Partition of energy

Motivations
• The earth is made of various rock formations
with different physical properties in contact
with each other.
• For example, petroleum traps shows contacts
between oil- and water-filled sand, between
shale and sand, between shale and water, etc.
 Motivations
• Four classic examples of interfaces are the air-
solid interface, which separates the atmosphere
and the earth; the air-water interface, which
separates the atmosphere and the sea; the
water-solid interface, which separates the sea
and the earth; and the solid-solid interface.
• What happens when waves encounter
obstructions like these interfaces is the
foundation of seismic imaging.
 Objectives
• To familiarize with the notions of reflection,
refraction, transmission, diffraction, and
scattering in the context of wave propagation.
• Introduction to the notion of rays, Snell’s law,
Zoeppritz’ equations, traveltimes.
 Some of the Key Outcomes
• The notion of post-critical reflection and
precritical reflection; reflection and refraction
surveys.
• The description of seismic data into traveltimes
and amplitudes.
• Notion of AVO and its correlation to the changes
of physical properties in the subsurface.
 Plan
• Geometrical spreading
• Fermat’s principle
• Snell’s law
- Fluid-fluid interface
- Solid-solid and fluid-solid interfaces
- Air-water and air-solid interfaces
 Plan
• Zoeppritz’ equations for a horizontal interface
- Boundary conditions
- P and S-wave potentials
- Plane wave approximation
- Reflection and transmission coefficients
- Linearized reflection coefficients
 GEOMETRICAL SPREADING LOSS

• As a seismic wave expands outward from shot

position, the energy of the wavefront is inversely
proportional to the square of the distance from
the shot position:
1
r
2

• Conservation of energy principle: as the total

energy has to spread over an increasingly
large area, it must decay in order to remain
constant.
 ATTENUATION

• It is well known that the reflections tend to

become lower frequency as record time
increases. This indicates an increasing loss in
high frequency energy with travel time. The
correction for spherical spreading is insufficient
to account for the total energy loss.
 ENERGY DECAY

There are two types of amplitude decay:

• geometrical spreading loss
• absorption loss (also called attenuation)

12
 SCATTERING ATTENUATION:
ONE EXPLANATION OF ENERGY
LOSSES IN SEISMIC DATA

13
14
 Plan
• Geometrical spreading
• Fermat’s principle
• Snell’s law
- Fluid-fluid interface
- Solid-solid and fluid-solid interfaces
- Air-water and air-solid interfaces
 Wavefronts, Rays
• A wavefront represents a set of particles (i.e.,
points) which undergo similar motions at a
given instant in time. A snapshot of wave
propagation at a specific time represents a
wavefront.
• Rays are defined as lines normal to the
wavefront (i.e., they point in the direction of
propagation).
 Wavefronts, Rays
• Notice that the rays are straight lines when the
medium is homogeneous, and they can take any
arbitrary form when the medium is
heterogeneous.
• Rays provide a convenient way of schematizing
events in seismic data because they allow us to
track a wavefront.
Wavefronts, Rays
 Huygens' Principle
• Huygens' principle states that all points on a
wavefront can be considered as point sources
for the generation of secondary wavelets.
• After a time t0, the new position of the
wavefront is the surface envelope tangent to
these wavelets.
 Huygen’s Principle
• This states that if one knows the position of a
wave front at time t, the position of wave front at
time t can be determined by treating each point
of the original wavefront as a source of secondary
waves.
• The phenomenon of diffraction is most easily
explained using this. This states that if one knows
the position of a wave front at time t, the position
of wave front at time t can be determined by
treating each point of the original wavefront as a
source of secondary waves.
Huygen’s Principle
 Huygen’s Principle

