Investigating Rayleigh wave anisotropy in faulted media with three-component beamforming: Insights from numerical models and applications for geothermal exploration

Rayleigh waves are prevalent in the ambient seismic noise wavefield and are thus often exploited in passive seismic methods to characterise the near subsurface. In fractured or faulted media, Rayleigh waves show anisotropic velocities that could provide information on the fault properties. However, the exact relationship between Rayleigh wave anisotropy and true anisotropic structures is not well known. This study used a three-component (3C) beamforming toolbox to analyse numerical full waveform seismic wave propagation from conceptual models of fractured media, which depict the nonlinear physical behaviour of the wave. We identify Rayleigh waves in the synthetic data produced from a single point source at different locations, compare observed Rayleigh wave anisotropy to structural anisotropy, and assess the effect array design and source distance have on Rayleigh wave analysis and observed anisotropy. Numerical analysis shows that the smaller the velocity contrast between fault and surrounding rock, the more complex the anisotropic response. We find that the slow directions of Rayleigh wave propagation can be a better indicator of fault strike than the fastest direction, when the velocity contrast between the two media is small. • Structural anisotropy and azimuthal anisotropy of synthetic Rayleigh waves do not always align. • Smaller velocity contrasts result in more complex/ambiguous anisotropy. • Slow directions give a better indication of the fault strike when the velocity contrast is small. • Effect of array design on anisotropy analysis is small when the velocity contrast is large.