Data improvement by subtraction of high-amplitude harmonics from the 2D land vertical-and multi-component seismic data acquired over the Cheyenne Belt in SE Wyoming

Where seismic data is recorded in populated areas, it is common to have high-amplitude harmonic noise contaminating the data. This noise is produced by power transmission lines and other equipment and often has amplitudes several orders of magnitude higher than the amplitudes of desirable signals in the seismic data. The harmonic noise present in our data contaminates different parts of the spectrum and, therefore, simple notch filtering is not effective. We used a time-domain-based method of automatic estimation of noise frequencies and their amplitudes, followed by subtraction of these estimated anomalous harmonics from the data. Filtering reflection data from a transect across the Archean-Proterozoic terrane boundary in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado in this way significantly improved data quality even in areas where first breaks were completely obscured by the noise.