INTRODUCTION 



13 



stated by DeGolyer,f "the refraction technique in prospecting for salt 

 domes in Coastal Texas and Louisiana is one of the most brilliant successes 

 of applied geophysics in oil prospecting as well as the most clean-cut 

 example of the life cycle of a technique." The refraction method in some- 

 what different form has been revived and used successfully in certain 

 areas such as the Edwards Plateau and the Anadarko Basin, where reflec- 

 tions are erratic and difficult to obtain. Very deep subsurface structure 

 can be mapped, although the procedure is somewhat expensive. 



The Reflection Technique. The reflection method of seismic geophys- 

 ics, developed almost entirely within the United States, was preceded by 

 the studies of iceberg detection and measurement of ocean depths. Reginald 

 Fessenden used it in 1914, and patented both refraction and reflection 

 methods for use in locating geologic formations. Ahhough Fessenden is 



1932 '33 '34 '35 '36 '37 '38 '39 '40 '41 '42 '43 '4 4 



Fig. 3. Seismograph parties in the United States, 1933-1947. (E. A. Eckhardt, ibid, p. 530.) 



usually credited as being the discoverer of the reflection method, J. C. 

 Karcher, and others, notably E. A. Eckhardt and Burton McCollum, later 

 improved the technique and made its application more practical. The first 

 attempt to prove the applicability of this method was made in 1927 in 

 Oklahoma. In 1928 drilling of a seismic high yielded a small producing 

 well. The professionally accepted proof came in 1930 when three geophys- 

 ical indications (seismic highs) found in the Seminole, Oklahoma, area 

 were tested and yielded producing wells. Later the Edwards and the Chase 

 areas in Oklahoma confirmed previous reflection predictions and definitely 

 established the method. In 1929 the dip method of reflection shooting was 

 developed. This seismic method today stands preeminently as the most 

 successful and widely-used geophysical method for oil exploration. Of the 

 $105,000,000 expended in 1947 for geophysical prospecting for oil within 



t E. DeGoIyer. "The Development of the Art of Prospecting," The Guild of Brackctt Lectures 

 (Princeton University Press). 



