Digitally remastered Seismic technology is advancing at a breathtaking pace. Here Rob Butler and TonyPedley~* pause to take a look at how new value can be added to old data — and howthe insights gained can be communicated to a broader Earth science audience.

摘要

The Virtual Seismic Atlas (VSA) is generating an independent,community-based internet resource that captures and shares thegeological interpretation of seismic data globally. But it can also showhow improvements in seismic technology impacts on ourunderstanding of sedimentary basin structure. In this article we lookat a topical issue — the imaging of Mesozoic structures on the NWcontinental margin of Europe. Understanding these structures isimportant for investigating how the opening of the Atlantic was pre-conditioned by earlier tectonics, a general question for studies ofcontinental break-up. But, as so often, this apparently academic issuehas important commercial implications in the exploration for furtherhydrocarbon resources.