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The seismic data written to tape in the dog house, whether on land or at sea, are not ideal for interpretation. To create an accurate picture of the subsurface, we must remove or at least minimize artifacts in these records related to the surface upon which the survey was performed, artifacts related to the instrumentation and procedure used, and noise in the data obscuring the subsurface image. Treatment of the data to achieve these ends is commonly referred to as ''seismic data processing''. Through processing, the huge volumes of data taken in the field are reduced to simple images for display on paper or the work station screen. This simple image, while it contains less data about the subsurface, is readily accessible to the interpreter and has many of the artifacts and errors just listed removed. Figure 1 shows a single, unprocessed (raw) field record taken from a line. Figure 2 is the same line of data after processing to illustrate how the field records are turned into an interpretable image.

The seismic data written to tape in the dog house, whether on land or at sea, are not ideal for interpretation. To create an accurate picture of the subsurface, we must remove or at least minimize artifacts in these records related to the surface upon which the survey was performed, artifacts related to the instrumentation and procedure used, and noise in the data obscuring the subsurface image. Treatment of the data to achieve these ends is commonly referred to as ''seismic data processing''. Through processing, the huge volumes of data taken in the field are reduced to simple images for display on paper or the work station screen. This simple image, while it contains less data about the subsurface, is readily accessible to the interpreter and has many of the artifacts and errors just listed removed. [[:file:basic-seismic-processing_fig1.png|Figure 1]] shows a single, unprocessed (raw) field record taken from a line. [[:file:basic-seismic-processing_fig2.png|Figure 2]] is the same line of data after processing to illustrate how the field records are turned into an interpretable image.

[[file:basic-seismic-processing_fig1.png|thumb|{{figure number|1}}A single shot record as it is recorded in the field. The shot is at station 60. There were 120 geophones laid out in this “split” spread. Two seconds of data were recorded. © Landmark/ITA.]]

 

[[file:basic-seismic-processing_fig1.png|left|thumb|{{figure number|1}}A single shot record as it is recorded in the field. The shot is at station 60. There were 120 geophones laid out in this “split” spread. Two seconds of data were recorded. © Landmark/ITA.]]

[[file:basic-seismic-processing_fig2.png|thumb|{{figure number|2}}A seismic section produced by processing six shots such as those in Figure 1. © Landmark/ITA.]]

[[file:basic-seismic-processing_fig2.png|thumb|{{figure number|2}}A seismic section produced by processing six shots such as those in Figure 1. © Landmark/ITA.]]

The processing sequence designed to achieve the interpretable image will likely consist of several individual steps. The number of steps, the order in which they are applied, and the parameters used for each program vary from area to area, from dataset to dataset, and from processor to processor. However, the steps can be grouped by function so that the basic processing flow can be illustrated as follows:

The processing sequence designed to achieve the interpretable image will likely consist of several individual steps. The number of steps, the order in which they are applied, and the parameters used for each program vary from area to area, from dataset to dataset, and from processor to processor. However, the steps can be grouped by function so that the basic processing flow can be illustrated as follows: