December 22, 2010

SIESMIC DATA ACQUISITION

Definition:
Seismic data acquisition is a process for mapping
geologic structure by observation of seismic waves, especially by
creating seismic waves with artificial sources and observing the
arrival time of the waves reflected from acoustic-impedance
contrasts or refracted through high velocity members.
.

Why we do seismic data acquisition:

We do seismic data acquisition for the following purposes;
Delineation of near-surface geology for engineering studies, and
coal and mineral exploration within a depth of up to 1km: the seismic
method applied to the near surface studies is known as
engineering seismology.

Hydrocarbon exploration and development within a depth of up to 10

km: seismic method applied to the exploration and development of
oil and gas fields is known as exploration seismology.
Investigation of the earths crustal structure within a depth of up to
100 km: the seismic method applies to the crustal and earthquake
studies is known as earthquake seismology.

Types of Seismic data acquisition

Subsurface geologic structures containing hydrocarbons are
found beneath either land or sea. So there is a land data-acquisition
method and a marine data-acquisition method. The two methods have a
common-goal, imaging the earth. But because the environments differ, so
each required unique technology and terminology.
1) Land Data Acquisition:
In land acquisition, a shot is fired (i.e., energy is transmitted) and
reflections from the boundaries of various Lithological units within the subsurface are recorded at a number of fixed receiver stations on the surface
These geophone stations are usually in-line although the shot source may
not be. When the source is in-line with the receivers at either end of
the receiver line or positioned in the middle of the receiver line a twodimensional (2D) profile through the earth is generated. If the source
moves around the receiver line causing reflections to be recorded form
points out of the plane of the in line profile, then a three-dimensional (3D)
image is possible (the third dimension being distance, orthogonal to the inline receiver-line). The majority of land survey effort is expended in moving
the line equipment along and / or across farm fields or through populated

December 22, 2010

communities. Hence, land operations often are conducted only during

daylight thus making it a slow process.
2) Marine Data Acquisition:
In a marine operation, a ship tows one or more energy
sources fastened parallel with one or more towed seismic receiver lines. In
this case, the receiver lines take the form of cable called Steamer
containing a number of hydrophones. The vessel moves along and fires a
shot, with reflections recorded by the streamers. If a single streamer and a
single source are used, a single seismic profile may be recorded in like
manner to the land operation. If a number of parallel sources and/or
streamers are towed at the same time, the result is a number of parallel
lines recorded at the same time. If many closely spaced parallel lines are
recorded, a 3D data volume is recorded. More than one vessel may be
employed to acquire data on 24-hour basis, since there is no need to
curtail operations in nights.
3) Transition Zone Recording:
Because ships are limited by the water depth in which they
safely can conduct operations, and because land operations must
terminate when the source approaches the water edge, or shore lines,
transition-zone recording techniques have been developed to provide a
continuous seismic coverage required over the land and then into the sea.
Geophones that can be placed on the sea bed or used with both marine
and land shots fired into them.
Techniques have been developed to use both Geophones and
hydrophones in the surface area where the shore line / water edge is likely
to migrate towards land and sea depending on the tide of sea a day. The
combination of such hydrophone / geophones is called a Dual Sensor.
The advantage of why this is to see that either of the receiver of Dual
Sensor pickups the surveyed from the slots recorded using a land or
marine source and data gaps all along the coast within the area of
prospect.
SEISMIC SOURCE
A seismic source is a device that generates controlled seismic energy used
to perform both reflection and refraction seismic surveys. A seismic source
can be simple, such as dynamite, or it can use more sophisticated
technology, such as a specialized air gun. Seismic sources can provide
single pulses or continuous sweeps of energy that generate seismic
waves, which travel through a medium such as water or layers of rocks.
Some of the waves then reflect and refract and is recorded by receivers,
such as geophones or hydrophones.

