High-resolution seismic exploration technology with spark source and its application in identification of natural gas hydrates in marine areas

Accurate identification of natural gas hydrates is of great strategic importance for ensuring national energy security, optimizing energy structures, and protecting the environment. Seismic exploration technology is a crucial means for hydrate exploration. However, most multi-channel seismic explorations in marine areas use airgun sources with relatively low dominant frequencies, resulting in limited resolution of seismic waves, which limits its ability to detect shallow surface layers or subtle geological structures. With the increasing in demand for accuracy and the difficulty of hydrate exploration, seismic exploration technology using airgun sources can no longer meet the needs of fine characterization of hydrate ore bodies. Therefore, improving the resolution of seismic exploration technology is crucial for hydrate exploration. This paper introduces a high-resolution seismic detection technology based on small-offset electric sparker sources. Through comparative analysis with airgun sources, the characteristics of electric sparker sources and their application in marine hydrate exploration are deeply discussed. Results show that high-resolution seismic exploration technology using electric sparker sources has good application effects in identifying both diffused hydrates and shallow leakage hydrates. Especially for shallow leakage hydrates, using electric sparker source seismology can better identify amplitude anomalies, fluid migration pathways, and subtle seabed morphologies in the seabed and shallow strata, which can improve effectively the reliability of identifying shallow gas hydrate.