SEISMIC ACQUISITION

Land and Marine

Seismic
Acquisition from
2D to 3D
INTRODUCTION
Seismic acquisition, starting with a simple ray-based
concept and ending with more practical details of the
typical systems in use today.

1. ZERO-OFFSET AND CMP METHODS

 The simplest type of acquisition
would be to use a single
coincident source and receiver
pair and profile the earth along
a line as shown in the figure.
ZERO-OFFSET
Such an experiment would be
called a zero-offset experiment
because there is no offset
distance between source and
receiver (both marked as a
yellow dot on the figure).
2. SINGLE-FOLD
The resulting seismic data will be single-fold because there will
only be a single trace per sub-surface position.
The zero-offset concept is an important one and the method
might be used in practice if noise could be ignored.
3. COMMON-MID-POINT (CMP)
The method of acquisition most commonly used is the Common-
Mid-Point (CMP) method.
The same method is also called Common-Depth-Point (CDP).
Neither of the two names exactly describes the method, so while
both are equally invalid, CMP is usually preferred.
The general idea of the method is to acquire a series
of traces (gather) which reflect from the same
common subsurface mid-point.
In the figure source points are shown in red and
receiver points in green.
4. STACKED
The traces are then summed (stacked) so that
superior signal-to-noise ratio to that of the
single-fold stack results.
The fold of the stack is determined by the
number of traces in the CMP gather.
The earlier figure showed rays and the
previous figure shows traces resulting from a
single six-fold CMP gather depicting
reflections from a single flat interface (these
could be from any of the subsurface locations
from the zero-offset figure).
 The reflection from the
flat interface produces a
curved series of arrivals
on the seismic traces
since it takes longer to
travel to the far offsets
than the near offsets.
5. The Normal Moveout
curve
This hyperbolic curve
(shown in the dotted red
line) is called the Normal
Moveout curve or NMO
and is related to travel
time, offset and velocity
of the medium as shown
by the equation in the
 (NMO)
NORMAL
MOVEOUT
CORRECTION
Before stacking
the NMO curve
must be corrected
such that the
seismic event lines
up on the gather.
This is called
Normal Moveout
Correction and the
results are shown
in the central
portion of the
figure.
 The moveout corrected traces are then stacked, to
produce the 6-fold stack trace, which simulates the
zero-offset response but with increased signal-to-
noise ratio.
 The CMP gather provides information about
seismic velocity of propagation since this is the
only unknown variable in the NMO equation.
 If the velocity applied is too low, the NMO curve will
be overcorrected and if the velocity is too high the
curve will be undercorrected.
 Both under and overcorrection result in a smeared
stack which would be inferior to the perfect zero-
offset trace.
1. CMP ACQUISITION  a CMP could
be acquired
a. Shot one using a single
pair of source
and receiver
pair this would
be very
expensive
and time
consuming
way to acquire
several lines
or a 3D cube
In practise CMP acquisition is accomplished
of CMP
by firing the source into many receivers
simultaneously as shown in adjacent figure gathers.
 (a) which depicts a shot gather where a single shot
(red) is fired into six receivers (green).
 A receiver is also co-located with the shot to produce
a zero-offset trace.
 By moving the source position an appropriate
multiple of the receiver spacing CMP gathers can be
constructed by re-ordering the shot traces (this
process is called sorting).
  Figure (b) shows
b. Shot tow (red) the original shot
and second shot
(traces in red).
 In this case, the
shot has moved
up a distance
equal to the
receiver spacing.
• The CMP
spacing is equal
to half the
receiver spacing.
c. Six Shots fired • Figure 3c shows
how the fold of
the CMP gathers
is starting to
build up after six
shots have been
fired.
• At the beginning
of the line the
fold builds up to
it's maximum of
three. The fold
stays at the
maximum until
the end of the
line is reached
where the fold
decreases.
Questions:
1.What happens to the CMP spacing if the receiver
spacing is doubled ?
2.What happens to the fold if the receiver spacing is
doubled ?
3.What happens to the fold if the shot spacing is
halved ?
4.What happens to the fold if the shot spacing is
doubled ?
Typically the boat will travel around 4 knots (8 km/h) and the
shotpoint interval would be double the receiver group interval.
A speed of 4 knots is approximately 2m/s which means
approximately 12s between shots for a 25m shotpoint interval.
• The following table summarises typical geometries. The fold
calculation assumes a 3km cable and all units are in meters.
• Note that the table refers to the fold and spacing as acquired in
the field.
• These parameters can, and often are, changed during the seismic
processing flow.
• The maximum recording time is that practically established on
modern vessels.

