VSP in a Microseismic World

The development of long arrays of; non-permanent, 3-component, high pressure, high temperature down-hole receivers, was escalated in the 1990s by the requirements of Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) recording. The advent of such arrays increased the feasibility of acquiring micro-seismic surveys. Micro-seismic events are generated in many ways and even small movements in rocks will generate micro-seismic events. Some basic micro-seismic processing is covered before describing some of the many links between VSP and micro-seismic. Many opportunities have been opened up to extend 3D VSP techniques as a result of shared acquisition with micro-seismic monitoring.