Simultaneous inversion of multiple microseismic data for event locations and velocity model with Bayesian inference

Abstract

We have applied Bayesian inference for simultaneous inversion of multiple microseismic data to obtain event locations along with the subsurface velocity model. The traditional method of using a predetermined velocity model for event location may be subject to large uncertainties, particularly if the prior velocity model is poor. Our study indicated that microseismic data can help to construct the velocity model, which is usually a major source of uncertainty in microseismic event locations. The simultaneous inversion eliminates the requirement for an accurate predetermined velocity model in microseismic event location estimation. We estimate the posterior probability density of the velocity model and microseismic event locations with the maximum a posteriori estimation, and the posterior covariance approximation under the Gaussian assumption. This provides an efficient and effective way to quantify the uncertainty of the microseismic location estimation and capture the correlation between the velocity model and microseismic event locations. We have developed successful applications on both synthetic examples and real data from the Newberry enhanced geothermal system. Comparisons with location results based on a traditional predetermined velocity model method demonstrated that we can construct a reliable effective velocity model using only microseismic data and determine microseismic event locations without prior knowledge of the velocity model.