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2b. Seismic Source & Instrumentation

Geophones are devices used to detect seismic waves in the ground. They measure the velocity of seismic waves and convert it to an electric current. Arrays of up to 300 geophones are placed in the ground to detect incoming seismic waves produced by energy sources. The signals from the geophones are transmitted along cables to seismographs which record and process the data, providing information about rock layers and structures below the surface.

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29 views23 pages

2b. Seismic Source & Instrumentation

Geophones are devices used to detect seismic waves in the ground. They measure the velocity of seismic waves and convert it to an electric current. Arrays of up to 300 geophones are placed in the ground to detect incoming seismic waves produced by energy sources. The signals from the geophones are transmitted along cables to seismographs which record and process the data, providing information about rock layers and structures below the surface.

Uploaded by

Igbereyivwe Tejiri
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Lecture Item

 Geophones
 Geophones measure motion (velocity) of a seismic
wave in the ground and convert it into an electric
current. The most commonly used geophone
measures only vertically or near vertically travelling
seismic waves. This has the advantage that only
P-wave reflections from depth are recorded, but
not horizontally travelling surface wave or reflected
shear waves.
A SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MATERIALS A GEOPHONE IS MADE OF
Vertical component geophones

Take-out points where a


geophone can be connected to
the pair of conductors
Spread/ connecting Cable
*Why do we set up arrays of geophones during a survey? What is the advantage?*
Up to 300 geophones can be pushed into the ground to
“listen” for the incoming seismic waves produced by the
sources.
 A small seismometer used to detect
seismic waves, usually in small scale
experiments (exploration geophysics)
is called a geophone.
 Traditional geophones consist of a
magnetized mass fixed to the
container and a surrounding coil
suspended by springs.
 Natural frequency is controlled by the
mass and spring constant.
 Response curve is the plot of the
electric voltage output from a
geophone as it changes with different
wave frequencies. The flatter response
the better – you want to sense all wave
frequencies equally
Signals from the geophones were transmitted to
the seismographs along a string of cables.
Here is a different style of geophone ready to be deployed.
The points of the phones are pushed into the ground.
Portable seismographs were used to record and
process data from the array of geophones.
… to the seismometer that records the incoming signals.
 Hydrophones
 Hydrophones otherwise called water-pressure
phones are used for marsh and marine surveys
and sometimes for velocity surveys in boreholes.
They are of the piezoelectric types. Synthetic
piezoelectric materials such as barium zirconate
and titanate are used as detectors which are
sensitive to variations in pressure and are usually
placed below several cm of water in marine or
marsh work or below water level in well surveys.
Piezoelectric hydrophones which include
Benders, Disc and Cylindrical hydrophones (fig.
3.5) are high-impedance devices and their
output signals may have to be amplified before
transmission through the streamer
 Instead of recording displacement,
hydrophones record changes in pressure
 A piezo-electric crystal senses the pressure
change and creates a voltage

GEO 468K GEOPHYSICS FOR GEO SCI MAJORS LAB


Oil in the streamer controls buoyancy

 As the hydrophone case is deformed by


changing water pressure, the interior
mounting is also deformed in a way that
changes the stress on the crystal, causing the
crystal to generate electric signals.

•Mounted externally on a marine seismic streamer cable


•Depth measurement
Bird •Depth control using the wings – want to keep the streamer
horizontal and at a fixed depth for the entire survey.
 RECORDS
 The voltage generated by the geophones is
generally small so they are usually amplified,
filtered before being recorded. We have two
types of recorders.
 - Analogue recorder
 - Digital recorder

 In modern day geophysics, we have other


equipments which are not standard (i.e. you may
not have them but they will be very useful).
These are called other field instruments e.g.
cables, radio equipment, monitoring cameras,
computers for control of recording, etc. they
depend on the sophistication of your company.
 Field methods for the acquisition of seismic
reflection data vary considerably depending
on:
(i) Terrain type - Whether the area is land,
marsh or marine
(ii) The nature of the geologic problem to be
investigated – type of anomaly sought
(iii)The accessibility of the area and coverage
desired
A field seismic crew (mainly land crew) consists of
3 main units
(i) Source unit responsible for positioning and
activating energy sources
(ii) Jug hustlers who lay out cables, place the
geophones in their proper locations and connect
them properly to the cables
(iii) Recording unit that does the data recording.
Direct, refracted and reflected waves

 In almost all cases the direct wave arrives first


followed by the refracted wave and then the
reflected waves are usually the last arrrivals at the
detectors.
 SINGLE END – ON
S
G G G G G G

 BROAD SIDE
S
G G G G G G G G

G
G
 CROSS SPREAD
G

G G G G G G G G
S
G
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