Passive Seismic Mapping PSTT
I recently came across an interesting article about a 3D seismic technology which does not use traditional type sources making it possible to use the technique in places otherwise locked out due to environmental concerns.
Passive seismic mapping using passive seismic transmission tomography (PSTT) is a seismic technique which uses a sparse array of 3C receivers 10 to 30 meters below the surface. The interesting thing is that it uses micro-earthquakes as and energy source. Apparently there are enough micro-earthquakes to make it a viable tool.
Another method known as Passive Seismic Emission Tomography (PSET) uses the energy from low level acoustic emissions caused by normal production activities. This method can be used for mapping hydraulically induced fractures or to monitor injected fluid fronts.
Microseismic Inc is the company involved in the field and you can visit by clicking the link below. You can also download the PDF brochures if you want more information, they make for interesting reading.
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There is a company which the last 5 years uses microearthquakes as seismic sources to obtain 3D tomographic pictures of a region for hydrocarbon exploration on acommercial basis. It has developed a special seismometer and a digitizer to record microevents down to -2R!. The obtained resolution is impressive. It even uses Kohonen Neural nets to get lithology: http://www.landtechsa.com
Thank you for your comment on this article. I would like to invite you to write a more complete article regarding this very interesting technology for posting on the site.