Digital geophones and exploration of tight oil

Geophones are key instruments used for seismic data acquisition, and the quality of seismic data acquired for prospecting depends directly on their performance. With the development of geophysical prospecting technologies and high-resolution exploration requirements, especially in tight marl oil exploration, an increased demand on the accuracy and quality of seismic data is presented, which includes broadening the frequency band and increasing the fidelity and signal to noise ratio in an attempt to better identify lithology, pore fluids, and fractured reservoirs. In the Jizhong Depression, the tight marl oil is mainly located in the Shulu Sag, where the background interference is strong and the marl strata are deeply buried with variable occurrence. These factors pose new challenges on the ability of digital geophones to detect oil. In this paper, the operation and performance characteristics of digital geophones are described, and then we focus on the first test conducted for tight marl oil exploration in the Shulu Sag. The test results show that compared with analog geophones, seismic data acquired using digital geophones are characterized by providing less waveform distortion, broader frequency bandwidth, and more abundant information. These improvements lay a foundation for high-resolution processing and identification of fractured reservoirs.