Comparison of Conventional Geophones Versus Digital Sensor - Preliminary Results from 2D Field Test Exercise

In recent years digital single sensors (MEMS) have become a viable option to conventional geophone arrays for land acquisitions, both operationally and economically. Different advantages and disadvantages of single sensors are mentioned in the literature, such as broadband response, linear phase and amplitude response, lower weight, but also lack of array power for noise attenuation and higher costs. TOTAL decided to compare the two receiver systems during an acquisition feasibility test consisting of two 2D lines acquired in parallel with the same source. Results showed that the noise complexity of the data was better handled by geophone arrays. In order to get comparable results with single sensors, a dense distribution is required which could be difficult for a large 3D study. We also learned that single sensor data require specific processing to compensate for the lack of array filtering capability.