The shales of the Qiongzhusi Formation and Wufeng-Longmaxi Formations at Sichuan Basin and surrounding areas are presently the most important stratigraphic horizons for shale gas exploration and development in China. However, the regional characteristics of the seismic elastic properties need to be better determined. The ultrasonic velocities of shale samples were measured under dry conditions and the relations between elastic properties and petrology were systemically analyzed. The results suggest that 1） the effective porosity is positively correlated with clay content but negatively correlated with brittle minerals, 2） the dry shale matrix consists of clays, quartz, feldspars, and carbonates, and 3） organic matter and pyrite are in the pore spaces, weakly coupled with the shale matrix. Thus, by assuming that all connected pores are only present in the clay minerals and using the Gassmann substitution method to calculate the elastic effect of organic matter and pyrite in the pores, a relatively simple rock-physics model was constructed by combining the self-consistent approximation （SCA）, the differential effective medium （DEM）, and Gassmann＇s equation. In addition, the effective pore aspect ratio was adopted from the sample averages or estimated from the carbonate content. The proposed model was used to predict the P-wave velocities and generally matched the ultrasonic measurements very well.
The bottom-simulating reflector（BSR） is a seismic indicator of the bottom of a gas hydrate stability zone. Its depth can be used to calculate the seafloor surface heat flow. The calculated BSR heat flow variations include disturbances from two important factors：（1） seafloor topography, which focuses the heat flow over regions of concave topography and defocuses it over regions of convex topography, and（2） the focused warm fluid flow within the accretionary prism coming from depths deeper than BSR. The focused fluid flow can be detected if the contribution of the topography to the BSR heat flow is removed. However, the analytical equation cannot solve the topographic effect at complex seafloor regions. We prove that 3D finite element method can model the topographic effect on the regional background heat flow with high accuracy, which can then be used to correct the topographic effect and obtain the BSR heat flow under the condition of perfectly flat topography. By comparing the corrected BSR heat flow with the regional background heat flow, focused fluid flow regions can be detected that are originally too small and cannot be detected using present-day equipment. This method was successfully applied to the midslope region of northern Cascadia subducting margin. The results suggest that the Cucumber Ridge and its neighboring area are positive heat flow anomalies, about 10%–20% higher than the background heat flow after 3D topographic correction. Moreover, the seismic imaging associated the positive heat flow anomaly areas with seabed fracture–cavity systems. This suggests flow of warm gas-carrying fluids along these high-permeability pathways, which could result in higher gas hydrate concentrations.
