.

OURNAL GEOPHYSICAL OF RESEAtCH

VoL. 75, No. 5, FEBRUARY 1970 10,

Surface Motion of a Layered Medium Having an Irregular Interface Due to Incident Plane $H Waves
KEIITI AKI AND KENNETH L. LARNER

Department o] Earth and Planetary Sciences MassachusettsInstitute o! Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts02139

A practicalmethod is devisedto calculatethe elasticwave field in a layer-over-half-space

medium with an irregular interface, when plane waves are incident from below. This method

may be used for studying the interface shapeof the M discontinuity,for example,using the observedspectral amplitude and phase-delayanomalies due to teleseismicbody waves. The method is also useful for the engineering-seismological study of earthquake motions of soft superficiallayers of various crosssections. The scatteredfield is described a superposition as of plane waves, and application of the continuity conditionsat the interface yields coupled integral equationsin the spectral coefficients. The equationsare satisfiedin the wave-number domain when the interface shape is made periodic and the equations are Fourier transformed and truncated. Frequency smoothing by using complex frequencies reduces lateral interferencesassociatedwith the periodic interface shape and permits comparisonof computed results with those obtained from finite bandwidth observations.Analyses of the residualsin the interface stressand displacement,performed for each computed solution, provided estimates of the errors. The relative root-mean-square residual errors were generally less than 5% and often less than 1% for problemsin which the amplitude of the interface irregularity and the shortest wavelength were comparable. The method is applied to several models of 'soft basins,''dented M discontinuity' and 'stepped M discontinuity.' The results are compared with those derived from the flat-layer theory and from the ray theory. In addition to vertical interference effects familiar in the flat-layer theory, we observe the effects of lateral interferenceas well as thoseof ray geometryon the motion at the surface.

INTRODUCTION

This paper describes practical method of a interpreting seismicobservations the surface on of a layer-over-half-space with an irregular interface, as shownin Figure 1. We simplify the problem by assuming that the medium is uni-

form in the y direction,and the depth to the

interface is a function of x alone. We are in-

terested in the motion at the surface, when plane waves are incident parallel to the x-z plane.The caseof SH wavesis discussed this in

cients are determined in such a way that the boundary condition is approximately satisfied. There are several approximate ways to satisfy the boundarycondition.Rayleigh usedan iterative approximation,expandingthe boundary conditionin a power seriesof the amplitude of corrugation.The same approximatemethod has been applied to seismic problems by Sato [1955]; Abubakar [1962a, b, c]; Dunkin and Eringen [1962]; Asano [1960, 1961, 1966]; and Levy and Deresiewicz[1967]. Meecham [1956]
used a variational method in which the bound-

paper, and thoseof P and SV waveswill be reportedin a subsequent paper by the present authors(seeabstract, Larner and Aki [1969]). The principleof our methodis not new,but goes back to Rayleigh [1907, 1945], who studiedscatteringof plane wavesby gratings. In our method,the scatteredwave field is rep-

ary condition is satisfied in the least-squares sense.The method presentedhere is closer to Meecham's but takes advantage of the fast Fourier transform algorithm [Cooley and Tukey, 1965] and satisfies boundarycondithe
tion in the wave-number domain.

Another unique feature of our method is the resentedas a linear combinationof plane waves use of complexfrequency.The time function of with discretehorizontal wave numbers (including inhomogeneous waves), where the coeffi- our incidentwaveshas the form e-*. By making the frequency(o a complexnumber, we are able to compute the spatial distribution of Copyright() 1970 by the AmericanGeophysical Union.
933

934

AKI

AND

LARNER

r"' Surface Free

Haskell method [Haskell, 1953]. It is important to know how the resonance conditions are

affected the lateral variationof layer thickby

Half-space:
Incident

ness.We shall show in the present paper some results of the successfulapplication of our method to the above problems.
FORIVULATION OF ROBLEIV

Fig. 1. Schematic cross sectiondisplayingthe As shown Figure 1, our mediumconsists in of 'layered-medium configuration coordinate and axes. a homogeneous, isotropiclayer with shearve-

locityfi anddensity overlying homogeneous p a isotropic half-space with shearvelocity and fi2 amplitudeand phase-delay anomalies smoothed p2. depth is a function over a certain frequencyband, whosewidth density The interface may be chosen appropriate a givenproblem. of x alone.Our problemis to find the motionat for
There are two major problemsthat have motivated us to developthe present method. One is the use of amplitude distributionand phase-delay anomalies teleseismic waves of body in the studyof crustal structure. the MohoroIf vicicdiscontinuity not a horizontal is plane,but has an irregular shape,the amplitudeof teleseismic body wavesat the surfacewill showa spatialvariationowing focusing defocusto and the free surfacez -- 0, when plane SH waves polarized the y direction in with freqency are incidentparallelto the x-z plane at the angle 0; from the z direction. This is a two-dimensional problem, and the solution independent is
of y. Let the displacementin the upper layer be

u (x, z) and that in the lowermedium, u,x, z).

