SYNTHETIC SEISMOGRAMS - FINITE-DIFFERENCE APPROACH

A finite-difference technique is described for producing synthetic seismograms for complex subsurface geometries and for arbitrary source-receiver separations. Synthetic seismograms computed for several models of exploration interest serve to illustrate how the technique may help the interpreter. The examples also illustrate various implementational aspects of the finite-difference approach, which involve such phenomena as grid dispersion, artificial reflections from the edge of the model, and choice of spatial and temporal sampling increments. The two-dimensional partial differential equations of motion describing the propagation of stress waves in an elastic medium are approximated by suitable finite-difference equations, which can be solved on a discrete spatial grid by strictly numerical procedures.