Patent ID: 8923094

Claim:
A method for hydrocarbon detection in a subsurface region using passive-source seismic data in conjunction with at least one other type of geophysical data, comprising: (a) obtaining passive-source seismic survey data for the subsurface region, wherein the survey's receivers were seismometers located generally over said subsurface region and spaced for hydrocarbon prospecting, said seismometers being suitable for global seismology earthquake detection, and wherein said passive-source seismic data were collected over a time period determined to include at least one event identified in a published catalog of global earthquake locations and estimated to have a dominant frequency at the subsurface region in a range of 0 to 8 Hz based on said at least one event's magnitude and distance from the subsurface region; (b) obtaining at least one other type of geophysical data for the subsurface region, selected from a group consisting of active-source seismic, controlled source electromagnetic, magnetotelluric, magnetic, and gravity; (c) deriving a physical properties model giving values of at least one physical property at different locations in the subsurface region by simultaneously using said passive-source seismic data and the at least one other type of geophysical data; and (d) using the physical properties model to predict hydrocarbon potential for the subsurface region.