December 22, 2010

Seismic sources may be used to investigate shallow subsoil structure, for

engineering site work, or deeper structures, usually in the search for
petroleum or mineral deposits, or for scientific investigation. The returning
signals from the sources are detected by geophones, laid in known
locations relative to the position of the source. The recorded signals are
then subjected to specialist processing and interpretation to yield
comprehensible data about the subsurface.
A seismic source signal has the following characteristics:
1. generated as an impulsive source
2. band-limited
3. the generated waves are time-varying
Sources of seismic energy come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Virtually
anything that impacts, or causes motion on, the surface of the earth will be
a source of seismic energy. Unfortunately, most sources are
uncontrollable, such as road traffic, wind (this causes noise by making
bushes and trees move), aircraft, people walking, etc. the storage
capacitors were placed in a steel container (the bang box) on the survey
vessel. The high voltages used, typically 3,000 V, required heavy cables
and strong safety containers. Recently, low voltage boomers have become
available. These use capacitors on the towed sled, allowing efficient
energy recovery, lower voltage power supplies and lighter cables. The low
voltage systems are generally easier to deploy and have fewer safety
concerns.
A geophysicist should select a source based on the following five criteria:
Penetration to the required depth
Knowing what the exploration objectives are, the geophysicist should
select a source that has adequate energy to illuminate the target
horizons. Past experience can help here.
Bandwidth for the require resolution
If high resolution reflections are required to delineate subtle
geological features such as a stratigraphic traps, the source must
transmit a broad range of frequencies, both high and low. For very
shallow targets, a detonator may possess adequate energy and
frequency bandwidth. For deeper reflections, the longer travel path to a
deep reflector requires the selection of a source that has enough

December 22, 2010

energy at the higher frequencies to maintain a broad reflection

bandwidth.
Signal-to-noise- characteristics
Different areas have different noise problems. They may dictate the
source selection.
Environment
When working in populated areas, there are special safety
requirements to which geophysicists must adhere.
Availability and Cost

Three types of sources are most commonly used for both refraction and
reflection investigations of the near surface.

Impact Sources
Sources that generate seismic energy by impacting
the surface of the Earth are probably the most common type employed.
Although impact sources can be rather sophisticated in their construction,
the most commonly used type of impact source is a simple sledgehammer.
In this case, an operator does nothing more than swing the sledgehammer
downward onto the ground. Instead of striking the ground directly, it is most
common to strike a metal plate lying on the ground, to avoid dissipating
energy in plastic deformation of the earth. The sledgehammer is usually
connected to the recording system by a wire. The moment the
sledgehammer strikes the plate, the recording system begins recording
ground motion from the geophones.
The principle advantages to using a sledgehammer source are primarily
Low Cost and
Simple to operate and maintain.
The principle disadvantages of this source are
It can be difficult to assure that the source is operated in a
repeatable fashion,

December 22, 2010

Operation is manually strenuous,

Source outputs relatively small amounts of seismic energy.
Therefore, it can be difficult to record reliable observations at great
distances, and
Source outputs seismic energy that tends to be low frequency in
nature (i.e. this source generates a lot of surface waves).
Gun Sources
Like impact sources, gun sources generate seismic energy
by transferring the kinetic energy of a moving object into seismic energy. In
this case, the moving object is a bullet or shotgun slug. Some sources use
blanks instead of bullets or slugs. In this case, energy is transferred from
the column of air in the gun's barrel that is set in motion by the blank to the
ground.
Like the sledgehammer, gun sources must also be connected to the
recording system so that you can begin recording ground motion from the
geophones at the instant the slug or shell hits the ground.
The principle advantages of gun sources are
Highly repeatable source,
Energy imparted into the ground is larger than is possible from a
sledgehammer, and
Gun sources generally output higher-frequency energy. This helps to
minimize surface wave generation.
The principle disadvantages of gun sources are
Safety,
Equipment is more bulky and expensive than simple impact sources,
and
Getting permission (permitting) to use this source may be more
difficult.
Explosive Sources
Explosive sources can impart a large amount of
seismic energy into the ground given their relatively small size. These
sources can vary in size and type from small blasting caps and shotgun
shells to larger, two-phase explosives. All explosive sources are triggered

December 22, 2010

remotely by a devise known as a blasting box. The blasting box is

connected to both the explosive and the recording system. At the moment
the box detonates the explosive, it also sends a signal to the recording
system to begin recording ground motion from the geophones.
Explosives, such as dynamite, can be used as crude but effective sources
of seismic energy. Generally the explosive charges are placed between 20
feet to 250 feet below ground. The charges are placed in a hole that is
drilled with dedicated drilling equipment for this purpose. This type of
seismic drilling is often referred to as "Shot Hole Drilling".
A common drill rig used for "Shot Hole Drilling" is the ARDCO C-1000 drill
mounted on an ARDCO K 4X4 buggy. These drill rigs often use water or air
in assisting the drilling
The principle advantages of explosive sources are
Pound for pound, these types of sources impart the most amount of
seismic energy into the ground of any of the sources described here,
The energy tends to be very high frequency, and because the
explosives are usually placed in a shallow borehole, it tends not to
be contaminated by surface waves, and
Explosive sources are very repeatable.
The principle disadvantages of explosive sources are
Safety (the person in the photograph above is being foolishly
irresponsible),
Permitting. Landowners tend to be nervous about allowing the use of
explosives on their property,
Data acquisition using explosive sources is much slower than using
impact or gun sources. This is primarily because boreholes must be
drilled within which the explosives are to be placed, and
Explosives tend to be expensive to acquire and maintain.

