Abstract
Contrary to the traditional view, seismic attenuation in Biot's theory of fluid-saturated porous media is due to viscous damping of local (not global) pore-fluid motion. Since substantial inhomogeneities in fluid permeability of porous geological materials are to be expected, the regions of highest local permeability contribute most to the wave energy dissipation while those of lowest permeability dominate the fluid flow rate if they are uniformly distributed. This dichotomy can explain some of the observed discrepancies between computed and measured attenuation of compressional and shear waves in porous earth. One unfortunate consequence of this result is the fact that measured seismic wave attenuation in fluid-filled geological materials cannot be used directly as a diagnostic of the global fluid-flow permeability.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berryman, J. G. (1980),Confirmation of Biot's theory, Appl. Phys. Lett.37, 382–384.
Berryman, J. G. (1986a),Effective medium approximation for elastic constants of porous solids with miscroscopic heterogeneity, J. Appl. Phys.59, 1136–1140.
Berryman, J. G. (1986b),Elastic wave attenuation in rocks containing fluids, Appl. Phys. Lett.49, 552–554.
Berryman, J. G. andBlair, S. C. (1986),Use of digital image analysis to estimate fluid permeability of porous materials: Application of two-point correlation functions, J. Appl. Phys.60, 1930–1938.
Berryman, J. G. andBlair, S. C. (1987),Kozeny-Carman relations and image processing methods for estimating Darcy's constant, J. Appl. Phys.62, 2221–2228.
Berryman, J. G., Bonner, B. P., andChin, R. C. Y. (1983),Evidence for correlation of ultrasonic attenuation and fluid permeability in very low porosity water-saturated rocks, Geophys. Res. Lett.10, 595–598.
Biot, M. A. (1956a),Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid. I. Lowfrequency range, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.28, 168–178.
Biot, M. A. (1956b),Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid. II. Higher frequency range, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.28, 179–191.
Biot, M. A. (1962),Mechanics of deformation and acoustic propagation in porous media, J. Appl. Phys.33, 1482–1498.
Chandler, R. (1981),Transient streaming potential measurements on fluid-saturated porous structures: An experimental verification of Biot's slow wave in the quasi-static limit, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.70, 116–121.
Chin, R. C. Y., Berryman, J. G., andHedstrom, G. W. (1985),Generalized ray expansion for pulse propagation and attenuation in fluid-saturated porous media, Wave Motion7, 43–66.
Dutta, N. C. andOdé, H. (1979a),Attenuation and dispersion of compressional waves in fluid-filled rocks with partial gas saturation (White model)—Part I: Biot theory, Geophysics44, 1777–1788.
Dutta, N. C. andOdé H. (1979b),Attenuation and dispersion of compressional waves in fluid-filled rocks with partial gas saturation (White model)—Part II: Results, Geophysics44, 1789–1805.
Dutta, N. C. andSeriff, A. J. (1979),On White's model of attenuation in rocks with partial gas saturation. Geophysics44, 1806–1812.
Hovem, J. M. (1980),Viscous attenuation of sound in suspensions and high-porosity marine sediments, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.67, 1559–1563.
Hovem, J. M. andIngram, G. D. (1979),Viscous attenuation of sound in saturated sand, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.66, 1807–1812.
Johnson, D. L., Plona, T. J., Scala, C., Pasierb, F., andKojima, H. (1982),Tortuosity and acoustic slow waves, Phys. Rev. Lett.49, 1840–1844.
Johnson, D. L., Koplik, J., andDashen, R. (1986),Theory of dynamic permeability and tortuosity in fluid-saturated porous media, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc.31, 576.
Johnston, D. H., Toksöz, M. N., andTimur, A. (1979),Attenuation of seismic waves in dry and saturated rocks: II. Mechanisms, Geophysics44, 691–721.
Mavko, G. M. andNur, A. (1975),Melt squirt in the asthenosphere, J. Geophys. Res.80, 1444–1448.
Mavko, G. M. andNur, A. (1979),Wave attenuation in partially saturated rocks, Geophysics44, 161–178.
Mochizuki, S. (1982),Attenuation in partially saturated rocks, J. Geophys. Res.87, 8598–8604.
Murphy, W. F. III (1982),Effects of partial water saturation on attenuation in Massilon sandstone and Vycor porous glass, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.71, 1458–1468.
Murphy, W. F. III (1984),Acoustic measures of partial gas saturation in tight sandstones, J. Geophys. Res.89, 11549–11559.
Murphy, W. F. III (1985),Sonic and ultrasonic velocities: theory versus experiment, Geophys. Res. Lett.12, 85–88.
O'Connell, R. J. andBudiansky, B. (1977),Viscoelastic properties of fluid saturated cracked solids, J. Geophys. Res.82, 5719–5735.
Ogushwitz, P. R. (1985),Applicability of the Biot theory, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.77, 429–464.
Plona, T. J. (1980),Observation of a second bulk compressional wave in a porous medium at ultrasonic frequencies, Appl. Phys. Lett.36, 259–261.
Salin, D. andSchön, W. (1981),Acoustics of water saturated packed glass spheres, J. Phys. Lett.42, 477–480.
Simmons, G., Wilkens, R., Caruso, L., Wissler, T., andMiller, F. (1982),Physical properties and microstructures of a set of sandstones, Annual Report to the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center, 1 January 1982, p. VI-16.
Simmons, G., Wilkens, R., Caruso, L., Wissler, T., andMiller, F. (1983),Physical properties and microstructures of a set of sandstones, Annual Report to the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center, 1 January 1983, p. VI-16.
Stoll, R. D. (1974),Acoustic waves in saturated sediments, inPhysics of Sound in Marine Sediments, edited by L. Hampton (Plenum Press, New York), pp. 19–39.
Tittmann, B. R., Bulau, J. B., andAbdel-Gawad, M. (1984),Dissipation of elastic waves in fluid saturated rocks, inPhysics and Chemistry of Porous Media, edited by D. L. Johnson and P. N. Sen (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1984), pp. 131–143.
Walsh, J. B. (1969),New analysis of attenuation in partially melted rock, J. Geophys. Res.74, 4333–4337.
Walsh, J. B. andBrace, W. F. (1984),The effect of pressure on porosity and the transport properties of rock, J. Geophys. Res.89, 9425–9431.
White, J. E. (1975),Computed seismic speed and attenuation in rocks with partial gas saturation, Geophysics40, 224–232.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Berryman, J.G. Seismic wave attenuation in fluid-saturated porous media. PAGEOPH 128, 423–432 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01772607
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01772607