• The secondary wavelet have their centers on the

original wavefront. The radius of each wavelet is
equal to the propagation velocity multiplied by
timeinterval t.
• The envelop of the secondary waveletshows the
position of the forward wavefront.
 Fermat’s Principle
• For an inhomogeneous medium, the shape and/or
direction of wavefronts can change with time.
Therefore, since the rays are normal to the
wavefronts, their paths will also change with time.
• Fermat's principle, also known as the principle of
stationary time, allows us to predict the raypath
under these circumstances.
 Fermat’s Principle
• It states that the wave path between any two
fixed points is the one along which the time of
travel is the extremum of all possible paths.
• For example, the ray which follows a minimal
time path (i.e., the path that will allow the
wavefront to move from A to B in the shortest
amount of time) is an extremum of all possible
paths.
25
 Plan
• Geometrical spreading
• Fermat’s principle
• Snell’s law
- Fluid-fluid interface
- Solid-solid and fluid-solid interfaces
- Air-water and air-solid interfaces
 Reflection/transmission/refraction
(P-wave)
2.5 km
1.5 km
Snell’s Law
 Snell’s Law
tAC = (a2 + x2 ) / Vp12 + ((d- x)2 + b2 ) / Vp22

d x d- x
(tAC ) = -
dx VP1 (a2 + x2 ) VP2 (d- x)2 +b2
 Snell’s Law
tAC = (a2 + x2 ) / Vp12 + ((d- x)2 + b2 ) / Vp22

d x d- x
(tAC ) = -
dx VP1 (a2 + x2 ) VP2 (d- x)2 +b2
x
sin(q i ) =
(a2 + x2 )
 Snell’s Law
tAC = (a2 + x2 ) / Vp12 + ((d- x)2 + b2 ) / Vp22

d x d- x
(tAC ) = -
dx VP1 (a2 + x2 ) VP2 (d- x)2 +b2
x
sin(qi ) =
(a2 + x2 )

d- x
sin(q t ) =
(d2 - x2 ) + b2
 Snell’s Law
tAC = (a2 + x2 ) / Vp12 + ((d- x)2 + b2 ) / Vp22

d x d- x
(tAC ) = -
dx VP1 (a2 + x2 ) VP2 (d- x)2 +b2
x
sin(qi ) =
(a2 + x2 )

d- x
sin(qt ) =
(d2 - x2 ) + b2

sin(q i ) sin(qt ) sin(qi ) sin(qt ) sin(qi ) Vp1

= Þ - =0 Þ =
Vp1 Vp2 Vp1 Vp2 sin(qt ) Vp2
 Snell’s Law
tAC = (a2 + x2 ) / Vp12 + ((d- x)2 + b2 ) / Vp22

d x d- x
(tAC ) = -
dx VP1 (a2 + x2 ) VP 2 (d- x)2 +b2

x
sin(q i ) =
(a2 + x2 )

d- x
sin(q t ) =
(d2 - x2 ) + b2

sin(q i ) sin(qt ) sin(qi ) sin(qt ) sin(qi ) Vp1

= Þ - =0 Þ =
Vp1 Vp2 Vp1 Vp2 sin(qt ) Vp2
 Snell’s Law
• The angle between the incident ray and the
normal to the interface is the angle of incidence.
• We can ask what the relationship of the angle of
transmission and the angle of incidence is.
• In other words, why is the raypath of the
transmitted waves different from that of the
reflected waves? Snell's law will establish this
relationship and others.
Snell’s Law (fluid-fluid)
Snell’s Law (Fluid-Fluid)
Snell’s Law (Fluid-Fluid)
Snell’s Law (Fluid-Fluid)
Head Waves
Head Waves
 Plan
• Geometrical spreading
• Fermat’s principle
• Snell’s law
- Fluid-fluid interface
- Solid-solid and fluid-solid interfaces
- Air-water and air-solid interfaces
 Reflection/transmission/refraction
(P- and S-wave)
2.5 km
1.5 km
Snell’s Law (Incident P-wave)
Snell’s Law (Incident S-wave)
Snell’s Law (Generalized Form )
Snell’s Law (Incident P-wave )
Snell’s Law (Incident S-wave )
Exercise
50
Discussion of Reflection and
Refraction Surveys
 Discussion of Reflection and
Refraction Surveys
• Refraction surveys are based on refracted (or
head) waves.
• Seismic refraction is generally applicable only
where the seismic velocities of layers increase
with depth. Therefore, where higher velocity (e.g.
clay) layers may overlie lower velocity (e.g. sand
or gravel) layers, seismic refraction may yield
incorrect results.
 Discussion of Reflection and
Refraction Surveys
• Seismic refraction requires geophone arrays with
lengths of approximately 4 to 5 times the depth
to the density contrast of interest (e.g. the top of
bedrock).
• For this reason, Seismic refraction is commonly
limited (as a matter of practicality) to mapping
layers only where they occur a depths less than
100 feet.
 Discussion of Reflection and
Refraction Surveys
• Greater depths are possible, but the required
array lengths may exceed site dimensions, and the
shot energy required to transmit seismic arrivals
for the required distances may necessitate the use
of very large explosive charges.
• In addition, the lateral resolution of seismic
refraction data degrades with increasing array
length since the path that a seismic first arrival
travels may migrate laterally off of the trace of the
desired seismic profile.
 Plan
• Geometrical spreading
• Fermat’s principle
• Snell’s law
- Fluid-fluid interface
- Solid-solid and fluid-solid interfaces
- Air-water and air-solid interfaces
 Sea surface (marine/offshore)
(Air/water/solid)

