Wave propagation in transversely isotropic and periodically layered isotropic media

Summary. A set of stable algorithms for computing synthetic seismograms in attenuating transversely isotropic media is presented. The structures of these algorithms for anisotropic media are formally equivalent to their counterparts for isotropic media. The seismic responses of a periodically layered isotropic medium are compared with those of its long-wave equivalent transversely isotropic medium. The synthetics for the two media show observable differences in the range of frequencies considered. The differences are small in the P -waves, but partly large in later arrivals.     

Elastodynamic and elastostatic Green tensors for homogeneous weak transversely isotropic media

An explicit analytical formula for the complete elastodynamic Green tensor for homogeneous unbounded weak transversely isotropic media is presented. The formula was derived by analytical calculations of higher-order approximations of the ray series. The ray series is finite and consists of seven non-zero terms. The formula for the Green tensor is complete and correct for the whole frequency range, thus it describes correctly the wavefield at all distances and at all directions including the shear-wave singularity direction. The Green tensor consists of P, SV and SH far-field waves and four coupling waves. Three of them couple P and SV waves, and the fourth wave couples the SV and SH waves. The P-SV coupling waves behave similarly to the near-field waves in isotropy. However, the SV-SH coupling wave, which is called 'shear-wave coupling', behaves exceptionally and it has no analogy in the Green tensor for isotropy. The formula for the elastostatic Green tensor is also derived.     

Smooth profiles from τ (p) and X(p) data

Summary. We reduce the problem of constructing a smooth, 1-D, monotoni-cally increasing velocity profile consistent with discrete, inexact τ ( p ) and X( p ) data to a quadratic programming problem with linear inequality constraints. For a finite-dimensional realization of the problem it is possible to find a smooth velocity profile consistent with the data whenever such a profile exists. We introduce an unusual functional measure of roughness equivalent to the second central moment or 'Variance' of the derivative of depth with respect to velocity for smooth profiles, and we prove that its minimal value is unique. In our experience, solutions minimizing this functional are very smooth in the sense of the two-norm of the second derivative and can be constructed inexpensively by solving one quadratic programming problem. Still smoother models (in more traditional measures) may be generated iteratively with additional quadratic programs. All the resulting models satisfy the τ ( p ) and X( p ) data and reproduce travel-time data remarkably well, although sometimes τ ( p ) data alone are insufficient to ensure arrivals at large X; then an X( p ) datum must be included.     

Rigorous velocity bounds from soft τ (p) and X(p) data

Summary. The convergence of two methods of inferring bounds on seismic velocity in the Earth from finite sets of inexact observations of τ ( p ) and X( p ) are examined: the linear programming (LP) method of Garmany, Orcutt & Parker and the quadratic programming (QP) method of Stark & Parker. The LP method uses strict limits on the observations of τ and X as its data, while QP uses estimated means and variances of τ and X. The approaches are quite similar and involve only one inherent approximation: they use a finite-dimensional representation of seismic velocity within the Earth. Clearly, not every Earth model can be written this way. It is proved that this does not hinder the methods - they may be made as accurate as desired by increasing the number of dimensions in a specified way. It is shown how to get the highest accuracy with a given number of dimensions.     

Rayleigh-wave dispersion function for a transversely isotropic layered spherical earth using the Thomson-Haskell matrix method

We consider the two coupled differential equations of the two radial functions appearing in the displacement components of spheroidal oscillations for a transversely isotropic (TI) medium in spherical coordinates. Elements of the layer matrix have been explicitly written—perhaps for the first time—to extend the use of the Thomson-Haskell matrix method to the derivation of the dispersion function of Rayleigh waves in a transversely isotropic spherical layered earth. Furthermore, an earth-flattening transformation (EFT) is found and effectively used for spheroidal oscillations. The exponential function solutions obtained for each layer give the dispersion function for TI spherical media the same form as that on a flat earth. This has been achieved by assuming that the five elastic parameters involved vary as r ^p and that the density varies as r ^p-2, where p is an arbitrary constant and r is the radial distance. A numerical illustration with p = - 2 shows that, in spite of the inhomogeneity assumed within layers, the results for spherical harmonic degree n , versus time period T , obtained here for the Primary Reference Earth Model (PREM), agree well with those obtained earlier by other authors using numerical integration or variational methods. The results for isotropic media derived here are also in agreement with previous results. The effect of transverse isotropy on phase velocity for the first two modes of Rayleigh waves in the period range 20 to 240 s is calculated and discussed for continental and oceanic models.