Tomographic imaging of sub-basalt Mesozoic sediments and shallow basement geometry for hydrocarbon potential below the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) of India

Abstract

We have derived a shallow subsurface 2-D tomographic P-wave velocity image of the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) of India using first-arrival traveltime data along a 90-km-long N-S trending seismic profile in the Deccan Syneclise region. The tomographic image depicts smooth velocity variations of Quaternary and Tertiary (2.0-3.0 km s-1) sediments, basalts/traps (5.0-5.5 km s-1), sub-trappean Mesozoic sediments (4.3-4.5 km s-1) as well as the basement (5.9-6.1 km s-1) geometry down to a maximum depth of 5.0 km. Due to Late Cretaceous volcanism and outpouring of basaltic lava flows, this region is affected by numerous dyke intrusions and thick basaltic trap (2-3 km) exposed on the surface and surrounded by graben structures due to deep basinal faults forming a large igneous province. Although sub-basalt imaging is a major challenge for the oil industry, with the help of tomographic imaging technique of first-arrival seismic refraction data, we were able to image sub-trappean Mesozoic sediments (<0.75 km) deposited below the two sequences of thick basaltic flows above the basement. The imaged Mesozoic sediments are expected to contain hydrocarbon because of their wide extension in this sedimentary basin with suitable trapping mechanism due to basalts. The robustness of the velocity image is assessed through numerous tests like velocity perturbations, χ2 estimates, rms residuals of traveltime fit, uncertainty estimates through computation of ray-density or hits and series of checkerboard resolution tests with velocity anomalies having different cell size. The thickness of the basalt and the sub-trappean Mesozoic sediments along with the basement geometry obtained from tomography are constrained through ray-trace modelling and pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) of the wide-angle reflection phases for different shot gathers along the profile. © The Authors 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society.