Geophysics Course

Lesson 1 • Earth Structure and Composition

Describes crust, mantle, and core composition and layering. Connects global structure to local geophysical anomalies students will later interpret.

Lesson 2 • Geophysical Signals and Noise

Explains how geophysical fields are measured and how noise contaminates data. Builds critical awareness of data quality before any field acquisition.

Lesson 3 • Units, Scales, and Reference Systems

Covers SI units, coordinate systems, and datum conventions used in geophysics. Ensures consistent data handling across all methods introduced later.

Lesson 4 • Earth's Physical Properties Overview

Introduces density, elasticity, magnetism, and electrical properties of Earth materials. Provides the physical basis for understanding how geophysical signals are generated.

Lesson 1 • Wave Equations and Solutions

Derives the acoustic and elastic wave equations from first principles. Provides the mathematical foundation for seismic data analysis in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • Fourier Analysis and Spectral Methods

Introduces Fourier transforms and spectral decomposition for geophysical signals. Underpins filtering, migration, and inversion techniques used throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Potential Field Theory

Develops Laplace and Poisson equations governing gravity and magnetic fields. Enables students to model and forward-calculate potential field anomalies.

Lesson 4 • Inverse Problem Fundamentals

Introduces forward modeling, data misfit, and regularization concepts. Prepares students for quantitative interpretation methods in every geophysical discipline.

Lesson 1 • Reflection and Refraction at Interfaces

Applies Snell's law and reflection coefficients to layered Earth models. Directly supports seismic reflection and refraction survey interpretation.

Lesson 2 • Ray Theory and Travel-Time Modeling

Uses ray tracing to compute travel times in heterogeneous velocity models. Provides the computational basis for seismic tomography and refraction analysis.

Lesson 3 • Surface Waves and Guided Waves

Covers Rayleigh and Love wave generation, dispersion, and sensitivity. Connects surface wave analysis to near-surface characterization methods.

Lesson 4 • Seismic Anisotropy and Heterogeneity

Examines how rock fabric and compositional variation alter wave speeds. Prepares students to recognise anisotropy effects in field seismic data.

Lesson 1 • Survey Design and Source Selection

Addresses geometry, fold, offset, and source type choices for land and marine surveys. Links design parameters to data quality and imaging objectives.

Lesson 2 • Velocity Analysis and NMO Correction

Builds stacking velocity models using semblance analysis and applies NMO correction. Directly enables CMP stacking and depth conversion.

Lesson 3 • Migration and Imaging Principles

Explains time and depth migration algorithms that collapse diffractions and reposition reflectors. Produces the final seismic image used for interpretation.

Lesson 4 • Seismic Instrumentation and Recording

Describes geophones, hydrophones, digitisers, and recording systems. Ensures students understand hardware limitations affecting data fidelity.

Lesson 1 • Magnetic Data Processing and Enhancement

Applies diurnal correction, IGRF removal, and enhancement filters to magnetic data. Prepares anomaly maps for structural and lithological interpretation.

Lesson 2 • Gravity Data Corrections and Bouguer Anomaly

Applies free-air, Bouguer, terrain, and latitude corrections to raw gravity readings. Produces the Bouguer anomaly map used for geological interpretation.

Lesson 3 • Potential Field Interpretation and Modeling

Integrates gravity and magnetic anomalies with geological constraints to build subsurface models. Addresses non-uniqueness through joint interpretation strategies.

Lesson 4 • Gravity Field Theory and Measurement

Derives Newton's law of gravitation and the geoid concept, then links them to gravimeter operation. Establishes the physical basis for all gravity corrections.

Lesson 1 • Electrical Resistivity Fundamentals

Explains current flow in the ground, apparent resistivity, and electrode array geometry. Provides the physical basis for DC resistivity surveys.

Lesson 2 • Time-Domain EM and Magnetotellurics

Examines TDEM transient decay and MT impedance tensor for deep resistivity imaging. Extends EM methods to crustal and basin-scale investigations.

Lesson 3 • Frequency-Domain Electromagnetic Methods

Covers FDEM instrument principles, coil configurations, and depth of investigation. Enables rapid terrain conductivity mapping for environmental and engineering surveys.

Lesson 4 • Induced Polarisation Method

Introduces chargeability, time-domain, and frequency-domain IP measurements. Targets sulphide mineral detection and clay content estimation.

Lesson 1 • Borehole Imaging and Structural Logs

Uses FMI and acoustic televiewer images to identify fractures, bedding, and stress indicators. Enhances structural interpretation beyond core data.

Lesson 2 • Borehole Seismic Methods

Covers VSP acquisition geometries and checkshot surveys for velocity calibration. Bridges surface seismic images with borehole log data.

Lesson 3 • Principles of Well Logging

Introduces the borehole environment, tool conveyance, and log quality control. Establishes the context for interpreting all wireline and LWD measurements.

Lesson 4 • Resistivity and Saturation Logs

Applies induction and laterolog tools to determine formation water saturation. Connects Archie's equation to hydrocarbon identification.

Lesson 1 • Seismic Attribute Analysis

Extracts amplitude, phase, frequency, and geometric attributes from seismic volumes. Enhances stratigraphic and fault interpretation beyond conventional sections.

Lesson 2 • Joint and Cooperative Inversion

Combines seismic, gravity, magnetic, and EM datasets in shared model frameworks. Reduces non-uniqueness by enforcing structural and petrophysical coupling.

Lesson 3 • Integrated Subsurface Model Building

Combines geophysical inversion results with well data and geological models into a unified earth model. Demonstrates a complete interpretation workflow for resource or hazard assessment.

Lesson 4 • Deterministic Inversion Methods

Applies gradient-based optimisation to minimise data misfit in geophysical models. Covers steepest descent, conjugate gradient, and Gauss-Newton approaches.