OTHER SOURCES
Thumper truck
A thumper truck (or weight-drop) truck is a vehicle
mounted ground impact which can used to provide the seismic source. A
heavy weight is raised by a hoist at the back of the truck and dropped,
possibly about three metres, to impact (or "thump") the ground. To

December 22, 2010

augment the signal, the weight may be dropped more than once at the
same spot, the signal may also be increased by thumping at several
nearby places in an array whose dimensions may be chosen to enhance
the seismic signal by spatial filtering.
Thumping might be less damaging to the environment than firing
explosives in shot-holes, though a heavily thumped seismic line with
transverse ridges every few metres might create long-lasting disturbance
of the soil. An advantage of the thumper (later shared with Vibroseis),
especially in politically unstable areas, was that no explosives were
required.
Seismic vibrator
A Seismic vibrator, commonly known by its
trademark name Vibroseis, propagates energy signals into the Earth over
an extended period of time as opposed to the near instantaneous energy
provided by impulsive sources. The data recorded in this way must be
correlated to convert the extended source signal into an impulse. The
source signal using this method was originally generated by a servocontrolled hydraulic vibrator or shaker unit mounted on a mobile base unit,
but electro-mechanical versions have also been developed. Vibroseis was
developed by the Continental Oil Company (Conoco) during the 1950s and
was a trademark until the company's patent lapsed.
Boomer sources
Boomer sound sources are used for shallow water
seismic surveys, mostly for engineering survey applications. Boomers are
towed in a floating sled behind a survey vessel. Similarly to the plasma
source, it stores energy in capacitors, but it discharges through a flat spiral
coil instead of generating a spark. A copper plate adjacent to the coil flexes
away from the coil as the capacitors are discharged. This flexing is
transmitted into the water as the seismic pulse.
Originally the storage capacitors were placed in a steel container (the bang
box) on the survey vessel. The high voltages used, typically 3,000 V,
required heavy cables and strong safety containers. Recently, low voltage
boomers have become available. These use capacitors on the towed sled,
allowing efficient energy recovery, lower voltage power supplies and lighter
cables. The low voltage systems are generally easier to deploy and have
fewer safety concerns.

December 22, 2010

A geophysicist should select a source based on the following five criteria:

Penetration to the required depth
Knowing what the exploration objectives are, the geophysicist should
select a source that has adequate energy to illuminate the target
horizons. Past experience can help here.
Bandwidth for the require resolution
If high resolution reflections are required to delineate subtle
geological features such as a stratigraphic traps, the source must
transmit a broad range of frequencies, both high and low. For very
shallow targets, a detonator may possess adequate energy and
frequency bandwidth. For deeper reflections, the longer travel path to a
deep reflector requires the selection of a source that has enough
energy at the higher frequencies to maintain a broad reflection
bandwidth.
Signal-to-noise- characteristics
Different areas have different noise problems. They may dictate the
source selection.
Environment
When working in populated areas, there are special safety
requirements to which geophysicists must adhere.
Availability and Cost
The time of arrival of a crew can be extremely important. Land Energy
Sources are of two types: Explosive sources and Non Explosive
sources.

Seismic Receivers

1 Geophones:
Conventional geophones are based on Faradays law of electromagnetic
induction. This law states that relative motion of a conductor through a
magnetic field induces an electromagnetic force (EMF) which causes a
current to flow through the conductor, if the conductor is an element of an
electrical circuit. The two types of geophones widely used in geophysical
surveys are
1. moving coil geophone and

