Method for seismic surveying using wider lateral spacing between sources to improve efficiency

A method for marine seismic acquisition, comprising:

• towing a plurality of laterally spaced apart sensor streamers behind a survey vessel in a body of water, a lateral spacing between adjacent streamers represented by L;
• towing at least two laterally spaced apart seismic energy sources behind the survey vessel in the water, a lateral spacing between the at least two source represented by kL, wherein k is a constant and wherein k is at most equal to the number of streamers;
• at selected times actuating each of the first and the second sources;
• detecting seismic signals at each of a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart seismic sensors on each of the streamers;
• and
• recording the detected seismic signals.

A method for towing a marine seismic acquisition array in a body of water, comprising:

• towing a plurality of laterally spaced apart sensor streamers behind a survey vessel in the water, a lateral spacing between adjacent streamers represented by L;
• towing at least two laterally spaced apart seismic energy sources in the water, a lateral spacing between the at least two source represented by kL, wherein k is a constant and wherein kL is at most equal to the number of streamers;
• and
• steering the sensor streamers to maintain a selected spread angle between a first portion of the streamers extending behind the survey vessel and a second portion of the streamers extending behind the survey vessel, and using seismic data from overlapping common depth point lines acquired laterally between the lateral positions of the sources to reduce infill acquisition.

A method for marine seismic acquisition, comprising:

• towing a plurality of laterally spaced apart sensor streamers behind a survey vessel in a body of water, a lateral spacing between adjacent streamers represented by L;
• towing at least two laterally spaced apart seismic energy sources in the water, a lateral spacing between the at least two source represented by kL, wherein k is a constant and wherein k is at most equal to the number of streamers;
• steering the sensor streamers to have a selected spread angle between a first portion of the streamers extending behind a survey vessel and a second portion of the streamers extending behind the survey vessel;
• at selected times actuating each of the first and the second sources;
• detecting seismic signals at each of a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart seismic sensors on each of the streamers;
• recording the detected seismic signals;
• and
• and using seismic signals recorded from overlapping common depth point lines acquired laterally between the lateral positions of the sources to reduce infill acquisition.