Seisimic investigations of Lake Balaton

Abstract

The research efforts that took place after the outstanding Balaton project (1891–1918) of Lajos LÓCZY never led to any
consensus on the origin and evolution of the lake. However, the application of modern palaeontological and geochemical
methods in the framework of the Balaton investigations of the Hungarian Geological Institute (1981–2004) have settled a
few critical issues and the first seismic survey of the lake was also performed in 1987.
In the period of 1993 to 2007 the Geophysical Department of the Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest) regularly
carried out seismic profiling on the lake in association with the summer fieldwork of the university's students. In 1993
Italian and in 2005 German experts took part in the surveys using their marine seismic acquisition technology. The most
frequently applied instrument during the university research programmes has been a special Canadian device (IKBSeistecTM). This can generate a seismic signal in the 1 to 10 kHz frequency range and thus offers shallow penetration
(20–40 m) and ultra-high resolution (10–20 cm).
After a summary of the main results of earlier research, this paper outlines the basic principles and techniques of the
seismic method. Then a compilation of the applied instrumentation and data processing is given to assist in understanding
the interpretation of the seismic sections of Lake Balaton in the following set of papers in this volume.