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A2.4VF2
Applied Environmental Geoscience

Lecture 2

INTRODUCTION
SEISMIC REFRACTION METHODS

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Contents

• Introduction • Seismic methods are those that rely on the

• Theory of the seismic method transmission of elastic waves through the subsurface.
• Refraction surveys • These waves are generated by an energy source and
• Interpretation of refraction results are detected by an array of geophones.
– Horizontal interfaces • The raw data consists of the time-series response
– Dipping interfaces (‘wiggle trace’) at each geophone, which is processed
– Irregular interfaces to give the underground structure.
• Conclusions • The term shallow seismics is used for the detection
of structures at less than ~100m depth. Arrival times
are typically measured in milliseconds (mS).

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THEORY OF THE SEISMIC METHOD

5 P-waves in an elastic solid 7

• There are two types of elastic body wave in a solid:

– P-Waves: compression waves
– S-waves: shear waves
• P-waves are the faster and are usually the ones
studied in simple seismic methods.
• Other waves (surface waves) also exist but are much
slower. It is these waves that do the damage in
earthquakes.
• We will focus our attention on P-waves from now on.

6 S-waves in an elastic solid 8

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• To measure the strength of the impedance contrast we

use a coefficient R, termed the coefficient of reflection.

z 2  z1
R
z1  z 2
• The larger is R, the more energy is reflected and the
less refracted.

Surface waves in an elastic solid 9 11

• Elastic waves behave in an analogous way to light • The progress of a seismic wave is followed by a ray-
rays in optics. path. This is analogous to a light ray.
• At an underground interface (an elastic contrast), a • At an elastic contrast a ray-path will obey the laws of
wave is refracted and/or reflected. geometrical optics.
• Both events may occur. Their relative importance is – The refracted ray obeys Snell’s Law.
determined by the elastic contrast, measured by the – This leads to the concept of a critical angle of refraction and a
change of elastic impedance (z). critical distance.
– The reflected ray obeys the law of reflection.
• This leads to a division into refraction surveys and
Z = elastic velocity x density
reflection surveys, depending on which ray is studied.

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• Refraction surveys study the critical refracted ray.

• Such a ray can only exist if, at an interface, the lower
layer has a higher impedance than the overlying layer,
which usually implies a higher velocity.
• In practice this is often the case, for example if
unconsolidated sediment overlies bedrock.
• If it is not true, then there is no critical ray and any
layer beneath the interface is hidden. It can then only
be revealed by a reflection survey.

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REFRACTION SURVEYS

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Seismic method using

multi-channel geophone array

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• The critical ray follows the line of the interface and

sends a return ray back to the surface. This is INTERPRETATION OF
detected by the geophones. REFRACTION RESULTS
• The critical ray (or head wave) moves in layer 2 at
the (higher) layer 2 velocity. It thus sends a
progressive series of return rays along its path.
• These are detected in turn by each geophone.
• Both the downgoing and return rays meet the
interface at the critical angle of refraction.

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• The interpretation of underground structure from • A refraction T-X diagram is based on the first arrival
refraction results relies on ray-path analysis. at each geophone.
• This is either picked off the geophone output
• The ray path is identified from a travel-time graph of (manually or in software) or is automatically recorded
arrival times vs distance from source. This sometimes by a cut-off timer.
called a T-X diagram.

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Geophone positions
Time (mSecs)

• The technique is basically to inspect the T-X diagram

and identify (?guess) the most likely underground
structure from which it arises.

• Values are then picked off the T-X diagram and

converted into structure parameters such as depth, etc
using the assumed geometry of the ray path.

• Thus we need to know how T-X diagrams arise.

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• Horizontal interfaces provide a simple introduction to

• The T-X diagram is thus a graph of first arrival times the construction of T-X diagrams.
against distance from source. • Close to the source, the first arrival is due to the
direct ray travelling in layer 1.
• This plots as a straight line on the T-X diagram.
• The slope of the line is the reciprocal of the layer 1
velocity (assuming distance is on the X-axis).
• The intercept is zero.

