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Scope
This book is related to surface petroleum seismology, meaning those
acquisition techniques involving sources and receivers at the earth surface. This
represents the vast majority of seismic effort worldwide and includes data gathered
by receivers on the seafloor. Downhole methods such as vertical seismic profiling
and crosswell seismic are only discussed as they relate to surface seismic data.
Little of value on this subject was added after the third century BCE.
Earthquake theories of the ancient world are diverse but nowhere show an
appreciation of faulting and wave motion as the cause of earthquakes. Perhaps
the closest is Metrodorus of Chios (fourth century): When someone sings into a
large jar, his voice vibrates and runs through the whole jar But only by abuse
of a modern vantage point does an elastic wave theory of earthquakes emerge out
of this passage or any of the ancient works.
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Elements of 3D Seismology
and aftershocks. Include the death toll from fire and disease, and perhaps half of
the population was lost within a month. This event has been said to be the slap
that started the infant science of seismology breathing.
Then the Persians besieged Barce for nine months, digging mines leading to the
walls, and making violent assaults. As for the mines, a smith discovered them by the
means of a brazen shield, and this is how he found them: Carrying the shield round
the inner side of the walls he smote it against the ground of the city; all other places
where he smote it returned but a dull sound, but where the mines were the bronze of
the shield rang clear. Here the Barcaeans made a counter-mine and slew those
Persians who were digging the earth. Thus the mines were discovered and the assaults
were beaten off by the townsmen.
In modern terms, we would say the smith used his shield to perform a
seismic tunnel detection experiment. While this application of reflection
seismology had no influence on later developments in the science, it does predate
Fessenden by about 2500 years.
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Introduction
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Elements of 3D Seismology
Why 3D?
This is a book on 3D seismic with detours to 2D when this is adequate to
convey a concept or technique. Seismic prospecting was almost exclusively 2D
until the mid-1980s. In the 1970s when computing became common, 3D
acquisition, processing, and interpretation advanced dramatically. Current
worldwide seismic effort is dominated by 3D, and its dominance is growing.
What is the attraction of 3D? Since 3D seismic is now the default mode, it
needs no special justification. But it is worth making a short list of benefits to
remind us how 3D came to be the preferred technique.
From a physics point of view, 3D is what we should have been doing all
along.
Getting started
Here are a few recurring ideas and concepts related to 3D seismology.
Onion. You can think of the knowledge required for working with 3D
seismic as being built up of layers like an onion. At the core are 1D seismic ideas
like wavelet, convolution, phase, and reflection coefficient. The next layer is 2D
seismic where new concepts include offset and angular reflection. Next is 3D
where we find azimuth, bins, the data volume, and ways to slice it. The outside
layer is time-lapse 3D where new ideas include repeatability and seismic response
to pore fluid changes.
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Introduction
Information. Seismic data consists of (1) traveltime, (2) amplitude, and (3)
waveform information. Structure mapping involves only (1), stratigraphic
information involves (1)(3), and reservoir property prediction is based
primarily on (2)(3).
Edges. If you go to an outcrop and look at the geology, you see rock units
sandstone, shale, and limestone. If you look at seismic data, you are seeing the
edges of rock units. Seismic is, in effect, an edge detection technique that
responds to acoustic impedance changes. Acoustic impedance is density
multiplied by seismic P-wave velocity.
Layers. A key part of the interpretation process for 3D seismic data is event
tracking. You can picture this by thinking of the 3D seismic data volume as a cube
of vanilla ice cream with chocolate streaks. Tracking means we follow a streak into
the cube to find its 3D shape. This is time structure mapping. We also keep track
of how dark the chocolate is as we follow it. This is horizon amplitude mapping.
Risk. In the search for petroleum, seismic imaging reduces risk of drilling dry
holes and marginal wells and under or over estimating reserves. But no one finds
oil with seismic data. It is found by drilling. Medical imaging is a suitable analogy
to seismic imaging. Both are noninvasive, nondestructive, and reduce risk.
Surgery repairs the problem, but in this day and age, who would undergo surgery
without some kind of medical imaging first?
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