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Chapter 10
Discussion and Conclusions
10.1 - Shallow Refraction Seismology for the New Millennium: A
Personal Perspective
The point of departure for this study was that most current shallow seismic
refraction operations have not taken advantage of advances in technology for
acquisition, processing or interpretation, they are under-capitalized, they are
relatively inefficient, and that the current seismic reflection technology provides
compelling models for the advancement of shallow refraction seismology. Based
on the results of this work, what then are the major features of seismic refraction
operations which might be appropriate to the requirements and the technology of
the new millennium?
A major achievement of this study is a demonstration of the superiority of 3D
results over 2D. There is simply no substitute for the improved quality and
quantity of information which can be obtained from even simple cost-effective 3D
surveys such as that described in this study. It is essential that 3D refraction
methods be adopted as a matter of some priority.
It is likely that the acceptance of 3D shallow refraction methods will parallel the
acceptance of 3D reflection methods by the petroleum exploration and
production industries and the acceptance of high resolution airborne magnetic
and radiometric data by the mineral exploration industries. Initially, cost was
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considered to be the major reason for the relatively low levels of acceptance of
these methods. However, this situation changed rapidly when it was widely
demonstrated that high spatial sampling densities in all directions, is one, if not
the most important factor, in reducing risk through improved geological
interpretations. This conclusion is supported by the 3D results described in this
study.
The development of a 3D oriented approach implies the use of specialist seismic
contractors for acquisition in order to employ field systems with greatly increased
capabilities, as well as to promote efficient field operations. It is difficult to justify
the use of relatively expensive professional expertise to carry out routine
unskilled field duties with under-capitalized systems and inefficient operations.
Increasing channel capacity to at least 150 and doubling the number of shot
points could achieve efficient 3D field operations. This would result in an
increase of at least an order of magnitude in the amount of data, and in turn it
would dictate the use of efficient methods of data processing and interpretation.
Full trace processing with the RCS is a simple and efficient approach for
processing any volume of seismic refraction data.
It is likely that the increased quantity and quality of data obtained with 3D surveys
might stimulate a change in the roles of the geophysicist from acquisition and
processing towards interpretation. It also implies inclusion of other geoscientists
at earlier stages of the interpretation process, in order to generate more complex
and more geologically meaningful interpretation models.
The format of data processed with the RCS facilitates the convenient application
of current reflection processing and interpretation technology to shallow seismic
refraction data. Although the existing software developed specifically for
refraction seismology represents many man-years of effort, it is relatively
insignificant when compared with the software developed for reflection
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seismology. Just as the use of imaging processing software, which was
developed originally for remotely sensed data, has increased the detail of the
geological interpretation of magnetic, radiometric and gravity data, so seismic
reflection software is a vast resource which has the potential to extract even
greater information from refraction data. In particular, the data processed with
the RCS is suitable for analysis with software used for the interpretation of
processed seismic reflection data. Such software includes basic functions for
picking times and amplitudes of horizons, as well as post-processing functions,
such as attribute analysis. Attribute processing of RCS data may have as large
an impact on increasing the detail of the interpreted geological model as it has
with reflection data.
The authors preference for an approach which is essentially an extension of the
GRM, is hardly surprising. However, other approaches, such as tomography are
currently not viable alternatives. The major shortcoming of tomography is that
the large increase in the number of shot points, commonly by at least an order of
magnitude over a simple GRM approach suggested here, would result in high
and possibly prohibitive costs of acquisition. Furthermore, tomography has yet to
satisfactorily address either the issues of non-uniqueness, large variations in
wavespeeds in the refractor, or anisotropy.
The RCS offers a new approach to generating more complex geological models
from shallow seismic refraction data through the use of the complete seismic
refraction trace and therefore, the use of amplitudes as well as traveltimes. In
time, it may stimulate the development of routine refraction methods which are
comparable in sophistication to current 3D reflection methods.
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10.2 - Conclusions
This study demonstrates that the refraction convolution section (RCS), generated
by the convolution of forward and reverse shot records, is an efficacious
approach to full trace processing of shallow seismic refraction data.
The convolution operation effectively adds the first arrival traveltimes of each pair
of forward and reverse traces. Like the many standard methods for processing
refraction data which use addition to obtain a measure of the depth to the
refracting interface in units of time, the RCS also produces a similar time image
of the refractor. In this study, the reciprocal time, the traveltime from the forward
shot point to the reverse shot point, is subtracted and the result is then halved
(by halving the sample interval of the trace headers) to form the equivalent of the
time-depth function of the generalized reciprocal method (GRM).
The generation of the RCS requires no estimates of, or assumptions about the
wavespeeds in either the refractor or the overlying layer. Any lateral changes in
refractor wavespeeds are accommodated through the use of forward and reverse
data.
The convolution operation also multiplies the amplitudes of first arrival signals.
This operation compensates for the large effects of geometric spreading to a very
good first approximation, with the result that the convolved amplitude is
essentially proportional to the square of the head coefficient. The signal-to-noise
(S/N) ratio of the RCS shows much less variation than those on the original shot
records.