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2. moving magnet geophone

Constrution:
The essential ingredients to make a geophone are a
permanent magnet, a conductor and a spring which positions either the
conductor in the magnetic field space (in moving coil geophone) or the
permanent magnet in the electric field space (as in moving magnet
geophone). The conductor in reality is a length of copper wire wrapped into
a cylindrical coil shape. It is often referred to as the coil or element. The
conductors or the magnets motion through the magnetic/electrical field,
according to Faradays law, causes an EMF to be induced that is
proportional to the velocity of the earths motion. Hence, such a geophone
is called a velocity phone because its output is proportional to the velocity
of the earths motion. The large amount of subsurface information carried
by seismic signal would be fully available for interpretation only if the
geophones follow ground movement faithfully with minimum distortion.
Hydrophones:
The hydrophone is an electro acoustic transducer that
converts a pressure pulse into an electrical signal by means of the
piezoelectric effect. If mechanical stress is applied on tow opposite faces of
a piezoelectric crystal, then electrical charges appear on some other pair
of faces. If such a crystal is placed in an environment experiencing
changes in pressure, it will produce a voltage proportional to that variations
in pressure.
Dual Sensors:
For ocean bottom cable (OBC) applications, combining the
output of geophones and a hydrophone is now widely accepted technique
for reducing the ghosting effect caused by the water/air interface. To
overcome the disadvantage of using two separate sensors, both geophone
and hydrophone are available in a single unit known as dual sensors or the
4-component (4C) receivers consist of a hydrophone, two horizontal
geophones and a vertical geophone installed in a single water proof
enclosure for recording P, SV and SH waves.

GEOPHONE SPREADING
By spread we mean the relative locations of the source point and the
centers of the geophone groups used to record the energy form the
source.
In split-dip shooting the source point is at the center of a line of regularly
spaced geophone group often results in a noisy trace (because of ground

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roll or truck noise with a surface source, or gases escaping from the shot
hole and ejection of tamping material); hence the source may be moved 15
to 50 m. perpendicular to the seismic line. Often the geophone groups
nearest the source are not used, which creates a sourcepoint (shotpoint)
gap.
Often the source is at the end of the spread of active geophone
groups to produce an end-on spread, and in areas of exceptionally heavy
ground roll the source point is offset by an appreciable distance along the
line from the nearest active geophone group to produce an in-line offset
spread. Alternatively, the sourcepoint may be offset in the direction normal
to the cable, either at one end of the active part to produce a broadside-L
spread or opposite the center to give a broadside-T spread. End-on and
in-line offset spreads often employ sources off each end to give continuous
coverage and two records for each spread. The in-line and broadside
offsets permit recording reflection energy before the ground-roll energy
arrives at the spread. Cross spread: which consist of two lines of
geophone groups roughly at right angles to each other, are used to record
3D dip information.

Seismic Techniques
Seismic techniques generally involve measuring the travel
time of certain types of seismic energy from surficial shots (i.e. an
explosion or weight drop) through the subsurface to arrays of ground
motion sensors or geophones. In the subsurface, seismic energy travels
in waves that spread out as hemispherical wavefronts (i.e. the three
dimensional version of the ring of ripples from a pebble dropped into a
pond). The energy arriving at a geophone is described as having traveled
a ray path perpendicular to the wavefront (i.e. a line drawn from the spot
where the pebble was dropped to a point on the ripple). In the subsurface,
seismic energy is refracted (i.e. bent) and/or reflected at interfaces
between materials with different seismic velocities (i.e. different densities).
The refraction and reflection of seismic energy at density contrasts follows
exactly the same laws that govern the refraction and reflection of light
through prisms. Note that for each seismic ray that strikes a density
contrast a portion of the energy is refracted into the underlying layer, and
the remainder is reflected at the angle of incidence. The reflection and
refraction of seismic energy at each subsurface density contrast, and the
generation of surface waves (or ground roll), and the sound (i.e. the air
coupled wave or air blast) at the ground surface all combine to produce a
long and complicated sequence of ground motion at geophones near a

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shot point. The ground motion produced by a shot is typically recorded as

a wiggle trace for each geophone.

Seismic Refraction

Seismic refraction involves measuring the travel time of the component of

seismic energy which travels down to the top of rock (or other distinct
density contrast), is refracted along the top of rock, and returns to the
surface as a head wave along a wave front similar to the bow wake of a
ship.The shock waves which return from the top of rock are refracted
waves, and for geophones at a distance from the shot point, always
represent the first arrival of seismic energy.

Seismic refraction is generally applicable only where the seismic velocities

of layers increase with depth. Therefore, where higher velocity (e.g. clay)
layers may overlie lower velocity (e.g. sand or gravel) layers, seismic
refraction may yield incorrect results. In addition, since seismic refraction
requires geophone arrays with lengths of approximately 4 to 5 times the
depth to the density contrast of interest (e.g. the top of bedrock), seismic
refraction is commonly limited (as a matter of practicality) to mapping
layers only where they occur at depths less than 100 feet. Greater depths

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are possible, but the required array lengths may exceed site dimensions,
and the shot energy required to transmit seismic arrivals for the required
distances may necessitate the use of very large explosive charges. In
addition, the lateral resolution of seismic refraction data degrades with
increasing array length since the path that a seismic first arrival travels
may migrate laterally (i.e. in three dimensions) off of the trace of the
desired (two dimensional) seismic profile.
Recent advances in inversion of seismic refraction data have made it
possible to image relatively small, non-stratigraphic targets such as
foundation elements, and to perform refraction profiling in the presence of
localized low velocity zones such as incipient sinkholes.
Seismic Reflection
Seismic reflection uses field equipment similar to
seismic refraction, but field and data processing procedures are employed
to maximize the energy reflected along near vertical ray paths by
subsurface density contrasts.

