Observations on seismic wave equation and reflection coefficient symmetries in stratified media

Summary. The equations describing seismic waves in a stratified earth have a number of symmetry properties, one of which has recently been used by Garmany to derive a simple expression for the inverse of the matrix of eigenvectors appearing in the solution of the equations. We review these symmetries of the wave equation in several notations to demonstrate that the property used by Garmany is distinct from the usual symmetries found in the seismological literature. Like the others, the new symmetry has implications for the reflection and transmission properties of a medium. These implications are briefly reviewed in order to show how the new symmetry is placed relative to the others. A limited discussion of the physical origins of the symmetries is given and, though the overall picture is incomplete, it is noted that the new symmetry yields conservation of energy for reflection/transmission at a single interface in all types of media (anisotropic, lossy, etc.).