On the Evidence of Multiscale Anisotropy of Shales

A heuristic and empirical model of elastic anisotropy of shales derived from experimental studies is applied to real geophysical conditions in the attempt to predict elastic constants and anisotropy of shales. Results are then compared to other expressions of elastic properties and anisotropy obtained at different scales. In general, the overall approach is found to be valuable, however there is evidence that further tuning of the initial model, mostly linked to the impact of temperature on elastic and anisotropic properties, will likely reduce the misfit between predictions and real data.