Frequency-dependent seismic anisotropy due to fractures: Fluid flow versus scattering

ABSTRACTAnisotropy is a useful attribute for the detection and characterization of aligned fracture sets in petroleum reservoirs. Unfortunately, many of the traditional effective medium theories for modeling the seismic properties of fractured rock are insensitive to the size of the constituent fractures. For example, the same pattern of anisotropy may be produced by a high concentration of small, stiff cracks or by a lower concentration of large, compliant fractures. The distinction between these models is important for assessing permeability anisotropy because fluid flow is dominated by the largest fractures. One method to gain further insight is through the analysis of frequency-dependent shear-wave splitting in microseismic data because fracture compliance is frequency dependent, and microseismic data are relatively rich in frequency content. We compared two potential mechanisms causing frequency-dependent compliance of fractures: (1) squirt flow in fractured porous rock and (2) wave scattering over r...

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