Exploration Seismology EAS 4520/8803

Instructor

Felix J. Herrmann Phone: +1 (404) 385-7069
CODA, room S1375B

General Information

Time and Location Mon/Wed 11:00 AM - 12:15 pm

Office Hours: by appointment

The course will be taugh remotely using Microsoft Teams

Course Description

This course contains a comprehensive review of reflection seismology and its application to oil and gas exploration. It includes key aspects of basic seismic data acquisition & processing and wave-equation based imaging and inversion.

Course Outline

See Outline tab

• General introduction

• Seismic data acquisition

• From processing to inversion

• Compressive sensing

• Linearized inversion

• RTM & FWI

Course Material

Textbook

None required

Recommended texts

• Sheriff, R. E., and L. P. Geldart (1995), Exploration Seismology (second edition), Cambridge University Express.

• Yilmaz, O. (2001), Seismic Data Analysis: Processing, Inversion, and Interpretation of Seismic Data, Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

• Yilmaz, O., SEG wiki page on Seismic Data Analysis

• Zhou, H. (2014), Practical Seismic Data Analysis, Cambridge University Press.

• Heiner Igel, Computational Seismology---A Practical Introduction

• Fichtner, Andreas, Full Seismic Waveform Modelling and Inversion

Additional material will be made available under the tab Reading.

Homework

There will be homework exercises, which will mostly involve geophysics-related programs, computer simulations, and data analysis. These assignments is designed for each student to work by him/herself. This homework will count as 35% of your overall course grade.

Project

You are required to write a term paper on any topic related to geophysics. This can be a literature review of a selected topic, or research project involving calculations, data analysis, or theoretical results done in consultation with the instructor. The topic needed to be approved by the instructor before the midterm. Your paper should be written up in a journal form with length, figures and referencing in a format suitable for submission to journals like Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). Preliminary version of the final paper should be shown to the instructor for approval at least two weeks before the final due date. You will present your term paper in a 15 minute AGU-style talk; a 12 minute presentation with 3 minutes of questions. The project will count as 15% of your overall course grade. Grading for your project will be based on the 12% of the quality of the research and the written paper, and 3% of your presentation.

You can find more details on the Projects page.

Exams

There will be a midterm (25%) and a final exam (25%). Both of them are closed book. Reference to texts or other documents such as previous semester course materials during exams is strictly forbidden. Using these materials will be considered a direct violation of academic policy and will be dealt with according to the GT Academic Honor Code. The use of electronic devices (e.g. cellular phones, computers etc.) other than non-programmable calculators during exams and quizzes is not allowed.

Evaluation

• Homework assignments (35%)

• Midterm exam (25%)

• Course project (15%)

• Final exam (25%)

Academic Honesty

It is expected that all students are aware of their individual responsibilities under the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code, which will be strictly adhered to in this class. The complete text of the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code is at http://www.honor.gatech.edu/.

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