SHOT RECEIVER CMP FOLD MAXIMUM

SPACING SPACING SPACING RECORDING
18.75 12.5 6.25 80 4.5s
25 12.5 6.25 60 8s
25 25 12.5 60 8s
50 25 12.5 30 20s
GATHER TYPES:
The adjacent figure shows ray-paths for various types
of gather which can be constructed by sorting traces
from the CMP acquisition technique.
Each trace will be assigned a series of identifiers during
acquisition which will be used to sort the data.
These identifiers or trace headers will include things
like shot number, receiver number, trace number within
shot and source-receiver offset.
•During processing the data may be sorted many ways
using these headers - usually in order to find a domain
where noise is separated from signal so it can be
suppressed.
EFFECT OF DIPPING HORIZONS
The previous figures and discussion have assumed that the
reflecting strata are horizontal.
Unfortunately the introduction of dip introduces many
complications as shown above.
Figure (a) shows six-fold ray-paths for a horizontal three
reflector case and in (b) a case in which moderate dip is involved.
The CMP method holds for multiple layers and the data can be
moved out and stacked to produce three reflections.
Note that refraction occurs at the velocity boundaries and
velocity increases in each layer.
Where dip is present it is clear that the CMP method is
breaking down since the traces do not all reflect from the same
mid-point location.
Processing techniques such as DMO and Migration are
required to accurately process CMP data acquired from dipping
strata.
MULTIPLE LAYERS AND EFFECTS OF DIP
MARINE ACQUISITION IN PRACTICE
 Practical limitations limit the effectiveness with which
we can acquire marine seismic data. For example
the modern sleeve airgun source does not produce
an exact impulse but is tuned to produce a
broadband spectrum in the typical seismic
frequencies 5-100Hz.
CMP METHOD (Harry Mayne)
1.Seismic sensors
a. geophones
b. hydrophones
c. gimballed geophones and hydrophones
d. accelerometers
2. Sources
a. Explosives
b. Vibroseis
3. SEGY data
Acquisition Parameters
1. Time Sample Rate
2. Offset Range
3. Listen Time
4. Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
5. Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
6. Shooting geometry
a. inline
b. cross-line
Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Please take a look at the powerpoint presentation for

the radio-telemetry field trip at the following link:
http://www.geol.lsu.edu/Faculty/Juan/ReflectSeismol
05/labs/ppt/Radio-telemetry.ppt
This link has information to complement the
explanation on the CMP method.
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 1

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints

Separation between midpoints is

1/2 separation between hydrophone groups
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 2

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 3

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 4

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 5

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 6

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 7

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 8

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups Shotpoint # 8

#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1
Shotpoint # 1

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1
Shotpoint # 1
Shotpoint # 2

Shotpoint # 1
Shotpoint # 2

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1
Shotpoint # 1
Shotpoint # 2
Shotpoint # 3

Shotpoint # 1
Shotpoint # 2
Shotpoint # 3
Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1
Shotpoint # 1
Shotpoint # 2
Shotpoint # 3
Shotpoint # 4
Shotpoint # 1
Shotpoint # 2
Shotpoint # 3
Shotpoint # 4

Midpoints
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone groups
#6

#4
5

1
#

#
Shotpoints # 1-8

1
2 Midpoints
3
45 6 7 8 8 13
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Fold or Multiplicity is the number of times that the same

midpoint is sampled by different shots and different receivers
Signal-to-Noise increases as the square root of the fold

Fold

1
2 Midpoints
3
45 6 7 8 8 13
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Maximum Fold is achieved after the 6th shot

Fold

1
2 Midpoints
3
45 6 7 8 8 13
 Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)
1. When shotpoint spacing and group spacing are equal then
2. Maximum fold = number of geophones or hydrophones
3. Midpoint separation = 1/2 distance between geophones

In a more general case:

Maximum Fold = No. recording groups X distance between groups
2 X distance between shots

Midpoint separation
= 1/2 smaller of the two: receiver group spacing or
shot spacing
 Gather Types

A gather i.e. “a subset of the traces from

the entire data set” can be of different
types:
1. Shotpoint gather
2. Common source-receiver offset gather (COS)
3. Common midpoint gather
Shotpoint Gather

e.g. Shotpoint gather #3

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
Shotpoint Gather
Shotpoint #3

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
Hydrophone groups #
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

A shotpoint gather samples various midpoints and a variety of angles

What happens to the reflecting points in a shotpoint
gather when the reflecting interrface dips?
Shotpoint #3

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
Hydrophone groups #
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

A shotpoint gather samples various midpoints and a variety of angles

What happens to the reflecting points in a shotpoint gather when the
reflecting interface dips?

