| Abstract: | Shear waves can today be generated and observed, though not with the flexibility and the technical standard of compressional waves, and they can be identified in seismograms by various means. Their potential lies not so much in their lower velocity (corresponding—for the same frequency—to shorter wavelength and higher resolution) but in the fact that they probe the earth with stresses and strains that differ from those of compressional waves. Full utilization of the information potential of shear waves, therefore, requires combined use of P-and S-waves. Complications in the combined use of different wave types should be regarded as opportunities to obtain additional information. A typical example is the observation that the depth of one and the same interface estimated on the bases of P- and SH-reflections, respectively, can differ significantly. This discrepancy may be due to the anisotropy of a finely layered medium. Under favorable circumstances some of the parameters describing this anisotropy can be deduced from the different depth estimates and the curvature of the squared-offset/squared-time representation of the different reflections. Since in anisotropic media vertically polarized shear waves are significantly different from horizontally polarized ones, the combined observation of all three waves opens up additional possibilities. |
