Lab Session 4

CMP CDP and VSP

Common Midpoint Survey (CMP):
It is a method of seismic reflection surveying and processing that exploits the
redundancy of multiple folds to enhance data quality by reducing noise. During
acquisition of data, an energy source is supplied to several shot points
simultaneously. Once data have been recorded, the energy source is moved farther
down the line of acquisition, but enough overlap is left that some of the reflection
points are re-recorded with a different source-to-receiver offset. Multiple shot points
that share a source-receiver midpoint are stacked. The number of times that a
common midpoint is recorded is the fold of the data.
Common Midpoint:

In multichannel seismic acquisition, the point on the surface halfway between the
source and receiver that is shared by numerous source-receiver pairs. Such
redundancy among source-receiver pairs enhances the quality of seismic data when
the data are stacked.

Fold:

A measure of the redundancy of common midpoint seismic data, equal to the number
of offset receivers that record a given data point or in each bin and are added during
stacking to produce a single trace.

Common Depth Point Survey (CDP Survey):

It is a method is a seismic data acquisition and processing technique which
transforms field recordings from seismic surveys into pseudo-cross-sectional images
of the earth's geologic layering beneath the survey line.

Common Depth Point:

In multichannel seismic acquisition where beds do not dip, the common reflection
point at depth on a reflector, or the halfway point when a wave travels from a source
to a reflector to a receiver. In the case of flat layers, the common depth point is
vertically below the common midpoint. In the case of dipping beds, there is no
common depth point shared by multiple sources and receivers, so dip move-out
processing is necessary to reduce smearing, or inappropriate mixing, of the data.

Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP):

In geophysics, vertical seismic profile (VSP) is a technique of seismic measurements

used for correlation with surface seismic data. The defining characteristic of a VSP
is that either the energy source or the detectors are in a borehole. In the most common
type of VSP, Hydrophones or geophones or accelerometers, in the borehole record
reflected seismic energy originating from a seismic source at the surface.

Procedure:
A geophone is lowered to the bottom of a borehole. A seismic signal is generated at,
or near, the surface. The signal received by the borehole geophone is recorded. The
borehole geophone is raised by a predetermined amount and the process is repeated
until the shallowest depth of interest is reached. The result is a VSP record comprised
of traces recorded at various depths in the well. In surface, seismic profiling the
source and the receivers are on the surface, aligned horizontally. In VSP the
geophone is aligned vertically.

The borehole geophone responds to both up going and down going seismic events.
In conventional seismic surveys only up going seismic signals reflected from
subsurface reflectors can be recorded by geophones at the surface.

VSPs include the zero-offset VSP, offset VSP, walk-away VSP, walk-above VSP,
salt-proximity VSP, shear-wave VSP, and drill-noise or seismic-while-drilling VSP.
Zero-offset VSPs have sources close to the wellbore directly above receivers. Offset
VSPs have sources some distance from the receivers in the wellbore.

VSP images are higher in resolution than surface seismic images because the
received wave-fields are direct arrivals from the surface. In a surface, seismic survey,
the higher frequency data that is recorded in a VSP survey is attenuated by the two-
way travel paths of the signal. This allows VSP surveys to image structures too small
to be resolved by surface seismic. Additionally, through shear wave analysis, rock
property estimation and fracture mapping are possible using VSP. Other applications
include prediction ahead of the bit, bed dip measurements, salt and volcanic
proximity surveys, as well as "4D" reservoir characterization.