2.5 km
1.5 km
 Free surface (land/onshore)
(Air/solid/solid)
2.5 km
1.5 km
Snell’s Law (Free Surface)
 Snell’s Law (Free Surface)
• The reflection at the air-water interface is total;
very little energy is transmitted into the
atmosphere because the velocity and density of
the air are so low in comparison with the velocity
and density of water.
• Although a ``free'' surface means contact with a
vacuum, the experience clearly shows that the sea
surface can be approximated as a free surface.
 Snell’s Law (Free Surface)
• The reflection at the air-solid interface is total;
very little energy is transmitted into the
atmosphere because the velocity and density of
the air are so low in comparison with the values
for the solid.
• Therefore we can approximate the earth's surface
as a free surface.
Snell’s Law (Free Surface)
Snell’s Law (Free Surface)
Solid-Solid Interface
 Plan
• Zoeppritz’ equations for a horizontal interface
- Boundary conditions
- P and S-wave potentials
- Plane wave approximation
- Reflection and transmission coefficients
- Linearized reflection coefficients
Boundary Conditions
(Solid-Solid)
 Boundary Conditions
(Solid-Solid)
• If the vertical component of displacement were
not continuous, one medium would either
separate from the other, leaving a vacuum in
between, or would penetrate into the other so
that the two media would occupy the same
space.
• If the horizontal displacement were not
continuous, the two would move differently on
opposite sides of the boundary, causing one to
slide over the other. Such relative motion is
 Boundary Conditions
(Solid-Solid)
• Stated differently, continuity of displacement
means continuity of structure and pointedly
assumes that no loss of contact or slip occurs.
• Points on either side of the interface that
originally are close to each other must remain
close upon deformation.
Boundary Conditions
(Solid-Solid)
 Boundary Conditions
(Solid-Solid)
• If this were not so, the infinitesimally small
volume with vanishing mass would be acted
upon by a finite force and hence have an
acceleration that would approach infinity as the
two points approached each other.
• The same reasoning applies to horizontal
components of the vertical traction vector; thus
they must be continuous at the boundary.
 Boundary Conditions
(Solid-Solid)
• If this were not so, the infinitesimally small
volume with vanishing mass would be acted
upon by a finite force and hence have an
acceleration that would approach infinity as the
two points approached each other.
• The same reasoning applies to horizontal
components of the vertical traction vector; thus
they must be continuous at the boundary.
Boundary Conditions
(Fluid-Solid)
Boundary Conditions
(Fluid-Solid)
Boundary Conditions
(Fluid-Solid)
 Boundary Conditions
(Fluid-Solid)
• To fully describe wave propagation at a fluid-solid
interface, four components of the wavefield must
be computed or measured: the pressure field just
above and the three components of
displacement (or particle velocity) below.
• The fluid-solid boundary condition is for most
cases assumed to be representative for the sea
floor.
• In ocean-bottom seismics, four wavefield are
recorded.
Boundary Conditions
(Air-Solid)
Boundary Conditions
(Fluid-Fluid)
Boundary Conditions
(Air-Fluid)
 Plan
• Zoeppritz’ equations for a horizontal interface
- Boundary conditions
- P and S-wave potentials
- Plane wave approximation
