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Microtremors, a near-surface phenomenon?

D. NIETO1 ,  L. BARADELLO1 ,  S.I. KAKA2 ,  A. VESNAVER1,2
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1 Italian National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics, Trieste, Italy.,
2 King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.,
JSE 2011, 20(4), 379–398;
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

Nieto, D., Baradello, L., Kaka, S.I. and Vesnaver, A., 2011. Microtremors, a near-surface phenomenon? Journal of Seismic Exploration, 20: 379-398. Microtremor measurements have been used for shallow engineering investigations for decades, but recently have been proposed as possible direct hydrocarbon indicators. In this paper, we have carried out field experiments to analyze some microtremors’ features as average polarization and statistical stability. Our results seem to confirm the shallow nature of most microtremors’ energy, although well data is still needed for a conclusive assessment.

Keywords
microtremor
near-surface
polarization
repeatability
passive seismic
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Journal of Seismic Exploration, Electronic ISSN: 0963-0651 Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing
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