Riley's deck Flashcards
What is geophysics?
A subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space.
What does it study/consist of?
shape of earth, plate tectonics internal structure, earthquakes and volcano prediction, fluid dynamics, gravity, magnetics, EXPLORATION SEIMOLOGY
What is sea level?
Sea level is often referred to as an average level for the surface of one or more of Earth’s oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured. established by the local Ellipsoid.
What does the surface look like? What are the low and high spots?
The geoid does not precisely follow mean sea level, nor does it exactly correspond with the topography of the dry land. It is irregular like the terrestrial surface. It is bumpy. Uneven distribution of the mass of the planet makes it so. If the solid earth had no internal anomalies of density, the geoid would be smooth and almost exactly ellipsoidal. But like the earth itself, the geoid defies such mathematical consistency and departs from true ellipsoidal form by as much as 100 meters in places. Equipotential surface (low spot -100m, high spot 80m)
What two things are considered in the measurement of gravity? Does movement affect “gravity”?
earths- mass and rotation
YES (airplanes, with or against rotation)
Must know about ellipsoid !
Result of the Earth’s rotation.
pear-shape
Local ellipsoid
Global best fit
Local best fit (North American Datum NAD-83)
UTM 6o zones at equator measurements in m.
Square grid to poles.
What is earths circumference and its radius about the poles and equator.? What is the average radius?
40,000 km circumference Difference between the Equator and Poles is approximately 21 km REqu = 6378.136 km RPol = 6356.751 km 6371 km average
What is up?
vertical from the geoid, plum bob ( weight suspended by string)
What are Geographic coordinates measured in ?
Latitude- Degrees-Min-Sec, Decimal degrees
Longitude
what is the UTM?
Universal Transvers Mercator
North American Datum (NAD) 27, NAD-83 100m World Geodetic System (GS84) 6 degree zones 670 km wide x, y coordinates in m (plus the zone) Does not align with geographic direction
What is seismology ?
Seismology: Scientific study of the propagation of seismic waves through the earth (often related to earthquakes)
Which one is an instrument used for recording seismic waves? Seismograph or Seismogram.
Seismograph!
seismogram is a record of the motion of a passing seismic wave as a function of time.
What are the surface waves ?
Rayleigh
love waves
What are the Body waves ?
P-waves
S-waves
What are P-waves characteristics?
Primary Push-Pull (Compression and dilatation) Displacement longitudinal Fastest Travel in solids and fluids Most common in exploration Longitudinal
What are S-waves characteristics?
Secondary Shear or transverse Shake Displaced perpendicular Velocity is ½ to the P-wave velocity double amplitude Does not propagate through a fluid transverse
Uses for seismology?
inferences of earths interior
find hydrocarbons
find minerals like gold
ANALOGUES- body imaging- Ultrasounds
characteristics of Rayleigh and Love waves?
Propagate along the earth’s surface.
Particles travel perpendicular to propagation direction.
highly energetic near the surface
Velocity is much slower than P-wave and S-wave modes
Waves are low frequency
Destructive on land
What mechanism is responsible for earthquakes?
Plate is subducting underneath another Plate
and Stick-slip process** along the Zone is the mechanism responsible for earthquakes
**see page 34 lecture 1 for illustration ( essentially plate undergoing subduction sticks and subsequently slips after causing thrust fault)
What is the shadow zone ?
Earth’s area from angular distances of 104 to 140 degrees from a given earthquake that does not receive any direct P waves. The shadow zone results from S waves being stopped entirely by the liquid core and P waves being bent (refracted) by the liquid core.
Can waves be converted?
Yes.
occurs on interfaces or layer boundaries
every time a wave is reflected it may also be partially converted into a different polarization.
What is a dormant volcano?
A dormant volcano is an active volcano that is not erupting, but supposed to erupt again.
How well are we able to predict volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis?
Volcanoes: quite good
Earthquakes: very poor
Tsunamis: poor
What is a geophone ?
Device that converts ground movement (displacement) into voltage, which may be recorded at a recording station. The deviation of this measured voltage from the base line is called the seismic response and is analyzed for structure of the earth.
typical sample rate for seismic data ? Using what time source ?
0.002 sec. GPS timing
See pages 70-70 L1 for seismic charts
.
describe process of processing flow ?
Data prep.- (correlation, gain recovery, editing)
Geometric -( CMP sorting, Elevation static, Uphole static, Velocity analysis)
Data Enhancement - ( mute, filters, demultiple, stack, trace balancing)
Imaging -( migration 2D or 3D, time or depth, inversion, Full waveform inversion (FWI))
Interpretation -( Tying well logs )
Why are Reflections curved from source record ?
longer raypath
more travel time
source record formula from page 37, L2
.
What is CDP?
common depth point
What is CMP?
common midpoint gathers
How are source gathers and CMP gather similar?
Horizontal data they appear the same.
same velocity at scatter point
same reflection point (CDP)
do you want to sum data in same CMP gather?
yes.
cant sum because of moveout
how do you find V ?
get T0, T, and h - solve for V
very near surface - Do you use the first arrival times
Yes
How to learn sub-surface structure ?
Estimate using surface geology
Ground penetrating radar
First breaks