Recent advances and open problems in the integration of near-surface geophysical data

The integration of different geophysical techniques is the best way to reduce the ambiguities of any single prospecting method, when characterizing geobodies by their rock properties. Seismic imaging is the main tool for delineating deep targets in 3D, but its quality may increase when the near surface effects are compensated for by gravity or electro-magnetic methods (den Boer et al. 2000, Dell’Aversana 2003, Colombo et al. 2008, 2010, among others). Classical refraction statics, in fact, break down when velocities are not monotonically increasing or the shallow formations are very inhomogeneous. In the last decade, new contributions are emerging from unusual information sources as vibrators’ controllers (Al-Ali et al. 2003, Ley et al. 2006), geological maps and satellite imagery (Vesnaver et al. 2006b, 2009, Laake et al. 2008). Here we review some of these recent results and highlight a few problems that require further analysis. We describe also an ongoing experiment for expanding the band-width of active seismic surveys by integrating them with passive ones.