• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.2 no.2 s.3
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• pp.43-50
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• 1994

The geologic structure of Gongju Basin, which is a Cretaceous sedimentary basin located on the boundary of Gyeonggi Massif and Ogcheon Belt, is modeled by using gravity data and interpreted in relation with basin forming tectonism. The electrical survey with dipole-dipole array was also conducted to uncover the development of fractures in the two fault zones which form the boundaries of the basin. In the process of gravity data reduction, the terrain correction was performed by using the conic prism model, which showed better results specially for topography having a steep slope. The gravity model of the geologic structure of Gongju basin is obtained by forward modeling based on the surface geology and density inversion. It reveals that the width of the basin at its central part is about $4{\cal}km$ and about $2.5{\cal}km$ at the southern part. The depth of crystalline basement beneath sedimentary rocks of the basin is about $700{\~}400{\cal}m$ below the sea level and it is thinner in the center than in margin. The fault of the southeastern boundary appears more clearly than that of the northwestern boundary, and its fracture zone may extended to the depth of more than $1{\cal}km$. Therefore, it is thought that the tectonic movement along the fault in the southeastern boundary was much stronger. These results coincide with the appearance of broad low resistivity anomaly at the southeastern boundary of the basin in the resistivity section. The fracture zones having low density are also recognized inside the basin from the gravity model. The swelling feature of basement and the fractures in sedimentary rocks of the basin suggest that the compressional tectonic stress had also involved after the deposition of the Cretaceous sediments.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.285-297
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• 2022

We report results of Extended Leak-Off Test (XLOT) conducted in a large diameter borehole, which is drilled for installation of deep borehole geophysical monitoring system to monitor micro-earthquakes and fault behavior of major fault zones in the southeastern Korean Peninsula. The borehole was planned to secure a final diameter of 200 mm (or more) at a depth of ~1 km, with 12" diameter wellbore to intermediate depths, and 7-7/8" (~200 mm) to the bottom hole depth. We drilled first the 12" borehole to approximately 504 m deep and installed American Petroleum Institute standard 8-5/8" casing, then annulus between the casing and bedrock was fully cemented. XLOT was carried out for several purposes such as confirming casing and cementing integrity, measuring rock stress states. To that end, we drilled additional 4 m long open hole interval to directly inject water and pressurize into the rock mass using the upper API casings. During the XLOT, flow rates and interval pressures were recorded in real time. Based on the logs we tried to analyze hydraulic conductivity of the test interval.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.113-126
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• 2022

The tectonic history of the Chukchi Abyssal Plain in the Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean, has not been fully explored due to the harsh conditions of sea ice preventing detailed observation. Existing models of the tectonic history of the region provide contrasting interpretation of the timing of formation of the crust (Mesozoic to Cenozoic), crust type (from hyper-extended continental crust to oceanic crust), and formation process (from parallel/fan-shaped rifting to transformation faulting). To help determine the age of the oceanic crust, the geothermal gradient was measured at three stations in the south of abyssal plain at depth of 2,160-2,250 m below sea level. Heat flow measurement stations were located perpendicular to the spreading axis over a 40 km-long transect. In-situ thermal conductivity measurement, corrected by the laboratory test, gave observed marine heat flows of 55 to 61 mW/m². All measurements were taken during Arctic expeditions in 2018 (ARA09C expedition) and 2021 (ARA12C expedition) by the Korean ice-breaking research vessel (IBRV) Araon. Given the assumption of oceanic crust, the results correspond to formation in the Late Cretaceous (Mesozoic). The inferred age supports the hypothesis of formation activated by the opening of the Makarov Basin during the Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic. This would make it contemporaneous with rifting of the Chukchi Border Land immediately east of the abyssal plain. The heat flow data indicate the base of the gas hydrate stability zone is located 332-367 m below the seafloor, this will help to identify the gas hydrate-related bottom simulating reflector in the future seismic survey, as already identified on the Chukchi Plateau. Further geophysical surveys, including heat flow measurements, are required to increase our understanding of the formation process and thermal mantle structure of the abyssal plain.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.250-262
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• 2008

In order to assess the feasibility of the dipole-dipole electric method to the investigation of metallic ore deposit, both field data simulation and inversion are carried out for several simplified ore deposit models. Our interest is in a vein-type model, because most of the ore deposits (more than 70%) exist in a vein type in Korea. Based on the fact that the width of the vein-type ore deposits ranges from tens of centimeters to 2m, we change the width and the material property of the vein, and we use 40m-electrode spacing for our test. For the vein-type model with too small width, the low resistivity zone is not detected, even though the resistivity of the vein amounts to 1/300 of that of the surrounding rock. Considering a wide electrode interval and cell size used in the inversion, it is natural that the size of the low resistivity zone is overestimated. We also perform field data simulation and inversion for a vein-type model with surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones, which is a typical structure in an epithermal ore deposits. In the model, the material properties are assumed on the basis of resistivity values directly observed in a mine originated from an epithermal ore deposits. From this simulation, we can also note that the high resistivity value of the vein does not affect the results when the width of the vein is narrow. This indicates that our main target should be surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones rather than veins in field survey. From these results, we can summarize that when the vein is placed at the deep part and the difference of resistivity values between the vein and the surrounding rock is not large enough, we cannot detect low resistivity zone and interpret the subsurface structures incorrectly using the electric method performed at the surface. Although this work is a little simple, it can be used as references for field survey design and field data Interpretation. If we perform field data simulation and inversion for a number of models and provide some references, they will be helpful in real field survey and interpretation.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.242-249
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• 2008

