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org/

104

Engineering 1

stachcdsection tend to hc a htt lower in frequencybecausethe

NM0 correction in a CDP stack assumeshyperbolic moveout,
while refractionsarrive as a linear time-distancefunction. Hence,
they dont stack as coherently as reflections. which tend to decreasetheir frequency. Figure 4 shows what appearto be reflection eventsfrom 20 to 125 ms. However. careful examinationof
the field data suggestscoherentevents on the CDP stack above
40 ms resultedfrom refractedarrivals. Furthermore,test drilling,
geophysicallogging, and an uphole shot show that the event at
75 ms is a true reflector at a sandstone-limestone
interface at a
depth of 46 m. The apparentreflectionsbetween 40 and 75 ms
should be viewed with suspicionfor at least two reasons:Their
lower frequency raisesdoubts as does the fact that 3 ms of apparent structurein a horizontal distanceof 8 m suggestslocal
apparentdip of about 17 degrees, which is not geologicallyreasonableat this locality.
It has been our experience that occasionalfield recordswill
display unusuallygood reflections.These field seismograms can
be used to correlate to the processedseismic sections. The refracted arrivals can also be muted during the early stagesof the
processingto remove any chanceof stackingin on the section.
Unequivocally separating shallow reflections from shallow refractions is clearly one of the major limitations of the shallow
seismicmethod at the presenttime

P
WHtXcJI

THAILAND

Nonfhahn

References
Doomenbal.
J. C., and Helbig, K., 1983, High-resolutionreflectionseismics on a tidal flat in the Dutch Delta-acquisition, processing,and
interpretation First Break. Mav. 9-20.
Hunter: J. A., Pullan, S. E:, B&s, R. A., Gagne, R. M., and Good,
R. S., 1984, Shallow seismic reflection mapping of the overburdenbedrock interface with the engineering sei<mo&aph-some simple
techniques:Geophysics,49, I 381-l 385.

OF

High-Resolution Common-Offset
Seismic Reflection Profiling in the
Chaophraya Basin, Bangkok, Thailand

ENG1.2

THAILAND

FIG. 1. Location of subsidence study area.

Robert .I. Whiteley, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand;

James A. Hunter and Sue Pullan, Geological Survey of Canada

Bangkok, a major SoutheastAsian city of 6 million peopleand

capital of Thailand, is located on the central plain within the
Chaophrayabasin underlainby Quaternaryclay/sandsectionover
500 m thick. Surface elevations are only 1.O to 1.5 m above
mean sea level. The Bangkok metropolis suffers major annual
flooding for severalmonthseach year as a result of land subsidence (Nutalaya and Rao, 1981). The primary cause of subsidence, which occursat the alarming rate of 5-10 cm/year, is attributed to a lowering of the piezometric level by excessive
groundwater pumping at the rate of over 1 million m3/day.
Groundwateris obtainedfrom sand/gravelaquiferat depthsof up
to 200 m. Although many water wells have been drilled in and
around Bangkok comparatively few have been adequately
logged. As a result the Quaternarygeology and aquifer distribution are poorly known. In order to rectify this problem and to
designremedial measures,possibleartifical recharge,a major cooperative researchprogram is currently being undertakenby the
Asian Institute of Technology and McGill University. Since the
common-offsetseismicreflection methodhas met with considerable successin mapping shallowstratigraphyin Canadaand elsewhere (Hunter et al.. 1984; Cagne et al., 1985), it was decided
to utilize this method and to the presenttime over 10 line km of
data have been obtained.

Equipment and survey

The high-resolutionreflectiondata were acquireddigitally with
a GeometriesES 1210F seismographand 7245:tape recorder;100
Hz geophoneswere generally used and the energy sourcewas a
12 gauge buffalo gun describedby Pullan and MacAulay (in
press). Both geophonesand gun were pressedinto the soft, saturated Bangkok clay which covers the entire area on Thailands
central plain (Figure 1). Survey lines were generallyalong edges
of canals or water-filled trencheswhich are widespread. After
initial trials, an optimum window for mapping the shallow

FIG. 2. Common-offset reflection section, Bangkhan (AIT),

Thailand.

Engineering 1

105

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100 HZ qeophones

-/>

,,,w

:,,r

:,I.,

.5,,

j,,,i

>Y,,

Eddy-Seis

FIG. 4. Comparison between Eddy-Seis and 100 Hz geophones.

FIG. 3. Common-offset section showing gas effect.

stratigraphywas obtainedwith a geophonespacingof 3-5 m and

a common offset of 30-45 m. Analog filters on the ES1210F
were set to either 300 H3 high-passor band-pass.Shootingconditions were nearly ideal with a high water table, flat terrain, and
very low velocity ground roll. The common-offset data were
transferredfrom cassettetape and processedwith Apple II microcomputersusing software describedby Hunter et al. (1984) and
Norminton and Pullan (1985).

