Passive seismic horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) surveying to help define bedrock depth, structure and layering in shallow coal basins

Abstract

Trial passive seismic HVSR survey lines were carried out in the north-western part of the Wilga sedimentary basin in Western Australia, which is a small and shallow isolated sub-basin to the Perth Basin, sitting above rifted Archaean granite-gneiss basement rocks. The HVSR survey method was trialled to determine if it could resolve subsurface basin features quickly and cheaply. This trial HVSR survey was carried out as a series of transects along open walking tracks. It was very successful for mapping the general basin architecture by resolving bedrock depth to a maximum depth of close to 200 m along the survey transects, and defining a half-graben structure that forms the faulted eastern boundary of the basin, with the basin depth gently deepening toward the west. The HVSR data are also interpreted to have detected subtle layering within the basin sedimentary sequence to possibly map Permian black shale beds, coal measures and splits sitting below an unconformity of Cretaceous sedimentary cover. The passive seismic HVSR method has potential to be a robust survey method for defining basin architecture in shallow coal basins with poorly indurated basin fill deposits, especially in remote parts of the world with difficult access and limited exploration funds to carry out active seismic surveys.