Geology 228 Applied Geophysics Lecture 4

Seismic Refraction (Reynolds, Ch. 4-6)

Seismic Methods
Some fundamentals of seismic waves One dimensional wave equation the solution of a plane wave in unbounded uniform medium amplitude, phase, frequency, wave number, wave length, ... Huygens Principle and some simulations Wavefront and ray: from physical wave to geometric wave Seismic refraction Field examples

Seismic Refraction
Snells law Incident angle, reflection angle, refraction angle Reflection coefficient, transmission coefficient Energy distribution Seismic refraction for a single horizontal layer Seismic refraction for multiple horizontal layers Seismic refraction for a single dipping layer Seismic refraction tomography Field examples

Wave energy is dissipating in the media. There are three major ways in energy dissipation, or attenuation. They are Geometry spreading (total energy conservation) Intrinsic absorption caused by material imperfection (conversion to other types) Diffraction caused by material heterogeneity (reflection, refraction, reverberation, etc.)

Seismic fundamentals
Some fundamentals of seismic waves One dimensional wave equation Solution of a plane wave in unbounded uniform medium Amplitude, and phase Frequency, and period Wave number, and wave length

A simplified case for the wave equation is the plane wave propagating in 1 direction, say the x-direction. In this case, the wave equation can be written as
2u 1 2u = x 2 v 2 t 2 (3.1)

One solution for a plane wave propagating in an unbounded, uniform medium can be expressed as

u = u0 cos(t + kx)

(3.2)

This plane wave can be viewed as the wave generated by a plane source occupying the entire yz-plane to generate wave propagation in the x-direction. In this equation, u0 is the amplitude, is the angular frequency; k is called the wave number. We will show the relationship of k with respect to angular frequency by demonstrating Eqn (3.2) does satisfy the 1-D wave equation (3.1). Taking the secondary derivative of u with respect to space, here the x-coordinate, is
2u = k 2u0 cos(t + kx) 2 x and putting the second derivative of u with respect to time on the right hand side of Eqn (3.1) gives 1 2u 2 = 2 u0 cos(t + kx) v 2 t 2 v comparing the last 2 equation leads to
k=

In time domain

= 2f
1 T= f
In space domain

f = 2
1 f = T

2 k= = k They are linked through the propagation velocity

k=

= vT

A seismic wave field movie

Uniform medium 2D point source impulse time function a rich frequency content

Huygens Principle
In a wave field, all points with the same phase construct a wave front; Huygens Principle: Each point on a particular wave front can be treated as a new source To illustrate this point lets consider the following case.

More complicated case to show the relationship between wavefront and ray
3 layer model v3>v2>v1 v3:v2:v1 = 9:4:3

Ray is the outward normal at each point of the wavefront

Rays in a two-layer model: the velocity in the upper layer increases linearly from 4.0 5.5 km/sec, over a thickness of 10 km (gradient 0.15/km/sec/km). The velocity in the lower layer increases linearly from 8.0-8.5 km/sec, over a thickness of 4 km (gradient 0.125 km/sec/km).

Snells law, Reflection coefficient, and Transmission coefficient

Refraction from multiple horizontal layers

The refracted wave is the wave energy travels below the interface at the velocity on the second layer, but travel horizontally along the interface, then travel back to the geophone receiver planted on the surface. The refracted wave can only be received after the critical distance xcrit. To learn what is the critical distance, we have to know what is the critical angle icrit first. First we need introduce the Snells law.

sin i1 sin i2 = v1 v2

Snells law

sin i1 sin i2 = v1 v2
At the critical incident angle, there is no transmitted energy radiated in the second layer, so the refraction angle is 90 degrees, so we have

sin i1 sin( / 2) 1 = = v1 v2 v2 then sin icrit v1 = v2

So that we can define the critical angle icrit as

sin icrit

v1 = v2

or icrit

v1 = arcsin( ) v2

and the critical distance xcrit is

xcrit = 2h1 tan icrit sin icrit = 2h1 cos icrit

v1 ( ) v2 = 2h1 v1 2 1/ 2 [(1 ( ) ] v2 = 2h1 v2 2 [( ) 1]1/ 2 v1

When a plane wave impinging at a flat interface, both reflection and transmission occur. The quantitative description of the reflection and transmission relies on the reflection coefficient and transmission coefficient. The Reflection Coefficient R and the Transmission Coefficient T are, respectively, defined as

R=

Areflect Aincident

Atransm T= Aincident

It can be demonstrated that the coefficients R and T are associated with the combination of the acoustic impedance. Acoustic impedance is defined as the product of the density and the velocity, I.e., Z = v. The reflection coefficient R in a general case is

R=

( Z 2 / Z1 ) 1 (n 1) tan i
2

( Z 2 / Z1 ) + 1 (n 1) tan i
2

where n = (v2 / v1)2 and i is the angle of incidence of the wave ray.

