GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION & INTERPRETATION

We generally assume that lower layer is denser than upper layer so velocity of sound will be much
higher in lower layer so in this case the sound wave will move away from normal. If the lower layer is to
be less dense than upper layer then the refracted ray would move towards the normal. Means:

In above figure we have shown the P-waves only because they are mostly and extensively used in
seismic exploration (now S-waves are also being used). Surface waves are not used and they are the
source of noise in seismic exploration. At detectors, first P-waves arrive, then S-waves and then surface
waves.

When an explosion occurs, all four types of waves are produced. When P-wave strikes the interface,
some P-waves convert into S-wave due to mode conversion and hence a reflected S-wave and a
refracted S-wave are produced. These S-waves are called as converted waves. Means at the interface
not only the division of energy occurs from the incident ray to the reflected and refracted rays but also
the type of wave conversion occurs too.

ATTENUATION OF ELASTIC WAVES:

Theoretically speaking under ideal conditions sound wave has to travel through an infinite distance but
practically speaking this is not the case because as sound wave propagates, it loses its energy called as
attenuation. The attenuation of sound wave is due to the following two reasons:

1) Absorption
2) Geometrical spreading

• ABSORPTION:

When initially a sound wave is created then the initial energy produced, tends to vibrate the particles of
the medium, when particles vibrate and transfer their energy to neighboring particles then due to
 GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION & INTERPRETATION

friction between the particles, some energy is lost as heat energy, this phenomenon is absorption and
the amplitude of wave decreases (energy is the function of amplitude of wave)

When sound waves are produced, a single frequency wave is not generated but a range of frequencies
are generated say 4Hz to 200Hz. Now what happens in the absorption that waves of high frequencies
are attenuated much earlier than those of low frequency waves, the reason behind this, is that the
waves of various frequencies have the same energy (frequency and energy are two different properties,
energy depends upon the amplitude of the wave whereas frequency is number of waves or cycles in unit
time or simply the number of variations that occur in a unit time) but since the high frequency waves
have large number of waves in a unit time so large disturbance of particles is created in small interval so
large heat dissipation occurs with in small distance and energy dissipates earlier.

• GEOMETRICAL SPREADING:

We know that sound waves travel in form of wave fronts that are spherical in shape if the medium is
homogenous and isotropic. Since if we show the travel path of sound waves through the wave fronts
then it will be very complex, so we show the path of sound wave travel through the arrows drawn
perpendicular to the face of the wave front called as ray. We know that as sound wave propagates away
from source the area of the wave front increases, so as the wave front spreads into the larger area, the
constant initial energy that was produced has to be divided to new producing large area wave fronts so
the intensity (energy per unit area) of the wave continue to decrease as the distance of propagation of
sound wave increases. For example we had an initial energy of 100 J that was produced, the first wave
front had the area of say 10 sq-m so the intensity of this front will 10, now as the wave propagate, the
new front produced had the area of 100 sq-m so the intensity of this new wave front will be 1 and so on
the intensity continue to decrease as the area of wave front is increasing but the energy is constant that
was initially produced.

Wavelength:

Distance between two consecutive crests and troughs or compressions and rare-fractions is the
wavelength.

Frequency:

It is the number of cycles or events or variations produced in unit time.

Time Period:

It means how much time one cycle or one event or one variation will require to be completed.

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Resolution:

Resolution means how effectively you can distinguish between two things or the level of information on
a display device. Higher the resolution, more effective is the distinguishing ability. The smallest the
feature that can be distinguished, more is the resolution. It depends on frequency and wavelength.
More the frequency of the sound wave (smaller the wavelength), more is the resolution and vice versa.

The importance of the resolution is that we know that hydrocarbons are found 4 to 5 km depth which
are to be detected means sound waves have to travel to such depth and carry the information about
rock features from that depth. As sound waves are produced with a particular energy, they propagate
down and lose their energy due to absorption and geometrical spreading due to which the amplitude of
the waves or signals of the waves coming back will be very small moreover, we know that as sound
waves propagate the high frequency waves are attenuated earlier than small frequency waves so the
resolution of the image achieved at the surface will be poor. For example, at surface we have sound
wave of frequency 200Hz, velocity 2000m/s then wavelength comes to be 10m (fro m A = v / f ) . Now
if
these waves reach the target and only waves of frequency 20 Hz have remained then wavelength comes
to 100m. So resolution has drastically reduced.

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We know that whenever an incident ray strikes the interface, it is divided into reflective and refractive
rays. For reflective ray, we have first statement of the law and for refraction, we have second statement.
We generally assume that V2>V1, therefore Sin t should be greater than Sin i, means whenever sound
wave refracts from a rarer medium to a denser medium, it deflects away from the normal. Moreover, in
a set of two mediums as shown in figure, V1 and V2 will be constant therefore as angle i increases, angle
t also increases such that there will be a value of incidence angle for which angle of refraction will be 90
degree. That value of incidence angle will be called as critical angle. At critical angle, the refracted ray
moves along the interface with velocity V2. This wave is called as critically refracted wave. It vibrates
along the interface and produce head waves that are detected at surface. The head waves produced
from the critically refracted wave move with velocity V1.

