Shear Wave Reflection Seismic by Combining Vibratory Sources and Land Streamer Receiver Setups

Seismic imaging of the shallow subsurface to about 100 m in depth in high-resolution got a push on the demand in the last decade. The range of requests to image subsurface structures and also to assign shear wave velocities with respect to dynamic shear modulus analysis spread from very shallow targets in the first 10 m for e.g. building ground investigation for foundation to continuously increasing depths of more than 100 m for a wide range of shallow subsurface investigations. A special target in that frame was the subsurface investigation in urban environments, on paved surfaces and also below existing buildings, which can hardly be carried out by other geophysical methods. The performances of shear waves compared to P-waves allow new insights in this scale of subsurface investigations, if the method and the tools are adapted to these specific requirements. Beside only a few other research groups worldwide, LIAG research focussed to this demand since 2001 in developments of the shear wave reflection method, including research in tool development, acquisition operation, data processing, imaging, and interpretation. Over the years, a wide range of case studies led to continuously increasing experiences using this method. Since 2006 the achieved results and improvements also led to first breaks through to the commercial market.