Testing the quality of geophone plants for 3-C land acquisition

Henry C. Bland, Malcolm B. Bertram, Eric V. Gallant

An experimental technique for characterizing geophone response is described. Using the technique, a number of different geophone plants are tested for quality. Surface-mounted cases and nail-style cases are compared using this technique. A novel way of quantifying geophone coupling is proposed. This method uses a pinging technique to transmit an impulse between two matched geophones. The transfer function (coupling) properties of the case may be computed by processing the output of both geophones. Based on early results using this technique, the nail-style cases have a superior coupling response than surface-mounted cases.