The development and application of a down-hole triaxial tool, for the analysis of seismic waves

Abstract

In seismic exploration, surface waves often mask useful reflected wavefronts, deteriorating data quality to the degree that signal to noise ratio is very poor. Surface waves have been described by their particle motion as being elliptical, vertically polarized and retrogressive (Dobrin 1951) from the energy source. Such waves are commonly known as groundroll. If groundroll particle motion was fully understood, then its masking effect on useful signal may be reduced during processing, utilizing vertical, radial and transverse data acquired in the field.