38 JULY 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Call me - let’s talk a BIT. Lacey Hinz 800-421-2487 palmerbit.com Discoveries of Reflection Seismography Adapted from Information by American Oil & Gas Historical Society In 1920, reflection seismography revolutionized petroleum exploration. Exploring seismic waves is all about vital earth science technology, which has led to oilfield discoveries worldwide and billions of barrels of oil. Several competing post-war inventors were trying to discover new ways to find petroleum reserves, when two experiments in the summer of 1921 by an Oklahoma physicist stood out. “This geophysical method records reflected seismic waves as they travel through the earth helping to find oil-bearing formations,” Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) noted on its marker northeast of Ardmore. The first reflection seismograph geologic section was measured during experiments near Oklahoma City and Ardmore in 1921. Seismic technologies have been responsible for discovering the world’s largest petroleum reserves, many containing billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. This discovery came thanks to pioneering research led by professor John Clarence Karcher. John Karcher and fellow University of Oklahoma (OU) professors William Haseman and David Ohern, were joined by Irving Perrine of Cornell University to continue verification and confirmation testing. Founded by an Oklahoma City independent producer, Karcher, Haseman, and Ohern formed the Geological Engineering Company. The experiments indicated that their seismograph could reveal subsurface structures capable of holding oil. A monument on I-35 commemorates the world’s first reflection seismograph geologic section was measured on August 9, 1921, along Vines Branch. “The reflection technique has become the major method of energy exploration throughout the world,” the marker notes. “By 1983, more than 70% of the 18,600 members of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in 112 countries were involved in reflection.” On December 4, 1928, seismic technology first helped find oil when Amerada Petroleum Corporation drilled into the Viola limestone formation and struck oil near Seminole, Oklahoma. The well was the world’s first oil discovery in geological structure that had been identified by reflection. Other discoveries followed as the new exploration technology revealed dozens of oil fields. Seismic wave paths reflect from the top of bedrock to detectors on the land surface. Image courtesy Geologic Resources. G&O
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk4Mzk=