- Reflection and transmission coefficients
- Linearized reflection coefficients
 Helmholtz Decomposition
of Vector Fields
The Helmholtz decomposition of a vector field
states that any arbitrary vector field can, in
general, be represented as a sum of curl-free
and divergence-free forms.
Helmholtz Decomposition
of Vector Fields
Helmholtz Decomposition
of Vector Fields
Helmholtz Decomposition
of Vector Fields
 Plan
• Zoeppritz’ equations for a horizontal interface
- Boundary conditions
- P and S-wave potentials
- Plane wave approximation
- Reflection and transmission coefficients
- Linearized reflection coefficients
Solid-Solid Interface
Solid-Solid Interface
Plane Waves Approximation
 Plane Waves
• When we consider the propagation of waves at
great distances from their sources, it is obvious
that the initial curved wavefront tends to
become plane as the wave travels outward. The
initial curvature thus becomes very small.
• The wavefronts may for practical purposes be
considered as plane.
• In the farfield we should expect that plane wave
theory is an adequate approximation of the exact
theory.
Plane Waves
Plane Waves
Plane Waves
Plane Waves
Plane Waves
Plane Waves
 Plane Waves Approximation
• To simplify our derivations, we will assume that
waves arriving at the interface can be treated the
same as plane waves.
• Wavefronts in an isotropic, elastic, homogeneous
medium are a series of concentric spherical
surfaces. However, as these waves progress
outward from the center, the radius increases
and eventually becomes very large so that a
portion of the wavefront, near any particular
point, can be approximated by a plane.
 Plane Waves Approximation
• We use this approximation here because plane
waves simplify the mathematics of our problem.
• One problem associated with the plane-wave
approximation, however, is that it leads us to
neglect the effects of geometric spreading
associated with spherical waves.
• For this reason, normal practice suggests
correcting seismic data for geometric spreading
effects before applying Zoeppritz‘ equations to
the analysis of data..
 Plan
• Zoeppritz’ equations for a horizontal interface
- Boundary conditions
- P and S-wave potentials
- Plane wave approximation
- Reflection and transmission coefficients
- Linearized reflection coefficients
Reminder: Snell’s Law
Reminder: Potentials
Solid-Solid Interface
Solid-Solid Interface:
Incident P-wave
Solid-Solid Interface:
Incident P-wave
Solid-Solid Interface:
Incident P-wave
Solid-Solid Interface:
Incident P-wave
Solid-Solid Interface:
Incident P-wave
Zoeppritz’ Equations
 Solid-Solid Interface
(P & S Waves in Lower Half Space)
R and T Coefficients for the Energy
of Seismic Waves
 V
 2.5;
P2

V P1


 1.22;
2

 1

    0.25;
1 2

which implies that

V  3V
P S

112
 V
 2.5;
P2

V P1


 1.22;
2

 1

    0.25;
1 2

which implies that

V  3V
P S

113
 V
 2.0;
P2

V P1


 0.5;
2

 1

    0.25;
1 2

which implies that

 V  3V
P S

 0.5;
2

1

114
 V
 2.0;
P2

V P1


 0.5;
2

 1

    0.25;
1 2

which implies that

 V  3V
P S

 0.5;
2

1

115
 V
 0.5,
P

V S


 0.8,
2

 1

    0.25;
1 2

116
 V
 0.5,
P

V S


 0.8,
2

 1

    0.25;
1 2

117
119
120
121
122
123
Acoustic/Acoustic
 Plan
• Zoeppritz’ equations for a horizontal interface
- Boundary conditions
- P and S-wave potentials
- Plane wave approximation
- Reflection and transmission coefficients
- Linearized reflection coefficients
126
127
129