Recently, AVO analysis has been widely used in oil exploration with seismic subsurface section as a direct indicator of the existence of the gas. In the case of the deep reservoirs like the gas reservoirs in the East-sea, it is often difficult to observe AVO responses in CMP gathers even though the bright spots are shown in the stacked section. Because the reservoir becomes more consolidated as its depth deepens, P-wave velocity does not decrease significantly when the pore fluid is replaced by the gas. Thus the difference in Poisson's ratio, which is a key factor for AVO response, between the reservoir and the layer above it does not increase significantly. In this study, we analyzed the effects of Poisson's ratio difference on AVO response with a variety of Poisson's ratios for the upper and lower layers. The results show that, as the difference in Poisson's ratio between the upper and lower layers decreases, the change in the reflection amplitude with incidence angle decreases and AVO responses become insignificant. To consider the limitation of AVO responses shown in the gas reservoir in East-sea, the velocity model was made by simulation Gorae V structure with seismic data and well logs. The results of comparing AVO responses observed from the synthetic data with theoretical AVO responses calculated by using material properties show that the amount of the change in reflection amplitude with increasing incident angle is very small when the difference in Poisson's ratio between the upper and lower layers is small. In addition, the characteristics of AVO responses were concealed by noise or amplitude distortion arisen during preprocessing. To overcome such limitations of AVO analysis of the data from deep reservoirs, we need to acquire precisely reflection amplltudes In data acquisition stage and use processing tools which preserve reflection amplitude in data processing stage.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.270-279
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• 2005

Under the research project supported by Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), we have conducted the development of GPR systems for landmine detection. Until 2005, we have finished development of two prototype GPR systems, namely ALIS (Advanced Landmine Imaging System) and SAR-GPR (Synthetic Aperture Radar-Ground Penetrating Radar). ALIS is a novel landmine detection sensor system combined with a metal detector and GPR. This is a hand-held equipment, which has a sensor position tracking system, and can visualize the sensor output in real time. In order to achieve the sensor tracking system, ALIS needs only one CCD camera attached on the sensor handle. The CCD image is superimposed with the GPR and metal detector signal, and the detection and identification of buried targets is quite easy and reliable. Field evaluation test of ALIS was conducted in December 2004 in Afghanistan, and we demonstrated that it can detect buried antipersonnel landmines, and can also discriminate metal fragments from landmines. SAR-GPR (Synthetic Aperture Radar-Ground Penetrating Radar) is a machine mounted sensor system composed of B GPR and a metal detector. The GPR employs an array antenna for advanced signal processing for better subsurface imaging. SAR-GPR combined with synthetic aperture radar algorithm, can suppress clutter and can image buried objects in strongly inhomogeneous material. SAR-GPR is a stepped frequency radar system, whose RF component is a newly developed compact vector network analyzers. The size of the system is 30cm x 30cm x 30 cm, composed from six Vivaldi antennas and three vector network analyzers. The weight of the system is 17 kg, and it can be mounted on a robotic arm on a small unmanned vehicle. The field test of this system was carried out in March 2005 in Japan.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

Seismic reflection surveying is one of the most widely used and effective techniques for coal seam structure delineation and risk mitigation for underground longwall mining. However, the ability of the method can be compromised by the presence of volcanic cover. This problem arises within parts of the Bowen and Sydney Basins of Australia and seismic surveying can be unsuccessful. As a consequence, such areas are less attractive for coal mining. Techniques to improve the success of seismic surveying over basalt flows are needed. In this paper, we use elastic wave-equation-based forward modelling techniques to investigate the effects and characteristics of seismic wave propagation under different settings involving changes in basalt properties, its thickness, lateral extent, relative position to the shot position and various forms of inhomogeneity. The modelling results suggests that: 1) basalts with high impedance contrasts and multiple flows generate strong multiples and weak reflectors; 2) thin basalts have less effect than thick basalts; 3) partial basalt cover has less effect than full basalt cover; 4) low frequency seismic waves (especially at large offsets) have better penetration through the basalt than high frequency waves; and 5) the deeper the coal seams are below basalts of limited extent, the less influence the basalts will have on the wave propagation. In addition to providing insights into the issues that arise when seismic surveying under basalts, these observations suggest that careful management of seismic noise and the acquisition of long-offset seismic data with low-frequency geophones have the potential to improve the seismic results.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.80-87
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• 2010

