Does anybody know what these guys are doing?

[Jamnanc]

I have several large off-road trucks in the field behind my house. They are running some sort of vibrator on the ground. There are small orange sensors placed every three hundred feet or so in all the adjacent fields. I'm guessing it has something to do with drilling for oil-natural gas.
They run a vibration at low frequency to high four times then pull forwand about a hundred feet and do it again. I know there is a natural gas pipeline near their present location.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Looking for earl and natural gas.

[Eric P]

This:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_seismology

[OtterbatHellcat]

Yep, fracking tower will probably be your view for the next six months.

[Great-Kazoo]

seismic testing. by the looks of your pic they're getting ready for take off.

[Mtn.man]

Looking for the bodies.

[BPTactical]

Remember that vibrating bed on your honeymoon?
Roll with it.....

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Remember that vibrating bed on your honeymoon?
Roll with it.....

Do those trucks take quarters?

[StagLefty]

Do those trucks take quarters?

Bitcoins [Coffee]

[Great-Kazoo]

Do those trucks take quarters?

Quarters? you need a better class of hotel, try credit cards.

[crays]

As said above...JugHeads. Lock up your daughters.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Quarters? you need a better class of hotel, try credit cards.

Yo credit no good here, cowboy.

You should try to hit em with golf balls.

[trlcavscout]

They paid me $25 to pit one of the sensors in my yard back in November, I still haven't seen it but those trucks are all over up here.

[brutal]

They paid me $25 to pit one of the sensors in my yard back in November, I still haven't seen it but those trucks are all over up here.

And you didn't ask what for?

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

And you didn't ask what for?

Nsa surveillance.

[Jamnanc]

I guessed that it was seismic, what I don't get is where they get the permission, money, authority to do it on such a large scale. I also guessed that it was oil co. If it's government, who has access to the data? If travicascout has them up where he's at, and I know a couple of people in between, that's a huge undertaking.

The odd thing about it is the work hours, there are buses on the highway carting people in to do the work on Friday, then they do the work on Saturday and Sunday. I haven't seen them out on weekdays. It's probably a large scale survey that travels. I hoped someone here would have a little insight or inside knowledge about the operation.

[ray1970]

You guys live on top of a large shale play. The seismic trucks are looking for the best places to drill wells to extract the oil. Before horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, this oil was pretty much unobtainable. Now they are pulling it out everywhere.

That's why gas prices are so low right now.

[gnihcraes]

go outside when these trucks are operating. Very cool... vibration that is. :)

[BPTactical]

go outside when these trucks are operating. Very cool... vibration that is. :)

Sitting on the fence horsey style again eh Kelly?[LOL]

[fj605]

Looks like they're doing a seismic survey. They're typically contracted by an oil company (E&P). The shock waves travel at different speeds through different rock formations, so the petroleum geologists can identify any faults or grabens and adjust the wellbore placements accordingly. They can pair the seismic model with the geology model from the mud logs, etc from other wells in the area and get a pretty good picture of what's going on 7000' below surface.

As far as where they got permission to be working out there, I'm sure it's covered in the land use agreement between the landowners and the E&P.

[Irving]

Landman secures the permission by contracting with land owners. The "sensors" are called geophones I believe. My roommate in college is a Geophysicist.

[Gman]

They're giving earthworms free massages.

[ben4372]

near my buddy's place they actually set off small explosive charges to map the underground. Lots of technology in fuel. One of the few forward moving industries in the country right now.

[gnihcraes]

Sitting on the fence horsey style again eh Kelly?[LOL]

Yep.

These trucks came through many of my P-Dog hunting grounds in years past in eastern colorado. I also know a kid that earned a Felony by attaching the seismic cables to the back of a pickup and drove all around ripping them up. Oil company wasn't happy about that one.

Very fun to watch the Helicopter pick up and drop off the seismic cables out in the fields too.