High Resolution Seismic Imaging of Rainier Mesa Using Surface Reflection and Surface to Tunnel Tomography

In the interpretation of seismic data to infer properties of an explosion source, it is necessary to account for wave propagation effects. In order to understand and remove these propagation effects, it is necessary to have a model. An open question concerning this matter is the detail and accuracy which must be present in the velocity model in order to produce reliable estimates in the estimated source properties. While it would appear that the reliability of the results would be directly related to the accuracy of the velocity and density models used in the interpretation, it may be that certain deficiencies in these models can be compensated by the and amount of seismic data which is used in the inversion. The NPE provided an opportunity to test questions of this sort. In August 1993, two high resolution seismic experiments were performed in N-Tunnel and on the surface of Rainier Mesa above it. The first involved a surface-to-tunnel imaging experiment with sources on the surface and receivers in tunnel U12n.23 about 88 meters west of the NPE. It was possible to estimate the apparent average velocity between the tunnel and the surface. In a separate experiment, a high resolution reflection experimentmore » was performed in order to image the lithology in Rainier Mesa. Good quality, broad band, reflections were obtained from depths extending into the Paleozoic basement. A high velocity layer near the surface is underlain by a thick section of low velocity material, providing a nonuniform but low average velocity between the depth of the NPE and the surface.« less