Three-dimensional seismic characterization and imaging of the Soda Lake geothermal field

TL;DR

This paper presents advanced 3D seismic imaging techniques to accurately characterize the subsurface and fault system of the Soda Lake geothermal field, aiding in optimized geothermal energy extraction.

Contribution

It introduces an integrated approach combining full-waveform inversion, reverse-time migration, and automatic fault detection for high-resolution 3D seismic characterization.

Findings

High-resolution velocity, density, and impedance models obtained

Reliable fault detection consistent with active wells

Enhanced imaging for better geothermal exploration

Abstract

Accurate characterization of subsurface geophysical properties and detection of the fault system are essential for geothermal energy exploration and production. The Soda Lake geothermal field is in western Nevada with a complex fault system. Previous seismic characterization only produced a low-resolution, smooth velocity model along with a simple, conceptual fault model. Using optimized correlation-based full-waveform inversion, wavefield-separation-based reverse-time migration, and automatic fault detection techniques, we present 3D seismic characterization for the Soda Lake geothermal field using 3D surface seismic data acquired with Vibroseis sources. We obtain 3D high-resolution velocity, density, and acoustic impedance models, 3D seismic images with different grid spacings, and a high-resolution fault system. Consistency check between the constructed faults and currently active injection and production geothermal wells verifies that our seismic inversion and imaging results and detected faults are reliable. These results can provide valuable information for optimizing well placement and geothermal energy production at the Soda Lake geothermal field.