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Seismic Industry History

Before you get more data, get the most out of your data. (Yilmaz 20011)

Beginning of seismic (up to the 1950s)

Seismoscope

Seismoscope vs Seismograph

A seismoscope allows for the observation of ground motion, whereas a seismograph or seismometer records ground motion.

Main seismoscopes history:

  • 132: First seismoscope: the Chang Hêng seismoscope
  • 1703: Mercury seismoscope by Jean de Hautefeuille
  • 1783: Pendulum seismoscope by Domenico Salsano
  • 1851: Irish geophysicist Robert Mallet (1810–1881) undertook the first seismic experiment.

Seismograph

Seismograph was invented about 100 years later in the 1880s.

  • 1903: First electromagnetic seismograph by Boris Galitzin
  • World War 1: First seismic refraction systems to locate enemy guns
  • 1917: First field seismograph by Ludger Mintrop

Development of the reflection-seismic method started at about the same time as development of the refraction method but took a little longer to achieve maturity.

Going offshore

  • 1928: Early offshore refraction seismic work and discoveries reported by Karcher (1987)
  • 1935: First offshore seismic reflection experiment by Maurice Ewing
  • 1947: Patent of the oil filled streamer by R. Paslay, G. Pavey, and P. Wipff

Offshore and onshore seismic started to be considered as separated from 1955 Hammer (1955, p. 663–664)

1950s - Modern Times

It is fair to assign the opening of the modern era to the introduction of the common-depth-point technique (CDP) by Harry Mayne, who filed a patent application in 1950. 2

  • 1950: Vibroseis introduction
  • early 1950s: Start of magnetic recording

1960s - From analog to digital to computers

In the 1960s, the digital revolution profoundly changed seismic acquisition. We were then able to record more data by increasing the number of channels and fold of coverage. The digital revolution brought about the need to use digital computers to analyze the recorded data. That came about in the 1970s when we switched from calculators to computers. Many of the data processing algorithms, including deconvolution, velocity analysis, refraction, and residual statics corrections, normal-moveout corection and stacking, and even migration, were implemented in those years. The computer before the seventies was a person using the calculator; now the computer is a machine and the person became the seismic analyst. (Yilmaz 20011)

Digital recording was introduced in the early 1960s. The first digital recorder (DFS1000) was manufactured by Texas Instruments in 1963. After some rather short discussions of its merits, the technique was accepted universally and was implemented progressively. 2

1980s - From 2D to 3D

In the 1980s, the seismic industry took another big step forward; it was now beginning to provide the oil and gas industry with 3-D images of the subsurface. We need only to examine the global reserve production curves over the past decades to see that the 3-D revolution gave a big jump from 35 to 45 years for oil and from 50 to 65 years for gas. The seismic industry was already pushing the computer industry to the limit with its need for power to handle large-scale data volumes acquired by 3-D surveys. (Yilmaz 20011)

The introduction of 3D seismic surveys was the next major step forward in the industry. It occurred progressively in the 1970s. In this case, the high potential of the method was recognized early. 2

Development of cableless systems (introduced in the early )

1990s - From time to depth

Finally, in the 1990s, the seismic industry was capable of providing the oil and gas industry with images of the subsurface, not just in 3-D, but also in depth. It took years of exhaustive experimental research to test and field-prove numerous methods to accurately estimate an earth model in depth and use it to efficiently create an earth image in depth. Once again, the seismic industry has challenged the computer industry to provide cost-effective solutions for numerically intensive applications with large input-output operations, such as 3-D prestack depth migration. (Yilmaz 20011)

1990s - From 3D to 4D to 4C

As the seismic industry made one breakthrough after another during its history, it also created new challenges for itself. Now we record not just P-waves but also converted S-waves for a wide range of objectives. Using the multicomponent seismic method, commonly known as the 4-C seismic method, we are now able to see through gas plumes caused by the reservoir below. We are able to sometimes better image the sub-salt and sub-basalt targets with the 4-C seismic method. Using the converted S-waves, we are able to detect the oil-water contact, and the top or base of the reservoir unit that we sometimes could not delineate using only P-waves. We even go further now and attempt to identify fluid types in reservoir rocks, discriminate sand from shale, and map hydrocarbon saturation, again using the 4-C seismic method. Our ultimate objective is to use the seismic method, in addition to the production and geologic data, to characterize oil and gas reservoirs accu- rately. (Yilmaz 20011)

Greaves and Fulp (1987) give one early account of time-lapse seismic experiments. They describe the successful monitoring of a fire-flood project in 1982–1983 in Texas with three repeated 3D onshore seismic surveys. Although earlier experiments had been recorded (for instance, on a gas-storage reservoir in France in 1981–1982, using permanent 2C geophones) (Blondin and Mari, 1986), the clarity of the images obtained by Greaves and Fulp must have accelerated the launch of the method, which so far has been significantly more successful offshore than onshore. 2

After some early experiments in the 1980s, two simultaneous-acquisition techniques were introduced almost at the same time. Rozemond (1996) presents the slip-sweep technique, and Sallas et al. (1998) introduce the HFVS method (which they patented). 2

2000s - From isotropy to anisotropy

Just as we may characterize oil and gas reservoirs seismically, we may also seismically monitor them. Given a set of time-lapse 3-D seismic survey data, which constitutes the basis of the 4-D seismic method, we can track flow paths and fluid distribution in the reservoirs throughout their lifetime. And finally, we have to acknowledge that the earth is anisotropic. By accounting for anisotropy, we can map fractures and increase the accuracy of velocity esitmation and imaging techniques. Accompanying all of these new frontiers for the seismic industry is the availability of a dazzling 3-D visualization technology that now enables us to perform volume-based processing and inversion and interpretation. Keep the following principle in mind when analyzing large volumes of data: before you get more data, get the most out of your data. (Yilmaz 20011)

Among the latest technological advances, one of the most important is the almost universal use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for positioning seismic sources and receivers with accuracy that is often far better than strictly necessary. In addition, after seven decades of domination by electromagnetic geophone technology, another advance is the introduction of new sensors using either microelectromechanical or fiber-optic technology. Regarding equipment, it is worth noting the development of cableless systems (introduced in the early 1980s) onshore and of quieter cables and partially steered cables offshore. Concerning those methods, the quest for lower frequencies is more intense than ever, both onshore and offshore. Another offshore acquisition technique, already successful, is the use of various methods to acquire marine data with raypaths in more than one direction. 2

Big names in seimsic

  • Willebrord Snellius 1580–1626

  • Christiaan Huygens 1629-1695

  • Robert Hooke 1635-1702

  • Joseph Fourier 1768-1830

  • Augustin-Jean Fresnel 1788-1827

  • Gustav Kirchhoff 1824-1887

  • Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz 1881-1908

  • Harry Nyquist 1889-1976

  • Norman H. Ricker 1896-1980

  • Carl Hewitt Dix 1905-1984

  • Claude Elwood Shannon 1916-2001

  1. Oz Yilmaz. Seismic data analysis, pages 2065. Volume 1. Society of Exploration Geophysicists, 01 2001. doi:10.1190/1.9781560801580. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Julien Meunier. Seismic Acquisition from Yesterday to Tomorrow. Society of Exploration Geophysicists, 2011. URL: https://library.seg.org/doi/book/10.1190/1.9781560802853, doi:10.1190/1.9781560802853. ↩↩↩↩↩↩