Patent ID: 7440854

Claim:
A method for determining the existence of a particular characteristic of interest in a body of earth comprising: (a) locating the body of earth in which existence of the particular characteristic of interest is to be determined; (b) based on the nature of the said characteristic of interest, determining, in addition to a density value ρ, either or both of the following velocity values of the material comprising said body of earth: (i) a P-wave velocity value, V p ; and (ii) a S-wave velocity value, V s ; (c) following determination of the aforesaid density value and either one or both velocity values and based on the nature of the characteristic of interest to be determined, determining the value of any one or all of the following moduli: (i) provided velocity value V p has been determined, Young's Modulus E, for said body of earth by use of the equation E=ρV p 2 ; (ii) provided velocity value V s has been determined, Shear Modulus μ, for said body of earth by use of the equation μ=ρV s 2 ; and (iii) provided both velocity value V p and V s have been determined, Bulk Modulus, κ, for said body of earth by using Poisson's Ratio, γ, and the equation κ=ρV p 2 /3(1−2γ); and (d) based on the nature of the characteristic of interest to be determined, entering the value of a selected one of said moduli in means adapted to process said selected moduli and produce therefrom a perceptible measure of said characteristic of interest at the location of said body.