• We know that when an explosion is made, sound waves are produced that travel in all directions
in form of wave front so there will be waves that will be incident at angles below critical angle
during which only reflected waves will come to the surface but the refracted waves, though they
are produced, will not come to the surface. Reflected waves move with velocity V1 while
refracted waves will move with velocity V2.
• Those waves that are incident at critical angle will produce reflected wave which moves with
velocity V1 and are detected at surface and also the critically refracted wave moves at the
interface with velocity V2 from which head waves generate at the critically angle and move with
velocity V1 and come to the surface and are detected.
• Those waves that are incident at angles above critical angle will not produce any refracted ray
and total internal reflection occurs and only reflected waves come to the surface and are
detected.

On the basis of Snell's law and its above conclusions, we have two different types of seismic surveys:

• Reflection seismic (detectors are arranged to detect reflected waves at surface means waves
below and above critical angle)
• Refraction seismic (detectors are arranged to detect refracted waves produced at critical
incidence angle).

At critical angle, Snell's law is:

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Huygens's Principal:

We know that sound waves travel in form of wave fronts in all directions away from source. According
to Huygens's principle, every point on the wave front acts as the source for the next wave front.

In physics, a wave front is the locus (a line, or, in a wave propagating in 3 dimensions, a surface)
of points having the same phase.

As humans can hear a certain range of frequency such that 20-20000 Hz, similarly, the detectors, we
install to detect seismic waves can accept a certain range of wave frequencies. The waves produced
during earth quake have very low frequencies such that 2 Hz or 0.5 Hz but the same frequency waves
cannot be used in for the exploration purpose as they will produce a very low resolution. In exploration
we have frequencies 20 Hz to 150 Hz so detectors used for exploration and earth quake detection are
different.

A single station can only detect earthquake but cannot measure it because at single station, even if they
determine the distance from which waves come to their detector but still they do not have exactly the

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point from where these waves have traveled and exact location of the rupture point cannot be located.
To determine location we need at least three stations which have reading of distance to rupture point
and then the location of rupture point will be determined as shown in the figure.

Velocity of sound in any medium depends on the characteristics of that medium irrespective of
frequency and wavelength and is not in our control for example sound has constant velocity in air of 330
m/s. The frequency of the wave travelling in the medium is in our control means we can produce sound
wave of desired frequency in any medium but that wave will move with constant velocity through that
medium. The wavelength of the waves detected is very important in seismic exploration. If we have
V=300 m/s, f = 30 Hz then wavelength will be 10 m means two consecutive compressions are 10 m
apart, if in above case f= 300 Hz the wavelength will be 1m means in this the compressions have come
much nearer and resolution has improved. But we know that as we go deep, high frequency waves
attenuate much earlier and only low frequency waves reach at bottom so resolution will be poor so for
better resolution, we need high frequency waves to travel down the earth but the problem with high
frequency waves is that they do not have high penetration rate so the two important parameters while
designing a seismic survey are:

• Resolution
• Penetration

If we need to achieve very high resolution then we need waves of very high frequency but waves of very
high frequency will have very low penetration rate as they will be attenuated very early. For example, if
we need to achieve a resolution of 0.5 m then penetration may be of 100 m which is useless because in
this though we can distinguish very small features but the features will not be of our interest area which
lies 3-4 km in depth therefore frequency is set in such a manner that waves will have penetration to our
target area and moreover the resolution should be high enough that at least we can distinguish major
features of our target and their boundaries can be located.

Some concepts regarding reflection coefficient:

• The magnitude of reflection coefficient tells about the intensity of impedance contrast. Higher
the magnitude, more the impedance contrast and hence more reflection occurs and dark or
bright signal or boundary is seen on seismic section.
• Reflection coefficient can either be negative or positive. If it is positive then it means V2>V1 and
no phase change occurs and compression goes in form of compression (waves received without
phase change) while rare fraction goes in form of rare fraction. If it is negative then it means
V1>V2 and a phase change of 180 degree will occur and a compression will go in form of rare
fraction and vice versa of the receiving wave.
• By knowing the reflection coefficients at each interface, we can produce a reflection coefficient
series, from which we can make theoretical seismic trace or synthetic seismogram. This
synthetic seismogram is then matched with the seismogram that is actually observed.

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^ detector

Seismic
trace

Reflection coefficient
series

In the seismic section, we have either depth or TWT (two way time) in the vertical scale. In the seismic
section, we can identify igneous intrusion as the top of igneous intrusion we have very bright seismic
line showing high impedance contrast between sedimentary and igneous rocks. Moreover, we do not
see any layering in case of igneous rocks as they are solid homogenous bodies.

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