Seismic exploration vessels are used to search for indications of oil and gas 

 deposits beneath the ocean floor. In the system illustrated here, four trans- 

 ducers (sending units) emit signals which bounce off subsurface formations, 

 are picked up by detectors in the streamer cable, and transmitted to the ship for 

 recording and study. Analysis of the data indicates where petroleum may be 



found. Continental Oil Company Illustration— Courtesy of API) 



cooperation and support of other agencies, has intensified studies 

 and mapping of earthquake belts and other geologic hazards that 

 must be considered throughout large regions in which promising oil 

 and gas structures are expected to exist. Results of these studies 

 supply information that is critical to the determination of pipeline 

 rights-of-way, the planning of offshore installations for power 

 plants, and for other utilization of continental shelf areas, as well as 

 the development of promising oil and gas areas. 



Basic and applied research supported by the National Science 

 Foundation (NSF), Navy, NOAA, the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 others supplies large amounts of information that aids industry in its 

 search for petroleum and contributes to related Federal efforts. The 

 NSF's Deep Sea Drilling Program, and the research programs of its 

 International Decade of Oceanography relating to studies of 

 continental margins and the deep ocean floor, have produced a 

 steady flow of data and concepts that help identify areas of resource 

 potential on and beneath the sea floor. 



35 



