sufficient ray coverage that is required to develop a low-symmetry anisotropic model from traveltimes alone. To solve this problem, we have developed a new type of data, S-wave splitting parameters (the delay time of the slow S-wave and fast S-wave polarization direction), to determine anisotropic models. A genetic algorithm inversion is adopted to solve for the locations of events and the stiffness tensor of an anisotropic medium simultaneously. We applied this method to synthetic waveforms from numerical modeling and successfully recovered the input event locations and the velocity model. The effectiveness of this method is further demonstrated by using real microseismic data acquired in the Bakken shale reservoir. Compared with the inversion with an isotropic velocity model, event locations from an anisotropic model become well-aligned with natural fractures in the Bakken Formation. Our experiments have evidenced that adding full S-wave splitting parameters makes a significant improvement in constraining a low-symmetry anisotropic model from downhole microseismic data.