Common-offset data throughoutthe area are generally of excellent quality although sectionsof poor and dominantly lowfrequency information were obtained as shown on Figure 3.
These effects, which severelydisturblimited sectionsof the data,
are believed due to near-surfacegas accumulationstrappedin the
impermeable clay and resulting from decomposingvegetable
matter. Similar features are often observed in shallow marine
seismicprofiling. During the field surveyan opportunitywas provided to test and comparethe responsethe new Eddy-SeisTMgeophones(Hall, 1985) with that of conventionalgeophones.
Figure 4 shows one such comparisonfor a single-shot expandedspread. These recordswere taken first with conventional
100 Hz vertical Mark Productsgeophoneswith l/trace and then
9itrace nested Eddy-Seis geophones. The greater number of
Eddy-Seis phoneswas necessarybecauseof low signallevels. A
5 m geophone interval and 30 m offset distancewere used to
obtain both recordswith filters on the seismographset to 300 Hz
band-pass.Shooting proceduresand geophoneplacementswere
similar as practicable. The record obtained with the Eddy-Seis
geophoneson Figure 4 is significantlyricher in high frequencies
and shows more clearly defined reflection, particularly in the
early portion of the recordto to 200 ms interval time

Results
Figure 2 shows a sample600 m sectionof common-offsetreflection data from Bangkhansome 40 km north of Bangkoktogether with a simplified borehole log from the closestdrill hole
to the line. Significant reflections can be seen to coincide with
the major sand/gravel aquifers from which the groundwateris
being pumped. The upper sandaquifer on this sectionnear 40 m
depth is not prominent. This is a clayey/sandrather than a true
sand and apparently has a lower and more variable acoustic
impedancecontrastwith the surroundingclay.
Undulations in the reflectionson this section (Figure 4) may
indicatedifferential settlementor near-surfacevelocity variations
within the upper part of the geologic section. Velocity analysis
of the reflection data showed a rapid increasefrom an average
1 540 m/s to an interval time of 40 ms, i.e., to the uppersandto
1 720 m/s below this time A major geologic changeis inferred
between
BllF
at this depth. The loss of continuity in reflectors
and B14F is due to a channelcutting the aquifer sequenceto a
depth of 130 m.

Conclusions
The common-offsettechniquefor high-resolutionshallow seismic reflection with the latesttechnologygeophonesis proving to
be a cost-effective and appropriatemethodfor delineationof the
shallow stratigraphicsection and aquifers in the centralplain of
Thailand. This new techniquewill providea wealth of subsurface
detail hitherto unavailableand an interpretivechallengeto geophysicists.In addition, the techniquewill supplythe basic information required by engineersto solve one of the greatestchallengesof the next century:that of savingthe sinkingcities of the
world which include not only Bangkok but Houston, New Orleans, Shanghai,London, Venice, and many others.
Acknowledgments
Geological Survey of Canada, US Geological Survey, IDRC
Canada, Dr. JohnRingis.
%YO

Corp., USA

106

Engineering 1

References
Cagrk K. M., Pullan, S. h.. andHunter, J. A.. lYX5, A shallowbersrn~

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reflection method for use in mepping overburden stratigraphy:Proc.

2nd Int. Conf. on Borehole and SurfaceGeophys. Meth. and Groundwater Eval.
Hall. E. M., 1985.The Eddy-Seis:a new type of geophone:
Bull. Aus-

tralianSEG. 16, 227-228.

Hunter,J. A.. Pullan,S. E., Bums.R. A., Cagne,R. M.. andGood,
R. L.. 1984. Shallow seismic reflection mapping of the overburdenbedrochinterface with the enoineerinzseismomaoh-somerim&
I techniques:Geophysics,49, 1381-1385. y
_
Pullan, S. E., and MacAulav. H. A.. 1986,A new sourcefor ennineering seismicsurveys:Geophysics. in press.
Norminton, E. J., and Pullan, S. E.. 1985, Engineeringseismicreflection
software for the Apple microcomputer:Presentedat the 55th Annual
SEG Meeting, Washington.
Nutalaya, P . and Rau. I. L.. 1981, Bangkok: the smking metropolis:
Episodes,4, 3-8.

Subsurface Contamination
Mapping from EMI Soundings

ENG1.3

Dennis D. Weber, Universityof Nevuda; and GeorgeT.

