DATA ACQUISITION

Survey Design
Sheriff & Geldart, Chapter 8 reflection method gather: a set of seismic traces with a common acquisition geometry common source gather common receiver gather

Ikelle & Amundsen 2005

reciprocity: reversal of sources and receivers produces identical signal [for amplitudes, direction of motion (e.g., vertical geophone) must be considered] common midpoint (CMP) gather common offset gather

Ikelle & Amundsen 2005

Hole: GEOS 4174

2.2-1

Data Acquisition: Survey Design

common-offset method produces a low-S/N map of the reflector optimum offset is chosen for a particular target reflector CMP method use CMP gather and normal-movout (NMO) correction to improve signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) stack: sum of NMO-corrected seismic traces for a CMP simulates a zero-offset trace fold: number of traces in a CMP stack for traces with random noise of similar S/N, a stack with fold N improves the S/N by about N (usual profiling method with GPR)

Reynolds 1997

Yilmaz 2001

Hole: GEOS 4174

2.2-2

Data Acquisition: Survey Design

CMP method

Yilmaz 2001

dipping structure: CMP collects data from different reflection points; midpoint is smeared dipping structure does not align properly with NMO correction
Sharma 1997

CMP is also known as common depth point (CDP) but only true for horizontal layers
Hole: GEOS 4174 2.2-3 Data Acquisition: Survey Design

2D (linear) source and receiver layouts live recording spread geometry: source is a dot, receivers are xs

Sheriff & Geldart 1995

split spread: gives higher fold at near offset end-on spread: gives longer offsets (for a fixed station spacing) gap: near-source gap eliminates near-source stations (that may be dominated by ground roll) and provides longer offsets roll-along: the live recording spread moves with the shot along the line many shots and receivers at overlapping positions gives fold roll-on, roll-off: when the spread hits the ends of the survey line, the shots will move through a fixed spread to the last possible position
Hole: GEOS 4174 2.2-4 Data Acquisition: Survey Design

stacking chart plot traces at shot & receiver positions

Yilmaz 2001

x midpoint = ( x source + x receiver ) /2

x offset = x receiver x source

in real life, physical obstacles (e.g., road, creek, building) require gaps in shots and/or receivers undershooting: to maintain fold on a subsurface reflector, the missed sources & receivers are replaced by placing them either side of the survey notes are requiredon connect recorded gap to source and receiver stations, and then detailed to data to ground positions
Hole: GEOS 4174 2.2-5 Data Acquisition: Survey Design

survey design considerations

Sheriff & Geldart 1995

Hole: GEOS 4174

2.2-6

Data Acquisition: Survey Design

2D crooked line obstacles or access sometimes limit the line to be crooked a smooth line (or series of straight lines) is drawn through the mapped midpoints midpoint bins are chosen with shapes perpendicular to the line (or along strike)

Sheriff & Geldart 1995

y midpoint = ( y source + y receiver ) /2

roffset = ( x r x s ) + ( y r y s )

the across-line information can be used to infer across-line dip

Hole: GEOS 4174

2.2-7

Data Acquisition: Survey Design

marine surveying cost of seismic surveying: most important factor: time, which is roughly proportional to number of sources fired next factor: crew/ship size, which roughly depends upon number of recording channels marine operations are very time-efficient: real-time surveying, few obstacles, continuous shooting order of magnitude more cost-effective per km (for similar acquisition specs) marine surveying always uses end-on recording recording streamers extend kms behind the ship and are pushed by ocean currents: feathering

Sheriff & Geldart 1995

requires a lot of position survey data (compasses and GPS on the cables) CMPs get smeared in cross-line direction
Hole: GEOS 4174 2.2-8 Data Acquisition: Survey Design

3D seismic marine: grid of ship lines, multiple streamers receivers are always close to in-line, so line direction matters for a dipping geologic target land: grid of shots, multiple geophone lines record each shot very flexible 3-dimensional survey design possible marine land

Yilmaz 2001

Reynolds 1997

Yilmaz 2001

4D seismic = time-lapse seismic repeat a survey to monitor changes: e.g., due to fluid flow, deformation
Hole: GEOS 4174 2.2-9 Data Acquisition: Survey Design

refraction to resolve dipping structure, need a reversed refraction line: shots at both ends many refractors, or continuous increase in velocity with depth, gives turning rays to resolve 2D structure, need many shots recorded on same receivers => fixed spread

Lester MS thesis 2006

refraction shot-receiver offset is usually 5-20 times the depth of imaging longer rays means lower frequency (for a given depth of imaging) => larger shots S/N usually good because there is no reflection coefficient to partition energy

Hole: GEOS 4174

2.2-10

Data Acquisition: Survey Design

Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) 1D is most common VSP walkaway for 2D image 3D VSP is rare

Reynolds 1997

Ikelle & Amundsen 2005

Paullson et al. 2004 First Break

1D gives very good velocity as a function of depth 1D gives absolute depth of reflectors, tie to surface reflection section 2D, 3D gives high-resolution velocity and reflection section higher resolution (higher frequency) than surface data receivers closer to target travels through weathering layer only once VSP image volume is relatively small, close to well
Hole: GEOS 4174 2.2-11 Data Acquisition: Survey Design

cross-borehole imaging distance <200 m high resolution due to proximity to target and high frequency

travel times give seismic velocity between wells

Reynolds 1997

Sheriff & Geldart 1995

reflection imaging can be performed both above and below the source

Reynolds 1997

Hole: GEOS 4174

2.2-12

Data Acquisition: Survey Design