Hi All - Having just discussed this post with Mike Asten, it seems I should issue a clarification.
There are apparently both seismo-electric effects and electro-seismic effects. I have been using the two terms interchangeably, but Mike informs me that they are different things. The former uses a seismic source to generate an electrical signal, and the latter conceptually uses an electrical source to generate a seismic response. In the report I had read, the field measurements were being done using a sledge hammer source and measurements were being made of the resultant electric field, so I should have referred to them as seismo-electric. Thanks to Mike for pointing out the distinction. Cheers, James From: SEGMIN <[email protected]> On Behalf Of James Reid via SEGMIN Sent: Monday, 23 September 2019 11:43 AM To: [email protected] Cc: James Reid <[email protected]> Subject: [SEGMIN] Electro-seismics This message originated outside Mira Geoscience. Hi All - I was wondering if anyone out there had any experience with electro-seismics, i.e. using a seismic source to stimulate an electrical response from the ground. I have recently had a groundwater contamination client request an electro-seismic survey, with the objective of estimating the aquifer permeability ahead of drilling. When I said that the method was pretty niche and of academic interest in comparison with TEM, electrical resistivity imaging or NMR, they said "but we've already done some". When I read the report I was underwhelmed to say the least... while I think there is some physical basis to the technique (I recall genuine papers by Anton Kepic etc on piezoelectric effects etc), the company in question were pseudoscientific at best in terms of the data processing and interpretation, and their promises to clients. The report had been commissioned (and accepted) by a very major global geotechnical company who had clearly not employed a consultant geophysicist. There are several companies here in the Antipodes offering electro-seismic surveys. These typically operate on the fringes of mainstream geophysics, offering services to agriculture and groundwater. There is very little information available on the physical basis of the method, or on its practical limitations. Here is a link to one such company (chosen at random - I am not picking on them because they are from New Zealand) https://www.atsgeosuite.net/new-page. They have an intriguing sliding price scale, where the client pays more for interpretation to larger depth - I wish I had thought of that! Anyway, I wondered whether anyone had any genuine experience with electro-seismics, and could provide more detail. Is it a mature enough technique that I should be considering it for hydrogeological work? I suspect the answer is no, but I would be interested in any comments. Cheers, James [cid:[email protected]]<http://www.mirageoscience.com/> James Reid, Director Asia-Pacific, Principal Consultant www.MiraGeoscience.com<http://www.mirageoscience.com/>, tel +61.419 748 009, 45 Ventnor Ave, West Perth WA 6005 Australia
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