Applicability of reflection seismic measurements in detailed characterization of crystalline bedrock

Posiva carried out a seismic survey in the access tunnel of the underground research facility ONKALO in 2009. The survey contributes the detailed characterization of the bedrock in the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. The aim of this work was to examine the geophysical and geological properties of the chosen tunnel intersections to clarify the important characteristics for reflection generation, and evaluate applicability of this survey for characterization of crystalline bedrock. The seismic result consists of 24 projected amplitude images in 12 different angles. The size of an image is 260*300 m. The amount of digitized reflectors is over 100 and all of them could not be included in this work. The study was limited to 14 intersections that were considered important: brittle fault intersections, tunnel-crosscutting fractures, or lithological contacts. Presence of a brittle fault zone or a tunnel-crosscutting fracture limits the suitable bedrock volume for depositing the nuclear fuel canisters, and wide lithological contacts are a common source of reflection. The seismic data was compared to the existing geological, hydrogeological and geophysical data got from the pilot holes and the tunnel. The most important characteristics were fractures: orientation, fillings, and thickness of the fillings, alteration and water leakage. Geophysically interesting was density, seismic velocities and their products: acoustic impedance and synthetic seismograms. Calculated acoustic impedances showed some differences between cases, but they did not indicate the presence of a reflector. The most common cause of reflector was undulating slickensided, highly altered, tunnel-crosscutting fracture that had thick fracture-fillings and water present. Water was included five times in interpreted reflectors. Also few reflectors were connected to varying mineralogy. Few problematic cases occurred, where a geological feature and a reflection did not correlate, and three of the cases with known geological feature had no reflector. Reflection seismic measurements can be used in detailed characterization of crystalline bedrock. Wide brittle fault zones and lithological contacts but also single fractures were detected. However, interpretation is challenging and geological and geophysical reference material is needed. All the expected features were not detected and the explanations were not always fully satisfying. (orig.)