Flatman, U.S. EnvironmentulProtectionAgenq
In recent years, the domain of explorationgeophysicshas expanded to include the searchfor contaminantsin the earth that
are the result of industrialwastes. The objective is to define the
areal or volumetric extent of the subsurfacecontamination,usually in the form of groundwatercontaminaiton,in order either to
monitor it or to initiate remedial action. Contaminationis usually
contained in an aquifer a few meters below the surface of the
earth. The techniquesthat have met with the most successin
groundwatercontaminationstudiesare electromagneticinduction,
(EMI) dc resistivity, and shallow high-resolution seismology.
Seismology can be used only to map the subsurfacestructure
whereasresistivity and EMI can also be used for direct detection
of electrically conductivegroundwatercontamination.Recent investigationswith EMI mainly used profiling or gridding in an
attempt to locate the contamination, and some used vertical
soundingswith inverse modeling. Except in rare instances,profiling and gridding do not yield unambiguous,interpretableresults, and due to anisotropies,noise, low instrumentresolution.
and strongly correlatedmodel parameters,the resultsof vertical
electrical soundingshave been less than satisfactory.By using
innovativestatisticaltechniquesin data acquistionand modeling,
significantly improved results have been obtained. This paper
discussesthese new techniquesand presentsthe results of 80
soundings using the techniques at a conductive contaminant
groundwaterplume at Pittman. Nevada.
Electromagneticinduction (EMI) is the most frequently used
of the above mentioned geophysicaltechniquesin groundwater
contaminationinvestigationsbecauseof its speedand easeof operation, together with its relatively small spatialextent required
for taking measurements.At many hazardouswaste sites. spatial
constraintsprecludethe use of dc resistivitybecauseof the large
array size required. Furthermore,no ground contactis necessary
for EMI. The instrumentsused in this study were the Geonics
EM31 and EM34-3 terrain conductivity meters. These instru
ments are inexpensiveand reliable, and one of the objectivesof
the studywas to examine the capabilitiesof presenttechnology.
However, the simplicityof the EMI can be deceptive.The ease
of operationand the single-valuedoutputhave led many inexperienced investigatorsto the belief that data acquisitionis only a
matter of profiling or gridding an area at one coil configuration,
plotting the results using a simple contouringpackage,and then
expecting the resulting contour map to yield some information

&out contaminatton.In rare cases,where the targetareaexhtbits

lateral isotropy. these surveyscan yield useful results. In most
cases, however, this lateral isotropy is nonexistentand the difficuhy is to distinguish the change in subsurfacecontamination
va!ue
from effects causedby varying thicknessesin subsurface
layers and from geologic and electrical noise. This paper describesa study in which innovativestatisticaltechniquesare used
m data acquisitionand data analysisto accountfor these probletns. The approach involves multiple soundingsand inverse
modeling.
The objective of the work reportedin this paper is to demonstratethe capabilitiesof presenttechnologyEM1 instrumentation
and modem analytical techniquesin detectinggroundwatercontamination.The procedureis to determinethe conductivityof the
groundwater aquifer from surface measurements,and subsequently relate those valuesto the contaminationlevel of the water. This can be done, of course, only for contaminationthat
affects the electical conductivityof the water. To determinethe
aquifer conductivity, vertical soundingsare made using all coil
configurations(3.8, 10, 20, and 40-m coil separationsand vertcal and horizontaldipoles), plus additionalmeasurementsat 1 m
height above the groundfor the EM3 1. This can be donebecause
the EM31 has a rigid structurethat holds the coils at 3.8-m separation. These data are entered into a modified computerinverse
model using ridge regressionto calculatethe model parameters,
i.e., the layer conductivitiesand thicknesses,for a three-layer
model.
These instruments,however, were not designedfor high-resolution vertical soundings,consequently,additionalstepsmust be
taken into accountfor (1) low resolution, (2) strong correlation
of model parameters,(3) layer anisotropy,and (4) geologic and
electrical noise. An isolatedsoundingwill often yield nonphysical results;therefore, the approachhere is to use statisticalproceduresin both data acquisitionand modeling analysisto reduce
the effects of these problems. The procedureexploits the speed
and ease of measurementof EMI. The transect(or area)of interest is marked at regular intervals (5 or 10 m) and measurements
are made at each station with all coil configurations.The raw
data can be examined for noise, and a mean and standarddeviation can be assignedto each stationfor each coil configuration.
These values rather than the point values are input into the inverse model and the standarddeviation is used to weight each

25

20

615

625

635

645

655

Station number
FIG. 1. Geohydrolo ical cross-section showing the water table elevation calcu7ated from inverse modeling. Disagreement for smaller station numbers was due to a recent dewatering of that end of the transect.