A noninvasive shallow seismic source comparison on the Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee

Abstract

Nine seismic sources were compared in preparation for production seismic reflection profiling to about 500 m depth at a hazardous waste site on the Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee. Test data provided a 125-shotpoint common midpoint profile and a walkaway vertical seismic profile for each source. Sources tested included five swept sources and four impulsive sources. Eight of the sources were “noninvasive,” in that they would not penetrate the ground surface. When spectral whitening methods were applied to the data, the IVI Minivib provided the best image of the subsurface on the basis of continuity and clarity of reflections. Without prewhitening, the performance of the IVI Minivib and the Bison elastic wave generator were similar.