Review of the development of seismic wide-angle reflection/refraction profiling

This paper reviews the century-old development of the seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction profiling, focusing on the emergence and evolution of the main technical links such as equipment, observation systems, observation experiment, seismic phase identification and data analysis. We divide its development into four stages: germination, birth, growth, and perfection. For the early stages, the review highlights the individuals and events that played critical roles in the method's inception, with as much detail as possible; while the later stages focus on the germination, emergence, improvement, application and key literature of the methods, covering aspects such as profile method, encounter and chase observation, and the completeness of seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction profile data, etc. The results are not the focus, so their description is brief. The paper also discusses advancements in related fields such as natural seismology, seismic refraction exploration, seismic reflection exploration, electronic technology, communication technology, measurement technology, computer technology, computational mathematics and others, all of which have promoted the development of seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction profiling. Looking forward to the future, the wide-angle reflection and refraction profile has great potential in the field of deep exploration and mineral resource exploration in China. This article is a tribute to the predecessors of geoscience who have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of scientific truth.