Proposed Course Outline

ERTH 445
Instructor Dr. Jamal M. Assad Office : MSEC 354 e-mail : jassad@ees.nmt.edu Tel : 575-835-6661 Course Website www.ees.nmt.edu/~Assad/geoph??? Course Schedule Classes Monday 2:30 PM 5:30 PM Room# 351 Mid-term exam Date to be determined, likely during the week of Oct 20 Final exam See Exam Schedule when published Course Objectives: This course provides an overview of the key geophysical exploration technique Seismic exploration method (Reflection and Refraction). Emphasis will be on the physical basis for this technique, data acquisition, data processing methods, geological interpretation, and application to hydrocarbon exploration. Other applications will be geotechnical engineering, environmental geology, and regional tectonic studies. Currently, seismic reflection has been extensively used by Oil and Gas companies in search for hydrocarbon traps in deep water Gulf of Mexico, Latin America and West Africa. Hands-on experience at working with data will be provided through homework assignments and laboratory exercises. Simple mathematics and PC-based software will be used as needed. Office hours: If you have questions about class material or assignments, you can drop by my office at any time, or send me an email. Office hours will be announced shortly. Text books (recommended, but not obligatory) Exploration Seismology, 2nd edition Sheriff and Geldart, 1995. Introduction to geophysical prospecting, Dobrin and Savit, 1988. Applied Geophysics, W.M. Telford, L.P Geldart and R.E Sheriff, Cambridge University Press, 1995 edition An Introduction to Seismic Interpretation, McQuillin, Bacon, and Barclay, 1984. Interpretation of Three Dimensional Seismic Data, Brown, 1996. An Introduction to Geophysical Exploration, P. Kearey, M. Brooks & I. Hill, Blackwell, 3rd edition, 2002.

Exploration Seismology

Fall 2011

Weighting Assignments /Labs Midterm Exam Final Exam

50 % 25 % 25 %

Grading scale - criteria and guideline Letter Grade A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D DF Criteria Far exceeds the standard for all required work Far exceeds the standard for all required work Exceeds the standard for all required work Exceeds the standard for all required work Exceeds the standard for all required work Met the standard for all required work Met the standard for all required work Met the standard for all required work Did not meet the standard for all required work Did not meet the standard for all required work Did not meet the standard for all required work Did not meet the standard all required work; must retake the course Numeric Range 96-100 91-95 88-90 85-87 81-84 78-80 75-77 71-74 67-70 64-66 61-63 < 60

Lecture Topics
Basic principles of seismology
General introduction to wave phenomena Frequency, wavelength, period. Phase. Angular frequency. Ray paths and wave fronts. Huyghens principle. Wave propagation in Earth Body waves - P-wave, S-wave, Surface waves Rayleigh and Love waves Particle motion in movie. Stress and strain. Elastic moduli. Typical seismic velocities for Earth materials Typical range of values. P-wave velocity in porous rocks. Time-average equation. Velocity as a function of depth Reflection coefficients at normal incidence Impedance, Z = density x velocity Energy partitioning Reflection and refraction at oblique incidence. Snells Law. Critical angle Head waves Diffraction Factors that cause the amplitude to change as wave propagates. Geometrical spreading. Er2 = constant. Ar = constant. Attenuation of seismic signals and exponential decay. Frequency dependence causes dispersion. Decibels. Seismic energy sources Air guns, explosives Vibroseis, weight drop, hammer, Betsy gun. Stacking of signals. Seismic detectors. Geophones and hydrophones Matlab Exercise 3 Matlab Wave Attenuation Assignment Attenuation Intro to Seismic Sections

Problem Sets

Matlab P & S Assignment Stress &Strain Poisson's ratio Matlab Exercise 1D Wave Equation

Matlab Exercise 2 Assignment

Seismic refraction
Travel time curves for a two layer Earth.

Matlab Exercise 4 &5

Travel time curves for a three layer Earth. Hidden layers (thin or low velocity) Travel time curve for a dipping layer. Reversed refraction profile. Applications in shallow geotechnical studies Applications in lithospheric studies. Discovery of the Moho.
MIDTERM EXAM

Seismic reflection

Data Processing I, II, III

Travel time curve for single horizontal interface. Matlab hyperbolic reflection Normal moveout (NMO) to separate depth and velocity. Travel time curves for multiple horizontal layers. Dix equation. Multiples. Travel time curves for a dipping reflector. Displaying real seismic data. Traces and seismic sections. Reduction velocity. Common depth-point profiling. Stacking to improve signal-to-noise ratio. Resolution. Vertical limitation from wavelength. Horizontal limitation from size of Fresnel zones. Static corrections and sources of noise. Filtering strategies to reduce noise. Convolution and deconvolution. Migration to recover true reflector geometry and depths. Applications-I. Hydrocarbon exploration. Interpretation I -Workstation Technique Structural analysis. 3-d acquisition. Time slices. Seismic stratigraphy. 3-D Interpretation Project Introduction to Advanced Techniques - Seismic Attributes, AVO analysis 3-D Interpretation Project
FINAL EXAM

***This schedule is tentative and may be changed***

Assignments and Labs: There will be a total of 5-10 assignments/labs in this class. These will be due a minimum of one week after distribution

Exams: Exams are closed book. An equation sheet will be provided. Please bring a calculator to all exams. Electronic equipment, other than calculators, is not to be brought to exams. Any devices that have remote communication capabilities are forbidden (e.g., pagers, cell phones, laptops). Your student photo I.D. is required at all exams to verify your identity. Students will not be allowed to begin an examination after it has been in progress for 30 minutes. Students must remain in the exam room for at least 30 minutes from the time the exam commenced.
Policy on Missed Examinations: There will be no make-up examinations. If the student is unable to take an examination, he/she should see me beforehand (or immediately afterwards in the case of an unforeseen reason). If the reason is satisfactory, the final examination grade will be entered for the missed examination.

Academic Integrity Members of the University community, both faculty and students, bear a serious responsibility to uphold personal and professional integrity and to maintain complete honesty in all academic work. Violations of the code of academic integrity are not tolerated. Students who cheat or plagiarize or who otherwise take improper advantage of the work of others, face harsh penalties including permanent dismissal. The academic integrity guidelines set forth student and faculty obligations and the means of enforcing regulations and dressing grievances. Refer to the NMT Student Handbook for general 4

guidelines on academic integrity. Copies of the complete Guidelines on Academic Integrity are available in the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs. The rule is simple: Always do your own work! Classroom Civility: Every student brings to the classroom a unique point of view. Everyone has different experiences and different backgrounds. We tend to think and learn in our own way, based in part on our won social and cultural background. Therefore, we have all formed opinions and perspectives that may or may not be shared by others. However, we should all treat each other with respect and decency. In this course, we may look at controversial topics that can provoke strong responses. While I encourage students to engage in discussion about such, I also expect all students to do so with civility, respect, and integrity. To establish a comfortable learning environment, we must have mutual respect and civility. This includes coming to class on time, not disrupting the class with cell phones or pagers, and discussing things in an academic, rather than personal manner. While in class, dont talk, read non-course material, listen to headphones, or catch-up on sleep. Please dont start packing up when there is still time left as it wont get you out any quicker. Lets all be well-mannered, kind to one another, have fun, and learn.