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TWO‐POINT RAY TRACING IN GENERAL 3D MEDIA 1
Author(s) -
PEREYRA V.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
geophysical prospecting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.735
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1365-2478
pISSN - 0016-8025
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2478.1992.tb00375.x
Subject(s) - ray tracing (physics) , geology , representation (politics) , distributed ray tracing , offset (computer science) , environmental geology , tracing , regional geology , economic geology , point (geometry) , gemology , window (computing) , geophysics , engineering geology , geometry , mineralogy , optics , computer science , metamorphic petrology , seismology , physics , tectonics , mathematics , politics , political science , law , programming language , operating system , volcanism
A bstract The modelling of realistic 3D geology and wave‐propagation phenomena is an important aspect of exploration geophysics. Ongoing research on a new model representation in terms of strongly reflecting interfaces described by surface patches, and on two‐point (i.e. source‐receiver) non‐zero‐offset ray tracing in such models, is presented. Examples are used to demonstrate how this model representation facilitates the description of geological unconformities such as pinched‐out layers, overhangs and reverse faults. Neither pseudo‐layers, nor ‘transparent’ or zero‐impedance extensions are needed for surfaces that do not naturally cover the geological window under study. These are therefore no longer layered models and consequently they require new ray‐tracing techniques which are described and exemplified.