GEOL 335.

Refraction Seismic Method

Intercept times and apparent velocities;
Critical and crossover distances;
Hidden layers;
Determination of the refractor velocity and depth;
The case of dipping refractor:
Hagedoorn plus-minus method;
Generalized Reciprocal Method ('refraction
migration');
Travel-time continuation.
Reading:
Reynolds, Chapter 5
Telford et al., Sections 4.7.9, 4.9
Sheriff and Geldart, Chapter 4.

GEOL 335.3

Two-layer problem
One reflection and one refraction
t

At pre-critical
offsets,
record direct
wave and
reflection

In post-critical domain,
record direct wave,
refraction, and reflection

d:
al
Reflecte
critic
postpre-critical

t0

e
Dir

ct

x
V1

t0

x
V2

x p1

xcritical

Head
t 0 x p2

x
xcrossover

ed

S
i

Refl
ect

h1

Direct

V1

ic

Ref
rac
t ed

Headwave

V2>V1

GEOL 335.3

Travel-time relations
Two-horizontal-layer problem
For a head wave:

this is also sin i

intercept time, t0

For a reflection:

GEOL 335.3

Multiple-layer case
(Horizontal layering)
p is the same
critical ray
parameter;
t0 is
accumulating
across the
layers:

GEOL 335.3

Dipping Refractor Case

shooting down dip
x

S
hd

R
x(cosa-sin tanic)
xsin

ic
ic

A
B

R'

xsin/cosic

hu

V1
(dip)

V2>V1
sinic

would change to '-' for up-dip shooting

GEOL 335.3

Refraction Interpretation
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 (refractor velocity and dip).

Different intercept times.

determine hd and hu (interface depths).

TR

pd
pu

sin i c #
V1

sin i c "
V1
2z u cosi c
V1

2z d cosi c
V1

slope

p1

1
V1

x
R

GEOL 335.3

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:
!

Down dip: V d

Up-dip:

Vu

V1
sin i c "
V1
sin i c #

(slower than V1);

(faster).

From the two reversed apparent velocities, ic and

are determined:
ic"

ic

sin #1

V1
,
Vd

ic#

sin #1

V1
V u.

V
V
1
sin #1 1 "sin #1 1 ,
Vd
Vu
2
V
V
1
sin #1 1 # sin #1 1 .
Vd
Vu
2

From ic, the refractor velocity is:

V2

V1
.
sin i c

GEOL 335.3

Determination of Refractor Depth

From the intercept times, td and tu, refractor depth is
determined:
hd
hu

S
hd

V1td
,
2 cos i c
V1t u
.
2 cos i c

ic
ic

A
B

hu

V1
(dip)

V2>V1

GEOL 335.3

Apparent Velocity
Relation to wavefronts
Apparent velocity, Vapp, is the velocity at which the
wavefront sweeps across the geophone spread.
Because the wavefront also propagates upward,
Vapp, Vtrue:
BC
sin

AC

"

V app

V
.
sin

2 extreme cases:
!

= 0: Vapp = ;

= 90: Vapp = Vtrue.

Apparent propagation direction

wavef
ront

Propag
a
directi tion
on

GEOL 335.3

Delay time
Consider a nearly horizontal, shallow interface with strong
velocity contrast (a typical case for weathering layer).
In this case, we can separate the times associated with the
source and receiver vicinities: tSR = tSX + tXR.

Relate the time tSX to a time along the refractor, tBX:

tSX = tSA tBA + tBX = tS Delay+x/V2.

t S Delay

SA
V1

BA
V2

hs
V 1 cos i c

h s tan i c
V2

hs
1 sin 2 i c
V 1 cos i c

h s cosi c
V 1.

Note that V2=V1/sinic

Thus, source and receiver delay times are:

t S , R Delay

h s , r cosi c
V 1.

and t SR t S Delay !t R Delay !

x
S

R
hr

h/cosic

hs ic
A
B
htanic

V1
V2>V1

SR
V 2.

GEOL 335.3

Plus-Minus Method
(Weathering correction; Hagedoorn)
Assume that we have recorded two headwaves in opposite
directions, and have estimated the velocity of overburden,
V1.
How can we map the refracting interface?
S1

S2

D(x)

TR

tS2 D

tS1 D

V1

x
S1

Solution:
!

Profile S1 S2:

tS

Profile S2 S1:

tS

x
"t "t D ;
V2 S
SR x
"t S "t D.
V2
1

Form PLUS travel-time:

t PLUS

t S D "t S

Hence:

tD

SR
"t "t S "2t D
V2 S
1

1
t
2 PLUS

tS

S2

t S S "2t D.
1

To determine ic (and depth), still need to find V2.

S2

GEOL 335.3

Plus-Minus Method
(Continued)
To determine V2:
this is a constant!

Form MINUS travel-time:

t MINUS

tS

Hence:

tS

2x
V2

SR
!t
V2 s

ts .
2

2
.
V2

slope t MINUS x

The slope is usually estimated by using the Least

Squares method.
Drawback of this method averaging over the pre-critical
region.
S1

D(x)

S2
V1

TR

t
tS2 D

tS1 D

x
S1

S2

GEOL 335.3

Generalized Reciprocal
Method (GRM)
Introduces offsets ('XY') in travel-time readings in the
forward and reverse shots;
so that the imaging is targeted on a compact interface region.

Proceeds as the plus-minus method;

Determines the 'optimal' XY:
1) Corresponding to the most linear time-depth function;
2) Corresponding to the most detail of the refractor.
XY
S1

TR

S2

t
tS2 D

tS1 D

V1

x
S1

The velocity analysis function:

tV

1
t
2 S

t S D !t S

S2

S2

D
XY

, should be linear, slope = 1/V2;

The time-depth function:

tD

1
t !t
2 SD S
1

tS

S2

XY
.
V2

this is related to the desired image:

hD

t DV1V 2
V 22

V 12

GEOL 335.3

Phantoming
Refraction imaging methods work within the region
sampled by head waves, that is, beyond critical
distances from the shots;
In order to extend this coverage to the shot points,
phantoming can be used:
Head wave arrivals are extended using time-shifted
picks from other shots;
However, this can be done only when horizontal
structural variations are small.
t

Phantom arrivals

GEOL 335.3

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.