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The resolving power of cross‐borehole tomography
Author(s) -
Menke William
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl011i002p00105
Subject(s) - borehole , expediting , geology , tomography , position (finance) , attenuation , geometry , geodesy , physics , optics , mathematics , geotechnical engineering , engineering , systems engineering , finance , economics
The data collected in a cross‐borehole tomography problem is inherently incomplete, since the boreholes do not completely surround the media under study. The ability of the experiment to resolve structure is therefore limited by poor experimental geometry. We use the method of Backus and Gilbert to investigate the ability of this technique to resolve variations in acoustic velocity and attenuation between the two boreholes. Both integrals that appear in the Backus‐Gilbert formulation can be performed analytically, thus expediting the calculations. The resolving kernels have significant horizontal width, demonstrating that the horizontal position of structures can be only poorly resolved.