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Joint inversion of seismic traveltimes and gravity data on the Micang foreland fold belt and its hydrocarbon potential

YUSHAN YANG,  YUANYUAN LI
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Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, Hubei, P.R. China.,
JSE 2014, 23(1), 4–26;
Submitted: 9 June 2025 | Revised: 9 June 2025 | Accepted: 9 June 2025 | Published: 9 June 2025
© 2025 by the Authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Yang, Y. and Li, Y., 2014. Joint inversion of seismic traveltimes and gravity data on the Micang foreland fold belt and its hydrocarbon potential. Journal of Seismic Exploration, 23: 41-63. The Micang foreland fold belt is a transitional zone between the Qinling orogen and Sichuan Basin. Affected by multi-stage tectonic processes and complicated driving forces, the Micang foreland fold belt can not be successfully traced in the seismic sections, due to its complex geological structures. We present a detailed 2D density and velocity transects for the upper crust across the Micang foreland belt using a joint seismic reflection and gravity inversion technique. We use a weighted least square scheme to simultaneously invert the density and velocity. This technique parameterizes the crust as a set of layers that are based on published geologic and seismic models. Each layer has a uniform density and velocity that are constrained where possible by borehole measurements, seismic velocities, and petrologic data. Then the joint inversion of travel time and gravity data is performed to find out a common model having an optimum fit of both travel time and gravity data. Since the global misfit is the addition of the contribution of the two methods, we add a weighting factor in the objective function to better coordinate these two different kinds of data. After being tested with a multi-layered model, the joint inversion scheme is adopted for the Micang foreland belt to construct a more complete upper crustal image. We finally discuss the presence of the overthrusted structure in terms of interaction between the Qinling orogen and Sichuan Basin.

Keywords
joint inversion
gravity
seismic data
Micang foreland fold belt
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Journal of Seismic Exploration, Electronic ISSN: 0963-0651 Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing
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