For normal incidence, the reflection coefficient is

Z 2 Z1 R= Z 2 + Z1

for i = 0

and the transmission coefficient is

2 Z1Z 2 T= Z 2 + Z1

for i = 0

Recall that the energy of wave motion is proportional to the amplitude, so for the reflection energy coefficient we have

( Z 2 Z1 ) ER = 2 ( Z 2 + Z1 )
2

for i = 0

and the transmission energy coefficient is

4 Z1 Z 2 ET = 2 ( Z 2 + Z1 )

for i = 0

These relations are applicable for the case of the incidence angel less than 15 degrees. Apparently, we have

E R + ET = 1

Seismic refraction
Seismic refraction only consider the first arrivals - so simple and easy to use The detection depth is about 1/4 to 1/10 of your geophone spread

Seismic Refraction
ASTM D 5777

oscilloscope

Note: Vp1 < Vp2 Determine depth to rock layer, zR Source (Plate) t1

t2 Vertical Geophones t3 t4

zR

x1 x2 x3 x4

Soil: Vp1

Rock: Vp2

x Xcross A piece of real data

The travel time to each geophone for the direct wave in the first layer is simply

t direct

x = v1

The travel time for the reflected wave for a 2-layer model can be derived as follows. Start with the ray path and the knowledge of Snells law we have

x 2 2 (v1 ) = ( ) + h1 2 2 2 2 2 (v1t reflect ) = x + 4h1

2

t reflect

t reflect =

x + 4h1 v1
2

The second equation in the last slide can be reformatted as

(v1t reflect ) = x + 4h1

2 2

v1 t reflect 4h1
2

x 2 =1 4h1
t

The second equation is in a standard format for expressing a hyperbola curve.

Another important concept is the cross-over distance Xcross. At Xcross, the refracted wave starts to take over to be the first arrive at a point.

The ray path and the travel time for the refracted wave for a 2-layer model can be derived as

t refract

SB BC CR = + + v1 v2 v1

At the crossover distance xcross the travel times to the point are the same for the direct wave and the refracted wave, so we have

t direct = t refract
2 2 xcross xcross 2h v2 v1 = + v1 v2 v1 v2

xcross xcross v1 v2

2 2 v v 2h 2 1 = v1 v2

2h 2 2 1 / 2 2h v2 v1 1/ 2 )= (v2 v1 ) = [(v2 + v1 )(v2 v1 )] xcross ( v1v2 v1v2 v1v2 xcross v2 v1 1/ 2 ( ) h= 2 v2 + v1

Seismic Refraction
Horizontal Soil Layer over Rock

0.020

Travel Time (seconds)

0.015

xc Vp2 Vp1 zc = 2 Vp2 + Vp1

1
Vp2 = 4880 m/s

0.010

xc = 15.0 m
0.005

1
Vp1 = 1350 m/s

Depth to Rock: zc = 5.65 m

t values

0.000
0
x values

10

20

30

40

50

Distance From Source (meters)

Travel times for the direct, reflected, and refracted waves for a 2-layer model

t direct

x = v1 x + 4h v1
2 2

t reflect = t refract

x 2h v v = + v2 v1 v2
2 2

2 1

For multiple layers, the thickness of each layer for n>1 can be calculated from

hk Tn = 2 cos k ( n +1) k =1 vk Tn n 1 hk vn hn = [ cos k ( n +1) ] 2 k =1 vk cos n ( n +1) x t n = + Tn vn

For example, for the first 3 layers we have

h1 cos12 v1 h h T2 = 2[ 1 cos13 + 2 cos 23 ] v1 v2 h h h T3 = 2[ 1 cos14 + 2 cos 24 + 3 cos 34 ] v1 v2 v3 T1 = 2

T1v1v2 2 v12 )1/ 2 ( v2 T h v h2 = [ 2 1 cos13 ] 2 2 v1 cos 23 T h h v h3 = [ 3 ( 1 cos14 + 2 cos 24 )] 3 2 cos 34 v1 v2 h1 =

Procedure to get the stratigraphic structure from the refraction x-t plot : 1, from the slope get the velocity in each layer; 2, from the velocity to get the critical angle of the k-th interface

sin k ( n +1) =
3, get the interception time Tn; 4, get the thickness hn.

vk vn =1

True velocity in the second layer:

1 1 1 1 = ( + ) v2 2 vu vd

Homework
Exercise: refraction over a 2 layer model
Xs (m) 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 Ys (m) 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 Xr (m) 36 38 41 44 47 50 53 56 59 62 65 68 71 Yr (m) 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 T (sec) 0.000000 0.006587 0.013494 0.014298 0.015101 0.015904 0.016868 0.017671 0.018314 0.019920 0.020563 0.021045 0.022009

