Evaluating the effect of the joining platform on seismic data acquired by geophones mounted to rigid media

High-resolution shallow seismic data can be acquired efficiently by using rigid media to rapidly deploy geophones. Minor changes occur to the recorded wavefield when geophones and spikes are rigidly attached to a bar of square steel tubing. We show through forward modeling and frequency-domain inverse filtering that the bar acts as a linear filter on the data acquired. This filter contains both a phase shift and an amplitude scalar and is a function of spike-to-receiver offset on the bar. Filter characteristics are independent of phase-moveout direction or spike and receiver placement. By combining the phase-shift and the amplitude scalar, frequency-domain filter generation proved more computationally efficient than previously employed time-domain algorithms. While statistical methods show the amplitude scalar in the filter to vary from shot to shot, the phase shift appears to remain constant. This research shows that rigidly mounted geophones have the ability to record the seismic wavefield with high fidelity, thus making the acquisition of ultra-shallow seismic data more efficient.