Open AccessHead waves in laterally heterogeneous media
Author(s) -
Yanovskaya T. B.,
Duda S. J.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1984.tb02841.x
Subject(s) - constant (computer programming) , amplitude , homogeneous , wave propagation , head (geology) , velocity gradient , geometry , field (mathematics) , mechanics , space (punctuation) , geology , physics , optics , mathematics , geomorphology , computer science , pure mathematics , thermodynamics , programming language , linguistics , philosophy
Summary. A layer of constant thickness over a half‐space is assumed, and the propagation of head waves is considered for the following two cases: (1) the P ‐wave velocity varies in the layer in the horizontal direction, and is constant in the half‐space: (2) the P ‐wave velocity varies in the half‐space in the horizontal direction, and is constant in the layer. In each case the horizontal velocity gradient is assumed to remain constant. The wave propagation is investigated in the direction of the gradient (direct profile), and opposite to it (reverse profile). Formulae for the travel times and the amplitudes are obtained on the basis of ray‐theoretical considerations. Conditions are discussed for the discrimination in a field experiment between the case of a sloping boundary separating the homogeneous media, and the case of an intrinsic horizontal velocity gradient.