Planning Land 3-D Seismic Surveys (plus CD-ROM) (Geophysical Development Series, V. 9.) - Hardcover

Andreas Cordsen; Mike Galbraith; John Peirce; Bob Adrian Hardage

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1560800895 ISBN 13: 9781560800897

Publisher: Society of Exploration, 2011

Synopsis

This book gives readers the tools to start designing 3-D seismic surveys. The substantial experiences of the authors in designing and acquiring land 3-D seismic surveys make this a practical and useful book. Readers are expected to have a general working knowledge of 2-D seismic data acquisition, processing, and interpretation. Some 3-D experience is helpful but not necessary to understand this material. Practical exercises are included to facilitate understanding of the subject matter. Some geophysicists may want to enhance their knowledge of 3-D design by reading papers concerning their particular special interests. A reference list and a collection of other recommended reading are included. A searchable CD-ROM of the entire contents of the book also is included.

Also Available:

Shell Processing Support Format for Land 3 D Survey - ISBN 1560800321
Hardrock Seismic Exploration (Geophysical Development Series, V. 10.) - ISBN 156080114X

About this title

About the Author:

This book was written by Andreas Cordsen, Mike Galbraith, and John Peirce.

Review:

Planning Land 3-D Seismic Surveys by Andreas Cordsen, Mike Galbraith, and John Peirce. ISBN 1-56080-089-5. SEG, 2000. 204 p. The progress from 2-D to 3-D seismic data acquisition and processing added a new dimension in terms of geometrical and physical soundness, and thus in earth imaging quality, but it also added a dimension of problems. This book is a comprehensive review of such problems and their solutions. It is written to be either a specialist reference for geophysicists or to be a part of an academic course in seismic exploration. Some decades ago, planning a seismic survey meant drawing the most straight line possible across areas of geologic interest, and eventually bending it a bit where obstacles existed. This freedom is lost in 3-D surveys. When a gap occurs in the source and receiver distribution (e.g., due to a lake or to industrial areas), it can be only partly compensated for. This book is a guide for navigating on land among contradicting survey goals for example, processing simplicity versus full azimuth coverage; large offsets (for the velocity analysis) versus a limited fold taper (for a cheaper recording), and so on. The book has two parts. The first five chapters focus on the basic subject; in the remaining ones, the authors provide some information about recording equipment, data processing, and interpretation. This second part is like a connecting tissue to more specialized books which can guide the further study. Chapter 1 is a general introduction. The basic material is presented in the following order: concepts of bin and inline or cross-line fold (chapter 2); the Fresnel zone and depth-imaging related aspects (chapter 3); simple equations and spreadsheets for quickly choosing the main recording parameters (chapter 4); and a rich analysis of several field layouts (chapter 5). I found this chapter particularly interesting because it compares relatively simple and typical distributions of sources and receivers (such as regular parallel swaths, or star-like geometries) with others that are stranger (such as a brick-like pattern, or nonorthogonally crossing swaths) or even funny, but effective (such as the button patch method, which produces recording maps resembling chessboards, or the zigzag pattern). Two further thoughts come to mind on reading chapter 5. First, in early 3-D surveys, people preferred parallel swaths of sources and receivers. Such a choice, of course, was very reasonable two decades ago because it enabled various familiar 2-D lines to be extracted. Because little 3-D software existed and computing power was much less than today, any 2-D check was precious. However, the authors analysis shows that parallel swaths are a poor choice with respect to most alternatives: this helps explain the slow start of large-scale 3-D applications. A second consideration is anisotropy. Although the word is rarely pronounced within the book, careful analysis of the azimuth distribution of raypaths is a requisite for any anisotropy estimate. This problem is becoming a hot subject, and this book provides an implicit contribution to it (and to seismic tomography as well!). The final chapters give a flavor of recording techniques in land surveys (chapter 6 for sources, chapter 7 for recording tools, chapter 8 for array design). Plenty of color photographs bring the reader nearer to the real world. Particularly effective, in chapter 9, is a 3-D survey planned using aerial photos to define obstacles (e.g., a river and dense vegetation) and easier field paths. The final chapters are basically links to other books on seismic processing (chapter 10) and interpretation (chapter 11) or other topics (chapter 12). The latter, in particular, mentions two leading-edge problems that are currently the subject of very active research: time-lapse seismic (4-D) and converted-wave analysis. ALDO VESNAVER, OGS, Italy --September 2001 TLE

The last part of the 1st review: Planning Land 3-D Seismic Surveys by Andreas Cordsen, Mike Galbraith, and John Peirce. ISBN 1-56080-089-5. SEG, 2000. 204 p. This book should be bought and read carefully by any geophysicist. The first part is especially vital because it explains the main drawbacks to be avoided when planning a 3-D survey. It is also a precious guide for using software tools to quantify expected earth illumination in complex 3-D models. ALDO VESNAVER, OGS, Italy --September 2001 TLE

NOTE: The 1st and 2nd Reviews listed are all the same review. --September 2001 TLE

About this edition

• Publisher: Society of Exploration
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1560800895
• ISBN 13: 9781560800897
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 204