The area of investigation included both level valley floor and rolling foothills. Today we were to witness acquisition of a very small and level portion of the total area of the project. Soon we were off to the staging area and acquisition site to view the equipment. The seismic source Mechanical vibrator trucks were used for most of the survey, although small dynamite charges in shallow bore holes were required where the terrain was too soft for the heavy trucks. These vibrator trucks have huge off-road tires and are driven by one operator who essentially drives the truck to a designated point and parks.
Computers then take over the vibrating job.
Then pistons cause vibrations to travel through the pad and into the ground. The pad is covered by a plastic tarp to keep snow from sticking. Four vibrators in action. As they vibrate, there is really no noise discernable over the sound of the diesel engines. Here are piles of cabled geophones and battery operated recording instruments with antennaes.