Extension of the Thomson-Haskell method to non-homogeneous spherical layers

Summary. Amplitude spectra of Rayleigh and Love waves in a layered non-gravitating spherical earth have been obtained using as a source, displacement and stress discontinuities. In each layer elastic parameters and density follow specified functions of radial distance and the solutions of the equations of motion are obtained in terms of exponential functions. The Thomson—Haskell method is extended to this case. The problem reduces to simple calculations as in a plane-layered medium. Numerical results of phase and group velocities up to periods of 300 s in various earth models when compared with earlier results (obtained by numerical integration) show that the present method can be used with sufficient accuracy. The differences in phase velocity, group velocity and amplitude (also surface ellipticity in the case of Rayleigh waves) between spherical- and flat-earth models have been investigated in the range 20–300–s period and expressed in polynomials in the period.