Design and operation of a 3D seismic survey in a dense urban environment: Long Beach 3D

Abstract

Presented is a case history of a seven year-plus project to acquire a 3D seismic data over the Long Beach Field. The Long Beach field is a faulted anticline along the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone and presents challenging survey design considerations just for proper imaging; however, data acquisition is complicated by its location in the dense urban environment of the greater Los Angeles area. Presented is a brief history of discovery and development of the field, lessons-learn from a failed attempt in 2005 to acquire a 3D survey, application of lessons-learn and new nodal technology in the design and operation of the successful 2011 survey. Also, some unexpected benefits of autonomous recording are discussed.