Some considerations on shallow seismic reflection surveys

Subsurface electrical imaging of anisotropic formations affected by a slow active reverse fault, Provence, France

“…Second, the data acquired with these methods are relatively easy to process and interpret if the geology is not too complex (e.g., isotropic and homogeneous layers, simple fault geometry). High resolution seismic reflection is also used when moderate to deep information is required (e.g., Shields et al, 1997;Arsdale et al, 1998;Liberty et al, 2003), since the first tens of meter, which are crucial to locate trenches for paleoseismological study, are usually poorly resolved due to the high attenuation induced by shallow sedimentary layers or by weathering (Feroci et al, 2000;Musil et al, 2002). Ultra shallow seismic reflection profiles can, however, be gathered in favourable cases (Steeples et al, 1997;Hunsdale et al, 1998;Baker et al, 1999) but are rarely used in active fault survey since they need relatively more time and efforts, both during the acquisition and processing.…”

3-D reflection seismic imaging of the Hontomín structure in the Basque–Cantabrian Basin (Spain)

“…The use of multiple sources in seismic data acquisition introduces additional complexity to the processing, due to the need to homogenize their phase characteristics (Steer et al 1996;Feroci et al 2000). Since both Vibroseis and dynamite sources were utilized in the survey (Fig.…”

Shallow subsurface imaging using high resolution seismic reflection methods

“…2 shows an example of shot gather after SWNA (surface wave noise attenuation). In general terms, processing steps of the shallow seismic reflection data is similar to that of conventional seismic reflection data (Steeples et al, 1990;Feroci et al, 2000). In general, the near surface layers have a low velocity value that varies abruptly with lateral extension,…”