The Love wave scattering matrix for a continental margin (numerical)

Summary . This paper presents the numerical computation of the results previously obtained by the author through a scattering matrix formulation (together with plane wave and variational approximations) which describes the diffraction of plane, harmonic, monochromatic Love waves incident normally (from either side) upon the plane of discontinuity in a structure consisting of a half-space with a surface step — an idealized model of a continental margin. Magnitudes of reflection and transmission coefficients are computed numerically for different frequencies for a model which has been considered previously by Knopoff & Hudson and also by Alsop in their studies of the same problem. The results obtained under the plane wave approximation are compared with those obtained under the variational approximation in order to assess the effects of the body-wave contributions. Finally, the results of both approximations are compared with those obtained by previous authors.