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Seismic Survey Design

Competency Statement:

Describe environmental factors requiring modification to normal marine/non-marine seismic data acquisition. Include access, water depth, surface terrain, noise, and obstructions. Indicate appropriate source, receiver, or geometries considerations for each case.

Learning Objective:

  • List non-conventional seismic survey types and their application.
  • List non-conventional source and receiver types and their application.
  • List source and receiver limitations for a transition zone seismic survey.
  • Describe possible shooting solutions for seismic acquisition in an existing field with obstructions.
  • Describe exploration reasons for shear wave acquisition.

Assignment Instruction:

Seismic survey design is a complex task. In addition to wave propagation, survey design depends on costs, logistics, safety regulations, environment, and geographical settings. The design for a particular survey should take into consideration all geological and geophysical requirements as well as the survey environment. A successful seismic survey design not only generates a good seismic image of the subsurface but does so economically, safely, efficiently, and as environmentally friendly as possible.

In this assignment your responsibility is to make decisions regarding the design of three seismic surveys:

  • Project #1: A seismic survey in a transition zone.
  • Project #2: A seismic survey in an area with obstructions
  • Project #3: A shear wave survey in a marine environment

As part of your responsibilities, you will:

  • Decide which seismic source and receiver type is most appropriate for a specific area.
  • Decide which operational technique is most suitable for specific areas of a transition zone survey.
  • Make decisions when faced with operational limitations in a transition zone.
  • Identify possible shooting solutions when obstacles are encountered.
  • Decide between telemetry and distributed systems depending on environmental factors.
  • Identify important aspects of shear wave acquisition.