Past geophysics science fair projects inspire new ideas in a high school STEM setting

Abstract

During the 2020–2021 school year, a Bartlesville (Oklahoma, USA) High School student engaged in a science, technology, engineering, and math science fair project. It was inspired by a past science fair project published in The Leading Edge in November 2019. The goal of the project is to determine if a 3D seismic survey could be designed to provide even fold in the heart of an ocean-bottom node (OBN) seismic survey for converted waves with sources and receivers at different elevations. Much of the work involves the derivation of a generalized set of equations that predict the required bin size and expected fold for a given 3D OBN seismic survey design. Once the equations are established, a set of seismic survey design tests are conducted to determine if the equations are valid.