THE REFRACTION SEISMIC

The Refraction Seismic Survey and Data Processing

FOR GEOLOGICAL, MINING and CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECTS

The vertical seismic section.

The Seismic investigations yield a great variety of reliable data:

the depth of various overburden layers
the depth to bedrock
the soil composition and solidity
the rock quality
the depth to water table
the rock structure

The results are utilized for a wide range of applications, some of which are listed below:

The search for resources

Gravel, sand and quarry sites.
Mineralized weathered zones, location of buried alluvial channels with gold, diamond or tin.

The Alluvial gold, diamond or platinum exploration

The seismic survey, before the sampling stage, leads to the cost effective exploration.
One must know where the paleochannels are, before any drill or pit sampling can take place.
The seismic profile-section costs much less than drilling, while provides more information. The drill, pit or bulk sampling is then reduced to testing significant areas. If these areas are promising, more involved examination can take place.

A seismic study, in alluvial diamond exploration, is the only practical leader when one must take large meaningful samples in an unknown and often difficult terrain.

Saprolite hosted gold deposits are also targets for seismic investigation.

The oil & gas pipelines

The prevention of oil spills: the survey of soil stability, depth to bedrock, and fault location under existing or planned pipelines.

The civil engineering geology

Geotechnic surveys, rippability surveys, landslides prevention.

The environmental remediation

Ground water table and bedrock depths, site tomography. The drill does not provides the detail necessary to solve many problems; besides in hazardous waste disposal sites one does not want to poke holes into it.

The excavation

Harbour basins and entrances, pipelines, canals, roads, railways. The seismic provides depth to the bedrock which helps calculating the volumes of excavation.

The foundations

The survey of soil stability before constructing heavy industrial buildings, bridges, harbour quays and breakwaters, dams, piling, airfields.

The water prospecting

Ground water table in the overburden, water-bearing sections of rock.

A shallow seismic survey provides:

A 2D length-depth profile at a reasonable cost.
A full image of underground geological conditions. It reduces the risk of overlooking critical or promising areas.
A terrain-independence. The jungle, rough terrain, urban sites and water-covered swamps can all be surveyed with equal ease.

Related links: The description of procedures of the refraction seismic Seismic work example: landslides sand and gravel deposits

Rafal Swiecki, geological engineer email contact

This document is in the public domain.
March, 2011