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Chapter 6

Field Procedures

Introduction

 In this chapter, you will learn the field procedures used in acquiring 2-D seismic data.

 You will also learn how to set some acquisition parameters using prior geological

information about the survey area.

Spread types

 A spread refers to the location of the source relative to the receivers associated with

that specific source.

 The most commonly used types of spreads are:

 Split spread: in which the source is in between regularly spaced receivers.

Variations of this type include:

 Split-dip spread in which the source is between and in-line with the receivers

with no gaps or deviation.

 Deviated split spread in which the source is deviated by a small distance

perpendicular to the line.

 Gapped split spread in which few receivers closest to the source are turned

off.

 End-on spread: in which the source is at one end of regularly spaced receivers. It

may involve an in-line offset of the source away from the first receiver (i.e.,

gapped end-on spread).

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 Broadside spread: in which the source is offset by an appreciable distance (500-

1000 m) perpendicular to the seismic line. There are two variations of this type:

 Broadside-T spread in which the source is opposite the line center.

 Broadside-L spread in which the source is opposite one end of the line.

 Figure showing geometry of spreads. Figure showing seismic records of spreads.

Arrays

 Also known as groups or patterns.

 A geophone array is a pattern of geophones that feed a single channel.

 A source array is a distribution of sources that are fired simultaneously.

 Combination of receiver and source arrays are often used in the same seismic survey.

 Arrays are used to attenuate horizontally traveling noise and enhance vertically

traveling signals.

 The responses of all the geophones (elements) of an array are summed up to generate

one single trace and the responses of individual array elements are never recorded.

 The array usually covers an area with dimensions of 10’s to 100’s of meters using

10’s of geophones.

 The location of the resulting trace is assigned at the array center of gravity (COG).

This figure shows the layout of a typical 2-D geophone array.

 The geophone spacing within the array will introduce a delay in the detection time

(t) of each geophone as a wave approaches the array given by:

x
t  Sin , (1)
V
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where, x is the geophone spacing,  is the approach angle, and V is the

weathering layer velocity (Figure).

 When summed up, the responses of array elements will interfere constructively or

destructively, depending on x, and V, where  is the wavelength of the

approaching wave. Generally:

 For vertically incident plane wavefronts, resulting int = 0 in which case

the geophone responses will interfere constructively upon summation.

 For obliquely incident plane wavefronts, resulting int  0 in which case

the geophone responses will interfere destructively upon summation.

 For a horizontally traveling wave of wavelength  (or period T), the geophone

spacing that produces the maximum destructive interference is x = /2 (or t = T/2).

(Figure).

Marine and transition-zones

 The major factors that control marine data acquisition are:

(1) The size of the towed cable

(2) The water depth

(3) Obstructions

 Transition zones are those in which environments change rapidly such as the region

near a coastline. In such areas, different kinds of sources, receivers, and recording

systems may be used depending on the environment.

 An ocean-bottom-cable (OBC) is a cable laid down on the sea floor to record P- and

S-waves (Figure).
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 If a hydrophone is used besides an OBC with a one-component geophone, we get

dual-sensor recording (a geophone recording velocity and a hydrophone recording

acceleration).

 If a hydrophone is used besides an OBC with a 3-component geophone, we get four-

component (4C) recording (3 geophones recording velocities and a hydrophone

recording acceleration).

Common-midpoint (CMP) method

 In this method, points in the subsurface are covered more than once by primary

reflections from different source-receiver pairs.

 The objective of this multiplicity is to enhance the S/N ratio of the data by stacking

(summing) the traces reflected from the same point because they all have the same

signal that interferes constructively but different noise that interferes destructively.

 After NMO correction, stacking M traces in a CMP gather will increase the S/N ratio

of that CMP by a factor of M.

 Other names of this method include:

 Common-reflection point (CRP)

 Common-depth point (CDP)

 Terminology related to this method include the following:

 CMP gather includes all traces belonging to the same midpoint.

 CMP fold is the number of traces in a gather. Common 2-D CMP folds are 120,

240, and 480.

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 A station is a place on the ground that is occupied by a source, receiver, or both.

Its number usually does not change during the survey.

 A channel is a live (active) receiver that is associated with a specific shot.

Channels are usually numbered sequentially from nearest to furthest from the

source. Common channel numbers are 480, 960, 1440, and 1920.

 A trace is the record resulting from a geophone array (group).

 CMP spacing is half of the trace (receiver) spacing.

 Stacking chart is a chart in which the x-axis indicates the geophone location and the

y-axis indicates the source location. It is used to sort the traces into various gathers

(shot, receiver, offset, or CMP).

 On a stacking chart (Figure):

 Points along one diagonal have a common midpoint.

 Points along the other diagonal have a common offset.

 Points along a horizontal line have a common shot (source).

 Points along a vertical line have a common receiver (station).

Selection of field parameters

 Usually, a noise analysis (walkaway) is done before the actual survey to determine

the characteristics of noise in the area (ground roll, refractions … etc).

 A walkaway is a small-scale shot gather with no arrays and very short receiver

spacing (1-3 m) (Figure).

 The following criteria should be considered in determining the field parameters:

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(1) The maximum offset should be greater than or equal to the depth of the deepest

zone of interest. This generates a hyperbolic NMO (curvature) enough for

velocity analysis and migration.

(2) The minimum offset should be chosen as small as possible but no more than the

depth of the shallowest zone of interest.

(3) The geophone spacing within arrays should be half of the wavelength of the

dominant groundroll.

(3) The length of the geophone array should be 3-5 times the wavelength of the

dominant groundroll.

(4) Receiver interval should be double the desired CMP interval.

(5) The number of channels should be 2-4 times the desired CMP fold, depending on

the recording geometry.

(6) The charge size should be decreased if the ambient noise late in the record is high.

(7) The survey area should be increased at the sides to reach the desired CMP fold at

the edges of the survey area and allow for migration of dipping events (Figure).