Shotpoint #3

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
Hydrophone groups #
#6 #5 #4 #3 #2 #1

Reflecting points
Midpoints
A shotpoint gather samples different reflecting
points at a variety of angles
Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone group #4
Common source-receiver offset and
common receiver, shotpoints 1-8
#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
 Hydrophone group #4
Common source-receiver offset and
common receiver, shotpoints 1-8

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
COS means equal reflection angle

Midpoints
 In the case of a COS gather where are the true midpoints when
the reflecting, geological interface has a dip?

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
COS means equal reflection angle

Midpoints
 COS NO LONGER implies equal reflection angles

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#

Actual reflecting points

Midpoints
Common Midpoint Method (CMP Method)

Hydrophone group #4
Common mid-points and
shotpoints 1-8
#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#

Midpoints
 Hydrophone group #4
Common mid-point and
shotpoints 1-8

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
group
8 76 5 4 3 2 1

Midpoint #6

CMP gathers sample varying angles but a common geological midpoint

 What happens to a common midpoint gather when
the reflecting interface has a dip?

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
group
8 76 5 4 3 2 1

Midpoint #6

CMP gathers sample varying angles but a common geological midpoint

 CMP gathers SAMPLE varying angles but with
a relatively smaller spread of
reflecting points than the shotpoint and
common-offset gathers

#6

#4
5

3
2
#

#
#

1
#
group
8 76 5 4 3 2 1

Midpoint #6

True Reflecting Points

A common midpoint gather minimizes the effect of
dip while it helps increase the signal-to-noise ratio
 Outline-1
CMP METHOD (Harry Mayne)
Seismic sensors
•geophones
•hydrophones
•gimballed geophones and hydrophones
•accelerometers
Sources
•Explosives
• Vibroseis
SEGY data
 Geophones

Convert ground motion into electricity

at a rate of about 1 Volt/inch/sec

Natural Resonance Frequency 100 Hz

GS-100 from Geospace

Geophone layout
Geophone layout
 Seismic Sensors

•Hydrophones convert changing pressure into Volts

(Volts/bar)

e.g. Preseis 2517 from I/O 1V/microPascal

•Gimballed Geophone-hydrophone combinations for
sea-bottom work

Sea-Array 4 from Geospace

Streamer layout
 •Accelerometers

Convert ground acceleration into Volts

d(dx/dt)
dt

E.g. VectorSeis from I/O

3-component digital accelerometer (requires battery)
full-scale at 3.3 m/s2; noise level 0.44 microm/s2
140db = 20 log (3.3/4*10^-7)
 Outline-1
CMP METHOD (Harry Mayne)
Seismic sensors
•geophones
•hydrophones
•gimballed geophones and hydrophones
•accelerometers
Sources
•Explosives
• Vibroseis
SEGY data
 Vibroseis Method (Liner, 2004;
p.157, para. 4, )

An output sweep
(e.g., 10-80 Hz)

enters the earth

…..and undergoes various reflections

 +
+ =
...something too complicated to draw

Field correlation “unravels” the raw data into ….

Vibroseis images from the Lithoprobe Project, Canada
www.lithoprobe.ca

A vibrator truck

“12 elephants dancing in unison” (LITHOPROBE, CANADA)

Explosives

Noble Explochem Limited

 GI Watergun Array

NSF R/VIB NBPalmer- February/March 2003

Sercel G. GUN 150 cu. In. firing at
2,000 p.s.i.
• Link to movie of this G. Gun working in a pool
 Outline-1
CMP METHOD (Harry Mayne)
Seismic sensors
•geophones
•hydrophones
•gimballed geophones and hydrophones
•accelerometers
Sources
•Explosives
• Vibroseis
SEGY data
 SEGY data 3200 byte
One line at a time EBCDIC header

400 byte tape header

240 byte trace header

DATA
240 byte tape header

DATA

240 byte tape header

DATA
 Outline-2
Acquisition Parameters
•Time Sample Rate
•Offset Range
•Listen Time
•Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
• Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
•Shooting geometry
•inline
•cross-line
 Sample Rates

What is the fewest number of times I need to sample

this waveform per second?

