Procedures are described for measuring various seismic velocities at shallow depths in the earth, and examples of the resulting logs are presented. Velocities in Austin chalk and Eagle Ford shale show that these formations are not isotropic, and velocities in loose sand are seen to increase smoothly with depth except for an abrupt increase in compressional speed at the water table. Elastic constants for chalk and shale are computed. A discussion is given of the literature dealing with a packing of spheres as a model for loose sand, and an approximate theory is presented which includes tangential forces between spheres.