The present state of seismic data acquisition: One view

Abstract

Seismic data acquisition in the mid‐1980s is briefly reviewed. In terms of hardware, the trend has been toward an increased number of data channels in both land and marine applications. This has led to the development of digital telemetry systems. Positioning systems, particularly for marine work, have made use of artificial satellites. The perceived need for S‐wave information has led to development of S‐wave sources such as the horizontal vibrator. S‐waves in a few cases have been used to validate hydrocarbon indicators on seismic records. There has been a distinct trend toward three‐dimensional (3-D) seismic recording, both on land and at sea, and for both exploration and production applications.