Seismic Studies - Essay Example

A significant extent of advanced material and effort is required for this technique to be carried out. (Economides, p.1) This similar technique can be used discover any mineral deposits under the seafloors, that by carrying out the similar process in the ocean by means of a ship. In this case not the 'thumper truck' but the technical equipment called the air guns, shoot high pressure air into the water, due to which the energy waves travel to and into the ocean floor, as seismic event occurs when these vibrating wave go through rocks.

Unlike the land case, the reflected waves aren't received by the geophones, but the hydrophones actually record and receive these waves. Sophisticated computerization is used to analyze the received waves. The computer application software can easily generate the behavior of these waves graphically and mathematically thus creating a graphical image of the rocks under the crust. A two dimensional figure can be created using the data from a single wave received this is the cross sectional image of the rock underground.

A three dimensional figure can be easily generated by a number of two dimensional cross sections that can be produced when the hydrophones or the geophones from a boat or a truck respectively, sends number of vibrating waves through the ground as they move onwards on the sea level or on the ground. (Deffeyes, p. 77-79) The petrole Importance to the IndustryThe petroleum industry has revolutionized after the introduction of this technique. According to most of the engineers of the industry express that this techniques has substantially improved the success rate of oil drilling, as the highly detailed three dimensional images of the rocks have reduced the elements of uncertainty that maybe present at the oil drilling site.

Furthermore the best sites and locations of the oil deposits underground can be located by the geologists and engineers using seismic models, thus also significantly reducing the number of wells that are actually drilled. Thus these advancements have actually raised the quality of the oil extraction processes in terms of precision, speed and productivity.. (Deffeyes, p. 71-72)Seismic reflection surveys have proved to be a hopeful expertise in reviewing the extended regions of entrenched marine sites quickly and accurately.

Figure 2: Adopted from 'The National Methane Hydrates