Application of seismic anisotropy caused by fissures in coal seams to the detection of coal-bed methane reservoirs

Coal-bed methane is accumulated in micro-fissures and cracks in coal seams. The coal seam is the source terrace and reservoir bed of the coal-bed methane (Qian et al., 1996). Anisotropy of coal seams is caused by the existence of fissures. Based on the theory of S wave splitting: an S wave will be divided into two S waves with nearly orthogonal polarization directions when passing through anisotropic media, i.e. the fast S wave with its direction of propagation parallel to that of the fissure and slow S wave with the direction of propagation perpendicular to that of the fissure. This paper gives the results of laboratory research and field test on the S wave splitting caused by coal-seam fissures: The results show that it is feasible to detect fissures in coal seams by applying the converted S wave and finally gives the development zone and development direction of these fissures.