Seismic Travel Time (sec)

0.025000

0.020000

Time (sec)

0.015000

0.010000

0.005000

0.000000

Seismic Refraction Surveys

Measure: propagation of elastic wave through layers of the Earth Results: depth structure and velocities of elastic waves Equipment: 48-channel portable StrataView
Distance (m) Shots Geophones

Intercept Time Method

Procedure: - First arrivals pick up. - Plot travel time versus distance - Calculate depths to layer interfaces:
T 1 V2 V1 Z1 = 2 V2 + V1
1 2

2 2 Z 1 V3 V12 Z 2 = T 2 V3V1

V3V2 2 V3 2 V22

TRAVEL TIME (ms)

1/V3 1/V2 T2 1/V1 T1 Xc1 Xc2

DISTANCE (m)

Delay Time Method SIPwin Program

First arrivals pick up

Layer assignment

Create depth-velocity model

Intercept Time Method

X-T plot of EE'
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 Offset (m) Travel Tim e (m s)

Travel time- Distance plot of line EE (top) and DD (bottom)

X-T plot of DD'
80 70 60
T r a v e lt i m e( m s )

50 40 30 20 10 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 Offse t (m) 600 700 800 900 1000

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

100

200

300

400

500
433 m /s

D e p t h ( m )

1963 m /s

4951 m /s Dis tance (m )

0 0 10 20

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

DEPTH(m)

30 40 50 60 70 DISTANCE (m )

400 m /s 1600 m /s

5800 m /s

Seismic Refraction Results

Profile Parallel to the Tennis Courts

The Project
In central Japan, a 2300m long mountain tunnel was planned to be built in a Tertiary mudstone area. The rock condition was found to be quite different from the result of prior investigation, and the cutting face collapsed after construction was started. A High Resolution Seismic Refraction analysis is applied to evaluate the rock condition of a non-excavated section in detail. The principal objective of the HRSR analysis was to detect the distribution and extent of weathered rock at the nonexcavated section in order to modify the tunnel design and ensure construction safety.

Result and Interpretation

The existing data used in the HRSR analysis were collected at receiver intervals of 10m and maximum exploration depth of 150m. The figure shows the final velocity model and construction record. It can be seen that the collapsed zones correspond to the lower velocity areas (the green zones in the figure) relative to the surrounding area. This result of the HRSR analysis allowed precise prediction of the weathered rock zone and was very useful for modifying the tunnel design and ensuring construction safety at the non-excavated section.

Example of Geotechnical Applications

Seismic refraction tomography example: Locating DNAPL Traps in a Complex Shallow Aquifer, Hill Air force Base, Utah Project of Dept of Geophysics, Rice University Reference: Zelt, C. A., "Lateral velocity resolution from 3-D seismic refraction data," Geophys. J. Int., 135 (1998): 1101-1112. http://terra.rice.edu/department/staff/morozo v/emsp2000/60115.html

Seismic refraction tomography example: Locating DNAPL Traps in a Complex Shallow Aquifer, Hill Air force Base, Utah Project of Dept of Geophysics, Rice University Reference: Zelt, C. A., "Lateral velocity resolution from 3-D seismic refraction data," Geophys. J. Int., 135 (1998): 1101-1112. http://terra.rice.edu/department/staff/morozo v/emsp2000/60115.html

Map of the depth to the confining clay layer that underlies the area is based on geologic information collected at the site from monitoring wells and soil tests. Each data point is indicated with a blue dot. The map was constructed by interpolation between the data points. DNAPLs collect in the deep depression running through the center of the map. This area is the focus of the seismic imaging effort. The location of the three profiles from the 2-D survey are shown. The pipe is part of the remediation facilities.

First-arrival picks from the Line 2 slide hammer data plotted as a function of receiver position. There are 4173 picks from 62 shots. The picks from 3 shots have been colored to highlight the time-offset characteristics of the data; the position of the corresponding shots is indicated by the large colored circles on the distance axis.

Top: Final 2-D velocity model for the Line 2 sledge hammer data. Bottom: Raypaths through the final model for the Line 2 sledge hammer data.

Final 2-D velocity model for the Line 2 combined rifle and shotgun data. Contour interval is 100 m/s; the 500, 1000 and 1500 m/s black contours are labeled. The known water table depth in the channel is indicated by the brown arrows. The pink dot indicates the depth (13.2 m) to the clay aquiclude from a well at 25 m distance.

Relative difference between the final model for the slide hammer data and the 1-D starting model. The approximate position of the channel inferred from the reflection images is indicated above, and the depth to the water table is also indicated. There is a good correlation between the low-velocity region in the tomographic model and the extent of the channel and its depth. Note the large velocity perturbations from the starting model, up to 65% in magnitude.