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Reflected seismic energy is never a first arrival, and

therefore must be identified in a generally complex set of overlapping
seismic arrivals - generally by collecting and filtering multi-fold or highly
redundant data from numerous shot points per geophone placement.
Therefore, the field and processing time for a given lineal footage of
seismic reflection survey are much greater than for seismic refraction.
However, seismic reflection can be performed in the presence of low
velocity zones or velocity inversions, generally has lateral resolution vastly
superior to seismic refraction, and can delineate very deep density
contrasts with much less shot energy and shorter line lengths than would
be required for a comparable refraction survey depth.
The main limitations to seismic reflection are its higher cost than refraction
(for sites where either technique could be applied), and its practical
limitation to depths generally greater than approximately 50 feet. At depths
less than approximately 50 feet, reflections from subsurface density
contrasts arrive at geophones at nearly the same time as the much higher
amplitude ground roll (surface waves) and air blast (i.e. the sound of the
shot). Reflections from greater depths arrive at geophones after the ground
roll and air blast have passed, making these deeper targets easier to
detect and delineate.
Seismic reflection is particularly suited to marine applications (e.g. lakes,
rivers, oceans, etc.) where the inability of water to transmit shear waves
makes collection of high quality reflection data possible even at very
shallow depths that would be impractical to impossible on land.

For shallow applications this will normally comprise a hammer and plate,
weight drop or explosive charge. In most reflection surveys shots are
deployed at a number of different positions in relation to the geophone
array in order to obtain reflections from the same point on the interface at
different geophones in the array. Each common point of reflection is
termed a common mid-point (CMP) and the number of times each one is
sampled determines the 'fold coverage' for the survey. Traces relating to
the same CMP are stacked together to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of
the survey before being combined with other CMP's stacked traces to
produce a reflection profile. In order to stack related CMP traces a stacking

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velocity is applied to each trace. This accounts for the difference in twoway travel time between the normal incidence reflection (vertical travel
path below the shot) and those at increasing offsets from the shot (known
as the normal moveout or NMO). The stacking velocity will vary down the
trace to take account of the increase in velocity with depth for each
reflection event.
The simplest form of seismic reflection profiling is the constant-offset
method. This technique uses a single geophone offset from the source by
a fixed distance. The two are moved along the survey line in equal steps
with a single trace being recorded at each position. The main advantage of
this technique is the limited amount of processing that needs to be applied
to the data due to the almost vertical orientation of each raypath. However,
in order to avoid problems with interference from groundroll and the shot
airwave, the offset distance has to be selected with care.
Continuous Surface-Wave System (CSWS)
The continuous surface-wave method utilises a specific type of seismic
wave, known as the Rayleigh wave, in order to determine in situ shear
modulus-depth profiles to depths of between 8m to 20m below surface.
The velocity of a Rayleigh wave is related to the shear modulus (G) and
density of the ground through which it propagates. Unlike crosshole
seismic methods, which are routinely used to determine geotechnical
parameters such as the shear modulus (and additionally Poisson's ratio),
the CSW technique require no boreholes.Rayleigh waves are constrained
to propagate within a zone approximately 1 wavelength in depth, such that
increasing the wavelength (decreasing the frequency) of the transmitted
energy will result in an increase in the depth of investigation. The
wavelength and phase-velocity of the Rayleigh waves generated at a
particular frequency are calculated by determining the phase shift between
the transmitted and measured signals at each geophone location.
Phase-velocities are measured over a range of frequencies in order to
build up a dispersion spectrum for the ground below the spread.

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This is then inverted to determine a velocity-depth profile and finally a

stiffness-depth profile.The system comprises a portable frequencycontrolled vibrator and an array of low frequency geophones arranged colinearly with the source. A laptop computer controls both the vibrator and
data acquisition. Rayleigh waves are generated at frequencies of between
5Hz and 100Hz in 0.1-5Hz increments in order to build up a
comprehensive stiffness-depth profile.