For those in the class not familiar with geophysical data, I will introduce real seismic data into the course at every opportunity. Reflection seismology appears to be the best geophysical technique to examine the internal geometry of the Earth's crust and upper mantle to depths of at least 50 km. It is therefore essential to complement tectonic studies. High resolution reflection seismology can be effectively used to map and evaluate the extent of coal resources. We will discuss these topics as case histories.
Migration is also a deconvolution, but in the space domain as well as the time domain.
One of the major problems in reflection seismology is to determine the shape of the reflected seismic wavelet so that its time duration can be shortened. This will result in increased resolution and therefore a better geologic interpretation. Obviously, this concept has application in fields other than geology and geophysics such as the detection of cracks within materials of various sorts, seismic and medical tomography, foundation design in engineering applications, evaluation of the thicknesses of aquifers, etc. Much information can be learned about the physical properties of the Earth by studying the shape of the seismic wavelet. It is not, and one of the reasons is intrinsic damping and the attenuation of the higher seismic frequencies with respect to the lower frequencies.