This study was conducted to develop a reservoir modelling workflow to reproduce the heterogeneous distribution of effective permeability that impacts on the performance of SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage), the in-situ bitumen recovery technique in the Athabasca Oil Sands. Lithologic facies distribution is the main cause of the heterogeneity in bitumen reservoirs in the study area. The target formation consists of sand with mudstone facies in a fluvial-to-estuary channel system, where the mudstone interrupts fluid flow and reduces effective permeability. In this study, the lithologic facies is classified into three classes having different characteristics of effective permeability, depending on the shapes of mudstones. The reservoir modelling workflow of this study consists of two main modules; facies modelling and permeability modelling. The facies modelling provides an identification of the three lithologic facies, using a stochastic approach, which mainly control the effective permeability. The permeability modelling populates mudstone volume fraction first, then transforms it into effective permeability. A series of flow simulations applied to mini-models of the lithologic facies obtains the transformation functions of the mudstone volume fraction into the effective permeability. Seismic data contribute to the facies modelling via providing prior probability of facies, which is incorporated in the facies models by geostatistical techniques. In particular, this study employs a probabilistic neural network utilising multiple seismic attributes in facies prediction that improves the prior probability of facies. The result of using the improved prior probability in facies modelling is compared to the conventional method using a single seismic attribute to demonstrate the improvement in the facies discrimination. Using P-wave velocity in combination with density in the multiple seismic attributes is the essence of the improved facies discrimination. This paper also discusses sand matrix porosity that makes P-wave velocity differ between the different facies in the study area, where the sand matrix porosity is uniquely evaluated using log-derived porosity, P-wave velocity and photographically-predicted mudstone volume.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.469-477
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• 2016

To evaluate the $CO_2$ storage capacity for the reservoir rock, the laboratory scale technique to measure the amount of $scCO_2$, replacing pore water of the reservior rock after the $CO_2$ injection was developed in this study. Laboratory experiments were performed to measure the $scCO_2$ displacement efficiency of the conglomerate and the sandstone in Janggi basin, which are classified as available $CO_2$ storage rocks in Korea. The high pressurized stainless steel cell containing two different walls was designed and undisturbed rock cores acquired from the deep drilling site around Janggi basin were used for the experiments. From the lab experiments, the average $scCO_2$ displacement efficiency of the conglomerate and the sandstone in Janggi basin was measured at 31.2% and 14.4%, respectively, which can be used to evaluate the feasibility of the Janggi basin as a $scCO_2$ storage site in Korea. Assuming that the effective radius of the $CO_2$ storage formations is 250 m and the average thickness of the conglomerate and the sandstone formation under 800 m in depth is 50 m each (from data of the drilling profile and the geophysical survey), the $scCO_2$ storage capacity of the reservoir rocks around the probable $scCO_2$ injection site in Janggi basin was calculated at 264,592 metric ton, demonstrating that the conglomerate and the sandstone formations in Janggi basin have a great potential for use as a pilot scale test site for the $CO_2$ storage in Korea.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.6 s.175
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• pp.643-656
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• 2005

The East Sea, a marginal sea or back-arc basin, consists of Japan Basin, Yamato Basin, and Ulleung Basin and is surrounded by the Pacific Plate and Philippine Sea Plate. Ulleung Basin locates in the southwestern part of the East Sea and shows the depth of 1,500 m in average and 2,500 m in maximum, connecting to the Japan Basin along 2,000 m contour. The slope of the seafloor is greater in the western side of the basin than in the southern and the eastern side. The crustal thickness of the Ulleung Basin from the OBS tends to get thicker toward the north and the west side and the sediment thickness of the Ulleung Basin is getting thicker toward the southeast side and reaches up to 12 km. The crustal type of the Ulleung Basin was variously suggested as like as a rifted continental crust, an extended continental crust, and an incipient oceanic trust. The origin of the crustal formation and the Ulleung Basin, however, is still controversial. Based on the bathymetry and gravtiy anomaly data for this study, the axis of the Ulleung Basin shows that the basin develops along the axis trending NW-SE direction and reveals a general symmetry of the bathymetry. And also the free-air gravity anomalies show a very similar pattern to the bathymetry of the basin. The sediment thickness is relatively thicker in the southeastern side of the basin than in the northwestern side. Although the crustal age of the Ulleung Basin is supposed to be younger than them of the Japan Basin and the Yamato Basin, the free-air gravity anomalies of the Ulleung Basin ranging -40 to 50 mGals are lower than the other basins, which suggests that the densities of crust and sediment of the Ulleng Basin are lower than the Japan Basin and the Yamato Basin.