Swath-seismic mapping of European continental margins
Final Report Abstract
The Swath-Seismic method use several parallel short single hydrophone streamers as an antenna to map out sub-surface geology and is intended to bridge the gap between low resolution mapping of the seismic basement from widely spaced 2D lines and expensive and localized 3D seismic methods for imaging. The targets are prominent large-scale features like basement structures, faults/ridges, and seamounds. The intended method compares the methodology and resolution to swathbathymetric mapping (especially in back-scatter intensity mode) extended to subsurface structures. The aimed resolution is a 200m lateral grid, much higher than interpolation 2D seismic lines but lower than conventional 3D seismics. During a 2 years test phase of the Swath-Seismic project the feasibility of the proposed riiethod to obtain images of subsurifäce structures has been shown. Further the Swath-Seismic method has been successfully applied to synthetic and field data and potential targets could be identified and imaged with new developed imaging algorithms.
