Improved Shallow Seismic-Reflection Source: Building a Better Buffalo

An improved design of the buffalo gun, incorporating hole drilling and shooting into one operation with almost total blast containment, provided nearly 50 percent more recordable seismic signal than the traditional buffalo gun. The ‘auger gun’ is designed to optimize field efficiency, source couple, and safety. The auger gun consists of three main parts: power source, auger/screw, and modified buffalo gun. Amplitude spectra indicate the auger gun delivers approximately 20 percent more total energy and 50 percent more reflection energy with no noticeable increase in recorded ground roll at a test site in Lawrence, Kansas. Subtle changes in source environment, such as a 15 cm gap between the detonation point and the base of the hole or inclusion of water as opposed to air at the detonation point, have a significant effect on the quality of the recorded data. The auger gun should increase field efficiency by over 50 percent on most shallow surveys, while improving the signal-to-noise ratio and total energy in comparison to the buffalo gun.