Air Guns Shake Up Earthquake Monitoring

sciencehabit writes "Petroleum geologists have long used air guns in their search for oil and gas deposits. Sudden blasts from the devices generate seismic waves that they use to map underground rock formations. Could the same technique be used to study earthquakes? A team of Chinese scientists thinks so. The researchers have designed an air gun that could be useful in monitoring changes in stress buildup along fault zones."

Measuring Something Changes It

[Doc Ruby]

Is there any scientific study showing how much these seismic impulses, from air guns or from other giant synthetic "pings", increase the rate and/or intensity of earthquakes? There's some data from fracking and other injection wells, but those also introduce (possibly lubricating) newly active materials. How about just an energetic impulse? Or are we just blindly pulling the dragon's tail?

Thumper trucks

[p51d007]

When I worked as a bench tech for TI in Houston, in the 80's, they brought a "thumper truck" to the office for us to look at. The doodlebuggers used it when they were searching for oil, in areas they couldn't use explosives for the shock waves. They had a similar thingy for oceans that would blast high pressure air into the sea floor.

What's the frequency?

[Panaflex]

I worked in seismic data processing for a couple of years - there's a MOUNTAIN of data out there. The big problem for researchers is that it's mostly locked away as trade secrets. There are a few firms that can license you a few shot lines - but they are pretty limited compared to the big companies.

This sort of geological study is already used for 4D studies, where shots are compared over a period of time. The hydrophone shot technology has been pretty stable for 20 years now - but older data may have limited depth and frequency.