Shallow subsurface applications of high-resolution seismic reflection

Shallow seismic reflection surveys have been applied to a wide variety of problems. For example, in many geologic settings, variations and discontinuities on the surface of bedrock can influence the transport and eventual fate of contaminants introduced at or near the ground surface. Using seismic methods to determine the nature and location of anomalous bedrock can be an essential component of hydrologic characterization. Shallow seismic surveys can also be used to detect earthquake faults and to image underground voids. During the early 1980s, the advent of digital engineering seismographs designed for shallow, high-resolution surveying spurred significant improvements in engineering and environmental reflection seismology. Commonly, shallow seismic reflection methods are used in conjunction with other geophysical and geological methods, supported by a well-planned drilling-verification effort. To the extent that seismic reflection, refraction, and surface-wave methods can constrain shallow stratigraphy, geologic structure, engineering properties, and relative permeability, these methods are useful in civil-engineering applications and in characterizing environmental sites. Case histories from Kansas, California, and Texas illustrate how seismic reflection can be used to map bedrock beneath alluvium at hazardous waste sites, detect abandoned coal mines, follow the top of the saturated zone during an alluvial aquifer pumping test, and map shallow faults that serve as contaminant flowpaths.