The Anhui Experiment, a pilot experiment of "Yangtze River Geoscience Project "conducted in October,2015,is a large active-source experiment using airgun sources. It was the first 3-dimensional seismic survey with active sources in the Yangtze River. The sources are airguns in 20 fixed shot points,and the observation system consists mainly of109 permanent stations and 11 wide-angle profiles. Using the data from permanent stations,we investigated the seismic signals generated by airgun sources in the Yangtze River. The results show that the airgun signals are observable in the records from permanent stations to a maximum distance of 300 km. Further analysis on absolute amplitude of airgun signals shows that:( 1) the strength of airgun signals is of the order of10 nm at 50 km away from the source,and then,decreases significantly to less than 1nm at 200 km;( 2) an azimuthal anisotropy is observed in spatial distribution of the strength of airgun signals,which may be related to the geometry of Yangtze River; and( 3) a low ambient noise level is essential for retrieving weak airgun signals from the records,and the high-quality China National Seismic Network and regional networks offer a great opportunity to retrieving airgun signals with amplitude as small as nanometers.
In order to explore the ability of airgun sources in imaging the crustal structure,we conducted an experiment along the Yangzte River at the section from Ma 'anshan to Anqing using an offshore airgun source( referred as the Anhui Airgun Experiment).During the experiment,the airgun source was fired 2973 times at 20 multiple shot points,while 109 permanent stations and 700 temporary stations( 11 profiles) were used to record the signal. For 20 multiple shot points,we picked up 335 P-wave arrivals at 52 permanent stations. Then we obtained the P-wave velocity structure of the crust beneath the southern tip of the Tancheng-Lujiang( Tan-Lu) fault. The preliminary result of P-wave velocity structure confirms the possibility of 3D body wave imaging using large volume airgun sources. The imaged velocity heterogeneity at a depth of 15 km is correlated to the geological settings. High velocity anomaly beneath the Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt could be explained by the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks in the deep region,while the low velocity anomaly at the Yangtze River region may correspond to the special background of mineralization.