A significant achievement of this study is the demonstration that the head
coefficient is approximately proportional to the ratio of the specific acoustic
impedances in the upper layer and in the refractor, under the conditions
encountered in most shallow seismic refraction surveys. These conditions are
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that there is a reasonable contrast between the specific acoustic impedances in
the layers. Although the original theoretical formulations of the head coefficient
were published almost half a century ago, the very limited use of refraction
amplitudes since that time has not resulted in convenient approximations which
might facilitate practical quantitative analysis with routine surveys. It is likely that
the simplification proposed in this work will promote greater use of amplitudes in
routine shallow seismic refraction surveys.
A major part of this study has been the demonstration of the usefulness of either
the convolved amplitudes or the equivalent shot amplitude products. The two 2D
case histories at Mt Bulga demonstrate both the correlation between amplitudes
and wavespeeds, and the use of amplitudes in addressing any ambiguities in the
determination of wavespeeds.
Non-uniqueness in determining wavespeeds in the refractor is an important
issue. Although most geophysicists tacitly accept that the inversion of seismic
refraction data need not necessarily produces a unique solution, the results of
most inversion routines still do not adequately reflect this reality. The non-
uniqueness can occur in the determinations of wavespeeds in both the upper
layer and the refractor and often, they are inter-related. This study proposes
several solutions to non-uniqueness in the refractor wavespeeds. Firstly, the
GRM can be used to generate a family of acceptable starting models for model-
based inversion or tomography. Secondly, the minimum variance criterion of the
GRM can be employed to determine a most likely starting model. Finally,
amplitudes can provide additional valuable information to constrain any starting
models.
The RCS can also include a separation between each pair of forward and
reverse traces in order to accommodate the offset distance in a manner similar to
the XY spacing of the GRM and to improve lateral resolution. The offset distance
is the horizontal separation between the point of refraction on the interface and
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the point of detection at the surface. Although the differences between the updip
and downdip offset distances can be large, their sum which is obtained with the
optimum XY value, is relatively insensitive to the dip angle. It facilitates the
application of the RCS to deeper refractors where the offset distances are
significant, as well as to very shallow refractors.
The refraction profile across the Mt Bulga massive sulfide orebody demonstrates
that there can be lateral separations of the amplitudes on the forward and
reverse shot records. In this case it was the distinctive low amplitudes
associated with the mineralization. This separation is similar to the optimum XY
value determined from the refractor wavespeed analysis function. In addition,
this case history demonstrates that the accommodation of the offset distance
with finite XY values is efficacious for improving lateral resolution with shallow
refractors and with detector separations as small as 2.5 m.
Another important achievement of this study is the examination of the effects of
variations in the near-surface soil layers on amplitudes or amplitude statics.
The profile across the Mt Bulga orebody demonstrates that the increases in the
thickness of the surface soil layer correlate with increases in refraction
amplitudes, and that these increases are adequately described with the
transmission coefficients of the Zoeppritz equations. Where these surface layers
are laterally continuous, the same increases in amplitudes occur at each
detector, and therefore the relative amplitudes are preserved. However, where
the surface layers are laterally discontinuous, the amplitudes can be quite
variable. If the wavespeeds in these zones can be measured, then corrections
can be applied with the Zoeppritz equations. Where this is not possible, then the
minimum amplitudes, rather than an average should be used.
Perhaps the most exciting aspects of this study are the results of the 3D survey.
Even with the nominally 2D structure of the shear zone, there are important
lateral variations in both refractor depth and wavespeed, which could not be
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predicted on the basis of the earlier 2D survey. In addition there are important
variations in the direction of the rock fabric as inferred from the qualitative
measures of azimuthal anisotropy. These results are a compelling
demonstration that more useful geological interpretations are possible with
simple 3D sets of data with complete spatial coverage in all directions, rather
than with the most detailed inversion of 2D sets of data.
Just as 3D reflection methods have revolutionized petroleum exploration and
production, so it is anticipated that shallow 3D seismic refraction methods will
eventually be recognized as a cost-effective approach to minimizing risk,
especially with geotechnical and environmental investigations. The results of the
3D survey raise the question of whether the 2D model of the subsurface is a
satisfactory approximation for most seismic refraction targets.
Another significant advantage of the use of 3D amplitudes, is that they provide a
measure of refractor wavespeeds at each detector, whereas the analysis of
traveltimes provides a measure over several detectors, commonly a minimum of
six. Therefore, amplitudes effectively improve the spatial resolution by almost an
order of magnitude. It is likely that amplitudes will facilitate the extraction of even
more detail with, for example, the attribute processing methods currently being
used with the interpretation of 3D seismic reflection data.
The RCS provides another approach to the use of later events. Cross-
convolution artifacts can be easily removed with simple dip filtering methods,
thereby highlighting those events from other, generally shallower, layers. It is
likely that the application of standard seismic reflection processing steps such as
dip filtering, deconvolution and migration or imaging, will result in the extraction of
further information from the RCS.
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The RCS also provides an effective approach to the high source energy
requirements of refraction seismology through stacking in a manner similar to the
CMP methods of reflection seismology.
The RCS is a simple and efficient method for full trace processing of shallow
seismic refraction 2D and 3D data. The convolution process is very quick and
not particularly demanding of computing facilities.
The RCS can be viewed as a simple extension of the GRM. It facilitates
improved interpretation of shallow refraction seismic data through the convenient
use of amplitudes as well as traveltimes.