?
Sample Rates
Sample Rates
Sample Rates
 Sample Rates

What is the fewest number of times I need to sample

this waveform per second?

At least twice per wavelength or period!

OTHERWISE ….
Undersampled waveforms

f f
Amplitude

Reconstructed frequency True frequency (f -true)

(f -aliased)
 Oversampled waveforms

Nyquist frequency
Amplitude

Reconstructed frequency = True frequency (f -true)

frequency is unaliased

Nyquist frequency = 1 / twice the sampling rate

Minimum sampling rate must be at least twice the desired frequency

E.g., 1000 samples per second for 500Hz,
2000 samples per second for 1000 Hz
 Oversampled waveforms

Nyquist frequency
Amplitude

In practice we are best oversampling by double the required minimum

i.e. 1000 samples per second for a maximum of 500 Hz
i.e., 2000 samples per second for a maximum of 1000 Hz
Oversampling is relatively cheap.
 Outline-2
Acquisition Parameters
•Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
•Offset Range
•Listen Time
• Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
 Offset Range

Maximum shot-receiver
offset

Target depth

One-layer earth of a semi-infinite layer

Maximum shot-receiver offset >= target depth.
Near critical distance
 Offset Range

Maximum shot-receiver
offset

Target depth

Multi-layered earth
 Outline-2
Acquisition Parameters
•Time Sample Rate
•Offset Range
•Listen Time
•Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
• Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
•Shooting geometry
•inline
•cross-line
 Listen Time

….Twice target time to be sage

 Outline-2
Acquisition Parameters
•Time Sample Rate
•Offset Range
•Listen Time
•Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
• Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
•Shooting geometry
•inline
•cross-line
 Spatial aliasing

Spatial frequency, or wavenumber (k) is the number of cycles per

unit distance.

One spatial cycle or wavenumber = frequency/velocity.

Each wavenumber must be sampled at least twice per wavelength

(two CMP’s per wavelength)

1
Nk 
2(CMPspacing )
IN PRACTICE each wavenumber must be sampled at least four times per minimum
wavelength (two CMP’s per wavelength)
 Spatial aliasing

However, dip (theta) as well as frequency and

velocity event changes the number of cycles per
distance, so

lambda
CMP interval  Liner, 9.7,p.192
4sin 
 Spatial aliasing

lambda
CMP interval 
4sin 

x
 
V t

V t
sin  limit 
x

For aliasing NOT to occur, delta(t) must be less than T/2

 Spatial aliasing

VT
sin  limit 
2x

VT
xlim it 
2sin 
Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing

K=0
 1/4 wavelength shift per trace
total shift across array=3/4 wavelength

K=+ or -ve?
 1/4 wavelength shift per trace
total shift across array=3/4 wavelength

K=?
 1/2 wavelength shift per trace
total shift across array=3/2 wavelength

K=0
 3/4 wavelength shift per trace
total shift across array=2 1/4 wavelength
 Spatial aliasing

•Degrades (“string of pearls”) stacked

sections
•Degrades migration
 Signal-to-Noise

Improves with stacking:

•greater fold
•greater repetition of shots

S / N  CMP fold vertical stack

 Outline-2

Acquisition Parameters
•Time Sample Rate
•Offset Range
•Listen Time
•Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
• Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
•Shooting geometry
•inline
•cross-line
Fundamental Parameters for land 3D shooting


X geophone  ( xg , y g , z g )

X shot  ( xs , ys , zs )
 Common Midpoint
 1  

X CMP  ( X shot  X geophone )
2
 Source-Receiver Offset

  

X offset  ( X shot  X geophone ) 2D

   3D

X offset  X shot  X geophone
Azimuth (3D)

 x  x 
  tan 
1 shot geophone

y y 
 shot geophone 
Inline geometry

Matlab code
 Outline-2
Acquisition Parameters
•Time Sample Rate
•Offset Range
•Listen Time
•Sample Rate and Temporal Aliasing
• Geophone Spacing and Spatial Aliasing
•Shooting geometry
•inline
•cross-line
Cross-line geometry

Matlab code
 Spatial aliasing

•Degrades (“string of pearls”) stacked sections

•Degrades migration