GEOL483.

Geometrical
GEOL882.3

Seismics
Refraction
Refraction paths
Head waves
Diving waves
Effects of vertical velocity gradient

Reading:
➢
Sheriff and Geldart, Chapter 4.2 - 4.3.
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Snell's Law of
Refraction
When waves (rays) penetrate a medium with
different velocity, they refract, i.e. bend
toward or away from the normal to the
velocity boundary.
The Snell's Law of refraction relates the
angles of incidence and emergence of waves
refracted on a velocity contrast:

The constant p is
called ray
parameter
Note that
refraction angles
depend on the
velocities alone!
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Refraction in a stack of
horizontal layers
Ray
parameter, p,
uniquely
specifies the
entire ray.
It does not
depend on
layer
thicknesses or
velocities.
Travel times
and distances
accumulate
along the ray
to yield the
total T(X)
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Critical Angle of
Refraction
Consider a faster medium overlain with a lower-
velocity layer (this is a typical case).
Critical angle of incidence in the slower layer is
such that the refracted waves (rays) travel
horizontally in the faster layer (sin r = 1)
The critical angles thus are:

Critical ray parameter: 1

=
critical
p
V refractor
If the incident wave strikes the interface at an
angle exceeding the critical angle, no refracted or
head wave is generated.
Note that iC should better be viewed as a property
of the interface, not of a particular ray.
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Head wave

At critical incidence in the upper medium, a head

wave is generated in the lower one.
Although head waves carry very little energy, they are
useful approximation for interpreting seismic wave
propagation in the presence of strong velocity
contrasts.
Head waves are characterized by planar wavefronts
inclined at the critical angle in respect to the velocity
boundary. Their travel-time curves are straight lines:
x
t=t 0 
V app
Here, t0 is the intercept time, and Vapp is the
apparent velocity.
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Relation between
Reflection and
Refraction travel-times

From Sheriff and Geldart, 1995

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Critical and Cross-over distances

vs. Velocity contrast

! Note that the distances are proportional to the depth

and decrease with increasing velocity contrast across
the interface
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Travel times
(Horizontal refractor)

Direct wave:
1
t  x = .
V1

Head wave:

this is also sin i

intercept time, t0
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Travel times
(Multiple horizontal layers)

! p is the same
critical ray
parameter
for the bottom
(refracting)
interface;
! t0 is
accumulating
across the
layers:
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Travel times
(Dipping refractor)

x
S R
x(cosa-sinα tanic)
hd xsinα
ic
xsinα /cosic
ic
R'
A hu
V1
B α (dip)
V2>V1

sinic

would change to '-' for up-dip shooting

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Hidden-Layer Problem
! Velocity contrasts may not manifest
themselves in refraction (first-arrival) travel
times. Three typical cases:

Low-velocity layers;

Relatively thin layers on top of a strong velocity

contrast;

Short travel-time branch may be missed with sparse geophone

coverage.
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Reversed travel times

! One needs reversed recording (in opposite

directions) for resolution of dips.
! The reciprocal times, TR, must be the the same
for reversed shots.
! Dipping refractor is indicated by:
Different apparent velocities (=1/p, TTC slopes) in
the two directions;
➢ determine V2 and α (refractor velocity and dip).

Different intercept times.

➢ determine hd and hu (interface depths).

t
TR sin i c 
pd =
V1
sin i c ­
pu =
V1

2 z u cosi c
V1

2 z d cosi c
1
V1 slope = p1 =
V1 x
S R
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Determination of
refractor velocity and dip

! Apparent velocity is Vapp = 1/p, where p

is the ray parameter (i.e., slope of the
travel-time curve).
Apparent velocities are measured directly
from the observed TTCs;
Vapp = Vrefractor only in the case of a
horizontal layering.
For a dipping refractor:
V1
➢ Down dip: V d= (slower than V1);
sin i c 
V1
➢
Up-dip: V u= (faster).
sin i c ­
! From the two reversed apparent
velocities, ic and α are determined:
V1 V1 V1
i c =sin ­1 , 1
i c = sin
­1
sin
­1
,
Vd 2 Vd Vu
V1 1 V V
i c ­=sin
­1 = sin ­1 1 ­sin ­1 1 .
Vu 2 Vd Vu

! From ic, the refractor velocity is: V = V 1 .

2
sin i c
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Approximation of
small refractor dip

! If refractor dip is small:

V1
=sin i c ≈sin i c  cos i c ,
Vd
V1
=sin i c ­≈sin i c ­ cos i c ,
Vu
and therefore:

 
V1 1 1
sin i c≈  .
2 Vd Vu
! and:

1 1 1
≈ 

1
V2 2 Vd Vu
.

! Thus, the slowness of the refractor is
approximately the mean of the up-dip
and down-dip apparent slownesses.
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Diving waves

! Consider velocity gradually increasing

with depth: V(z).
! Rays will bend upward at any point
and eventually will return to the
surface
! Such waves are called diving waves.
! An implicit solution for the travel-time
curve (x,t) can be obtained from the
multiple-layer refraction formulas:
h max
p V  z  dz
x  p=2 ∫ ,
0  1­ pV  z  2

h max
dz
t  p=2 ∫ ,
V  z   1­ pV  z 
2
0

where hm is the depth at which pV(hm)=1.

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Diving waves
Linear increase of velocity with depth

! Consider: V(z) = V0 + az.

a is generally between 0.3-1.3 1/s.
! Hence, denoting u=pV=sin i:
z u
Parametric p V dz1 u du
representation x u=∫ = ∫ =
z  1­ pV  u  1­u
of the (x,z,t)
0
2 pa 2
0
through u

=
1
pa
 
 1­u 2­ 1­u02 ≡  1
pa
 1­u 2  x c

1 1
z u=
pa
 u­u0 = pa uz c Denote
the constants
(center of the
circular ray path)
! The raypath is a circle:

 
2
1
 x­ x c   z­z c  =
2 2
.
pa
z h max
and time: t  p=∫ 1 dz du
! = ∫ =
z V  1­ pV 
a u  1­u
2 2
0 0

=
1
a
ln
[ u
1­  1­u
2
.
]
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Diving waves
Layers with low velocities and high velocity
gradients create complex travel-time curves

Triplication

High gradient

Gap

Low velocity

Gap in the TTC

This is how
a “reflection”
develops from
diving waves
by the steepening
velocity gradient
Triplication in the TTC