Continuous Profiling Method of Seismographing for Oil Structures

THE number of seismograph field crews employed in the active survey of potential oil territories is still on the increase, owing to the ever pending threat of a shortage in the supply of crude oil. It is to be expected that for years to come the seismograph will be responsible for discovering many new oil fields, both in wildcat territories and in deeper formations, and that the seismographic campaign will go on unabated. Yet improvements in instrumental design, in the field and interpreta-tive techniques, are brought about year after year, and lead to the reshooting of areas many times surveyed previously. Notwithstanding the experience gained by the past eight years of active work in reflection seismographic surveys, the results given by this method of mapping deep formations have in many instances been at variance with the information subsequently obtained by the drill. To overcome this shortcoming, geophysicists have used closer spacing of the shot points and closer control of the depth points. The method dis-cussed here is being used actively in the Mid-Continent region and endeav-ors to reduce the interpretation work to a mere mechanical technique, leaving as little as possible to the opinion of the interpreter.