geoscixyz / gpg

Geophysics for Practicing Geoscientists
http://gpg.geosci.xyz
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Seismic properties #230

Open fhmjones opened 1 year ago

fhmjones commented 1 year ago

Just a thought: Acoustic Impedance should be mentioned, as that is often what determines which geological horizons will likely generate signals, especially in mining or hard-rock settings. Velocity gets a huge emphasis in GPG (maybe too much?), while impedance (Z = rho * Vp) is not mentioned at all. Sometimes the results are determined by changes in density, not changes in velocity. This may be "obvious" given the relation for Vp, but it would help non-geophysicists if impedance contrast was considered as a source of boundaries, well as velocity contrast.

A good example is given in Legault, Jean, and Brendan Howe. “Introduction to This Special Section: Mining Geophysics.” The Leading Edge 40, no. 2 (February 2021): 88–88. https://doi.org/10.1190/tle40020088.1.

It should not take more than a single short page to make this point, then there would be a section we could point exploration geologists to. Perhaps rename section "Seismic Velocity" as "Seismic Velocity and Impedance", then add one page under the "Factors Impacting the Seismic Velocity" section.