Seismic Software for Dummies

Seismic interpretation with software

We recently discovered that one of the few remaining content farms, WiseGEEK.com, is following the trend set by Leaf Group and HubPages: parceling out their content into niche websites in an attempt to 1) make it look fresh and 2) pretend that the content fits in said niche. Our first "native" nominee niched into a WiseGEEK niche site isn't new to us, however: he's four-time DotD Andrew Kirmayer, attempting to answer eternal question "What Is Seismic Software?" for EasyTechJunkie.com. What's the matter, Conjecture, no website names left except nonsense InCap strings? Never mind, rhetorical question...

To get to the point, seismic software falls into two groups: there is a small market for what Andy wrote about, the interpretation of seismic events such as earthquakes and, to a lesser extent, major explosions. As Kirmayer pointed out, however, these are freebies:

"The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers an array of programs to download which are used to interpret different types of seismic data."

In point of fact, however, there's a far larger market for the other type of seismic software; software used to process and interpret exploration seismic surveys. Such programs sell for five- and six-figure sums per license, and require powerful CPUs to operate. Interested parties should research packages such as Petrel, Kingdom, DELFI, and Landmark. Let's get back, however, to the bushwa Kirmayer published.

According to Andrew Scott, 

"Seismic software can compute the effects of earthquakes."

Well, no, the free and inexpensive software he's talking about can measure and locate earthquakes, but to "compute the effects" would require far more complex modeling calculations than what such a program actually does, which even Andy allows to be simply,

"...[provides] a 3D view of the focal points [sic] of each earthquake and [includes] data on the depth and magnitude of quakes... [and] analyzes clusters of earthquakes to separate aftershocks from larger earthquakes in a dataset."

Even when our boy gets to "More sophisticated programs," he still doesn't get it. We find it amusing that Andy thinks that the programs "simply relay information about earthquakes as they happen," or that "Faults can be mapped so builders know what areas to avoid and what materials are best to use."

Well, actually that last is closer to what real seismic software does: seismic software is used to interpret two- and three-dimensional seismic surveys almost exclusively by petroleum exploration and production companies. Said interpretations may, in fact, include locations of faults... but they are much, much, much more than just that. Modern seismic interpretation software allows three-dimensional imaging of the subsurface in the ever more complex search for economic hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Interpreting earthquakes? Feh: only a five-time Dumbass of the Day with a creative writing degree would think that was the purpose of a seismic software program.

SI - GEOPHYSICS