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Horizontal Interfaces

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• When the critical distance is exceeded, refraction • The T-X diagram thus develops an upper branch
occurs and some energy enters layer 2. A refracted due to the refracted ray.
ray then travels at V2 sending return rays back to the • This is again a straight line, whose slope is the
surface as it does so. reciprocal of V2 .
• At some point (the cross-over distance) the • There is now an intercept time (T1) whose value is
refracted ray (being the faster) will overtake the direct determined by the layer 1 thickness and the two
ray and the return rays will become the first arrivals, velocities
despite their longer travel distance. • The intercept time is an example of a delay time
• It is these that are now plotted on the T-X diagram sum, composed of the separate times taken by the
signal to descend to the interface and then to return
to the surface.
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• The intercept time is given by

V22  V12
T  2z
V2V1
• Since, in this case, the ray path is symmetrical, the
intercept time is the sum of two equal delay times

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• By a similar argument, a third layer introduces a third

branch into the T-X diagram.
• The slope is the reciprocal of V3 and the intercept is a Dipping Interfaces
composite of the layer 1 and layer 2 delay times.

V32  V12 V22  V12

T2  2 z1  2 z2
V3V1 V2V1

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• The presence of a dipping interface is recognised if

the reversed profile is not the mirror image of the
forward profile
• The analysis of a dipping interface introduces three
new issues:
– There is an additional unknown (the dip angle)
– The T-X diagram is no longer symmetrical and so the updip
and downdip intercepts are not equal
– The updip and downdip velocities in layer 2 are not equal

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• The asymmetry arises because the return ray has a

successively shorter (updip) or longer (downdip) path
as the distance from the shot point increases.
• This is expressed by saying that the apparent velocity
in layer 2 (the reciprocal slope of the upper branch) is
greater (flatter slope) in the updip than than in the
downdip directions.
• It is necessary to analyse both the forward and the
reverse profiles to solve for V1, V2, Z and  (dip angle)

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Irregular Interfaces

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• Since it is not known in advance whether or not an • The T-X method smooths off interfaces by fitting a
interface is dipping - and most usually are! - the straight line through the data and so irregularies are
procedure is always to shoot a profile in both forward not analysed.
and reverse directions (i.e. interchange the shot • They are however visible as deviations from the best
position with the last geophone and leave the rest in fit line and can be analysed using a different method.
place).
• The dip will very probably be an apparent dip in the
geological sense, since the profile is unlikely to follow
the line of true dip. Thus a second, perpendicular,
profile is required to allow the true dip to be found.

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The delay time is the time

taken to reach the lower layer
minus the time taken to travel
the horizontal distance

V22  V12
Z
DZ
V1V2

Hence if we know the delay time

at a given station, we can find Z

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• It is possible to analyse these deviations by using the • We now state that the arrival time between any two
so-called plus-minus method. This simply uses the stations (say A and B) is the horizontal transit time at
previously-measured arrival times: a new survey is the fastest velocity plus the sum of all the delay times
not required. along the ray path
• For the simple two-layer example
• We return to the idea of a delay time.
x AB
TAB  DA  DB 
V2
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• If we now take the sum of the forward and reverse

times to any intermediate geophone and subtract the
overall travel time, we can find the delay time at the FINAL REMARKS
intermediate geophone and hence the local depth.

• Since we have used both the forward and reverse

profiles, the value obtained is an average depth
around the position (approx smoothed over a distance
of one-third depth)

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x AI
TAI  DA  DI 
V2
• Seismic refraction is a useful tool for the general
x The method takes each intermediate investigation of bedrock structure, particularly at depth.
TBI  DB  DI  BI position in turn and forms the sum • The T-X method averages out depth variations,
V2 of the forward time plus the reverse although the plus-minus method will show them from
x AB time minus the overall time. the same data
TAB  DA  DB  • It is incapable of fine detail, especially if the bedrock is
V2 Hence it is called the irregular or lacks internal elastic contrasts.
plus-minus method.
Thus • It assumes that the velocity increases in each
successive layer. If it doesn’t, the lower velocity layer
TAI  TBI  TAB  2 DI It is also known as the
is missed.
intermediate geophone method
because • The velocity can be obtained from the T-X plot but is
often measured in the field.
x AI  xBI  x AB
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Summary

• Introduction
• Theory of the seismic method
• Refraction surveys
• Interpretation of refraction results
– Horizontal interfaces
– Dipping interfaces
– Irregular interfaces
• Conclusions

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THE END

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