Basic principles
Ray definition
Rays are defined as the normals to the wavefront and thus point in the
direction of propagation.
Fermats Principle
Fermats principle governs the geometry of the raypath. The ray
will follow a minimum-time path. From Fermats principle follows
directly Snells Law
sin i
sin
Trefl
2d
=
1 cos i
Trefr
r
2d
=
+
1 cos i 2
r = X 2d tan ic
Seismology and the Earths Deep Interior
Three-layer case
Refraction
Refractionprofile
profile3-layer
3-layercase
case
v1 < v2 < v3
v1 < v2 < v3
i12
i
12
v1
v1
i13
i
h1
h1
13
v2
v2
i23
i
23
h2
h2
v3
v3
Direct waves
Figure 3: Geometry of 3-layer refraction experiment.
Refractions
each interface
Figure 3: Geometry
of 3-layer refractionfrom
experiment.
Direct wave
t1 = / v1
Refraction Layer 2
t2 =
+ = t i2 +
v1
v2
v2
Refraction Layer 3
t3 =
+
+
= t i3 +
v1
v2
v3
v3
144
4
42444
4
3
ti3
using ...
1/v
1/v22
1/v
1/v11
ti3ti3
ti2ti2
1/v
1/v33
Figure
Figure4:4:Travel-time
Travel-timediagram
diagramfor
forthe
the3-layer
3-layercase
case
Trefr
2d
1
2d1
=
+ X
1 cos ic 2
2 cos ic
1/2 = p
to obtain
Trefr = Xp + 2d1
Trefr = Xp + 2d ii
i =1
In this case only a refracted wave from the lower half space is
observed. This could be misinterpreted as a two layer model. In
such cases this leads to an overestimation of the depth of layer
3.
Seismology and the Earths Deep Interior
Travel Times
At each point along the ray we have
dx
sin i =
= cp
ds
Remember that the ray parameter p is constant. In this case c
is the local velocity at depth. We also make use of
dz
cos i =
= 1 sin 2 i = 1 c 2 p 2
ds
dz
cp
dx = ds sin i =
cos i
cp
dz
dx =
2 2
1 c p
Seismology and the Earths Deep Interior
Travel Times
Now we can integrate over depth
z
X = 2
0
cp
1 c p
2
dz
ds
dT =
T =
c
z
T = 2
0
ds
dz
=
2
path c(s) 0 c( z ) cos i
dz
c2 1/ c2 p2
Body Waves and Ray Theory
T = pX + 2 1 / c 2 ( z ) p 2 dz
0
Trefr = pX + 2 d ii
i =1
( p) = T pX = 2 1 / c 2 ( z ) p 2 dz
0
Intercept time
The intercept time is defined at X=0,
thus
z
d
d
2
2
2
1
/
(
)
c
z
p
dz
=
dp dp 0
= 2
0
p
1/ c 2 ( z) p 2
dz
= X
As p increases (the emergence angle gets smaller) X decreases
and will decrease. Note that (p) is a single valued function,
which makes it easier to analyze than the often multi-valued
travel times.
problem.
obs
traveltimes
z
dz
P(x,z)
ds
x
The Problem
z
P(x,z)
dz
1 2
gz = v0
At any point:
2
1
At z-z:
mg ( z z ' ) = m( ds / dt ) 2
2
After
integration:
t ( z) =
0
ds
x
ds / dz '
dz '
2 g ( z z' )
Body Waves and Ray Theory
t ( z) =
0
ds / dz '
dz '
2 g ( z z' )
ds
x
1 d t ( z ) dz
f ( z' ) =
Wiechert-Herglotz Method
r1 sin 1 r2 sin 2
=
v1
v2
which is a general equation along the raypath (i.e. it is constant)
Seismology and the Earths Deep Interior
r sin
v
=p
Note that the units (s/rad or s/deg) are different than the
corresponding ray parameter for a flat Earth model.
The meaning of p is the same as for a flat Earth: it is the slope of the
travel time curve.
dT
p=
d
The equations for the travel distance and travel time have very similar
forms than for the flat Earth case!
Spherical
Flat
z
X = 2
1 c p
2
T = 2
0
r0
cp
2
dz
r1
r0
dz
c
1/ c p
2
= 2
T = 2
r1
cp
r r c p
2
dr
r 2 dr
c 2r r 2 / c2 p 2
Analogous to the flat case the equations for the travel time can be
seperated into the following form:
Seismology and the Earths Deep Interior
Flat
z
T = pX + 2 1 / c 2 ( z ) p 2 dz
0
Spherical
r1
T = p + 2
r0
r 2 / c 2 ( z) p 2
dr
2
r
The first term depends only on the horizontal distance and the second
term and the second term only depends on r (z), the vertical dimension.
These results imply that what we have learned from the flat case can
directly be applied to the spherical case!