Acoustic Data May Reveal Hidden Gas, Oil Supplies

Just as doctors use ultrasound to image internal organs and unborn babies, MIT Earth Resources Laboratory researchers listen to the echoing language of rocks to map what’s going on tens of thousands of feet below the Earth’s surface.

With the help of a new $580,000 US Department of Energy (DOE) grant, the earth scientists will use their skills at interpreting underground sound to seek out “sweet spots”–pockets of natural gas and oil contained in fractured porous rocks–in a Wyoming oil field. If the method proves effective at determining where to drill wells, it could eventually be used at oil and gas fields across the country.

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