For e-'' time dependence,they may be ex-

ing. So far, only the ray theoretical approach pressedas hasbeenundertaken [cf., Mechlerand Rocard, 1967; Mack, 1969; Mereu, 1969]. The ray theory is inadequate problems in that involve wavelengths comparable the linear dimento
sions of the interface irregularity. We are

applyingour methodto the MontanaLASA

data in order to determine a more unique pic-

u(x,= z)

ture of the Moho shapeunder the array. The

result will be reported in a separate paper [Alii and Larner, 1969].

where ko and Voare the x and z components of the wave number of the incident waves,respecThe other problemis the so-called 'ground tively, and

motion'problem. The spectrum seismic of motion at the earth's surface shows peaks and

troughsowingto constructive destructive and

interferenceswithin the surface layers. Earth-

quakeseismologists interested this probare in

lem because they can utilize the shapeof spec- The signs of radicals ro and are chosenso trum for studyingthe crustal layering. The that, when the frequency is real, the first

engineering seismologists concerned are about term in the right hand side of (2) expresses thisproblem because ground the motioncanbe the incidentwaves comingfrom z -- -F , and amplifiedsignificantly the resonance at fre- the second term expressesthe regular waves
geneouswaves attentuating toward z -- -F. to form layers has been extensively studiedby (The extension the caseof complexfrequency below.) Kanai and his colleagues [Kanai, 1952; Kanai is discussed Questions have been raised [Uretsky, 1965] ei al., 1959]. Cases involving and $V waves P the validity of expressions such as have been studied by Haskell [1960, 1962], concerning Phinney[1964],andothers, using Thomson- (1) and (.2) as descriptionsof the wave fields the quencies. The case of $H waves in horizontally uniscattered back toward z --F and inhomo-

SURFACE

MOTION

OF LAYERED

MEDIUM

935

near the interface. The essential difficulty is that for (x) < z < a where is the maxi-

where is the rigidity of_..the upper layer,

is that of the lower medium, and O/On representsthe spacederivative in the direction normal to the interface.
0

mum of (x), the scatteredfield in the lower medium may include waves locally propagating upward, as indicated in Figure 2. Therefore (2) does not adequately represent the wave field near the interface, and the boundary conditions at the interface cannot be satisfied

On

- n.grad = nx(a/ax) q-n,(a/az)

(8)

rigorously. The discrepancy greatestin probis lems involving large interface slopes,particularly when the source wavelength is smaller than the amplitude ( -- sr) of the interface

nx = --(dg'/dx)E1 (df'/dx)] q-/

n, = [1 -Jr-(d'/dx)2] -1/2
Using (2), (5), and (8)in

(9)

(6) and (7), we get

irregularity, wherem is the minimumof (x):

In many problems,however,the upward-propagating scatteredwavesnear the interfacemay be negligiblysmall, so that (2) may be satisfactory for practical purposes.If so, small
residuals or discontinuities left at the interface

[Al(k)gll(k x) + A2(k)g12(k ' dk , , x)]e -- hl(X)e '.*

x)]e f:oo g:(k,x) -Jr-A.(k)g22(k, ' ml(k) = h.(x)e 'x
where

(10)

would generateonly small observable motions at the free surface. Therefore our approach is to assume that equation2 is a goodapproximation to the wave field near the interface, and

dk

to test the adequacyof this assumptionby 121'(X evaluatingthe residuals the boundarycon- 11(k,x) = 2 COS ) of ditionsin eachpractical problem. gx.(k, - --e x) The boundary conditionsare the vanishing
stressat the surface z = 0, and the continuity of stress and displacementat the interface. The stress-freerequirement at the surface is

g.(k,x) -- 2tzl[ikn.. cos

satisfied we put B,(k) = As(k) so that equaif

tion 1 becomes

g.(k,x) - --tz.[ikn, i,n,]ei"r() q-

-- ,xn, q'(x)](11) sin

in.o]

= e
(5)

cos u:(x, 2f;A(k)e,zdk z) =

The interface conditions are

r(x)]

(o)

By solving the above two integral equations for A(k) and A(k), we can determine the wave field in any part of the medium.
APPROXIMATE SOLUTION

iz(Ou/On) = tz.(Ou.lOn)
Rayleigh Ansatz Error:
Interfoce

(7)

In order to solve the integral equations 10, we convert them into infinite-sum equationsby assuminga periodicity in the interface depth (x); that is,

'(x q--mL) = '(x)

rn = 4-1, 4-2, ---

(12)

In the examplesthat we considerin this paper, the interface is plane except for a localized
Inc/dent / /' ' Wove / /

interval thex coordinate.L is taken in If lon[

"

Fig. 2. ,Schematic illustration of the region near the interface displaying causesof the Rayleigh ansatz error.

as comparedto the length of interface irregularity, the effect of repeated irregularities at distancesof mL can be neglected.As will be shownlater, this effect can be easily diminished

936

AKI AND LARNER

where

by making the frequencycomplexin such a way that the imaginarypart of frequency is

Gnm(il gn 2'i(n-m)x/L ) - Lfo (il)(x) dx i When '(x) is periodic,h (x) and g (k, x) :"("-m'/ dx (18) are alsoperiodic because they depend x only G on () 1 g.(:'(x)e through' and d'/dx. Let us multiply equation
large enough wavesto attenuate for over the
travel distance L.
nm L

10 by e-'.

Then we have

Hm L j = 1, 2 (13)

hi(x)e dx -:i/r

[() (, x) + () (. x)] a '

= hi(x)

The matrix G? should be well behaved as

long as the variation of (x) is small. In the caseof constant for example, G, van, aH where = k -- ko. Sincethe right hand sideof ish except when n -- m, and all H vanish (13) is periodic x, the left hand sidelikewise exceptwhenm -- 0. Thus, all A( vanishexin to mustbe.Since gi(k, x) arealso periodic, can cept when n -- 0, which corresponds re fiected and refracted wves with the same wave only take suchvaluesthat tisfy number,ko,as that of incidentwaves.In other words, there are no diffuselyscatteredwaves
or

in this case.

L = 2wn

n = 0, 1,

2,

--.

Thus, the integral equation13 must be replacedby the infinite-sum equations

Using the coefficients ( determined A, by solutionof equations we write the approxi17, mate solution for the displacement field

u(x, z):
where

cos , eiknx (lz

(in lyer)
N

(1>

An(i) = A,(k)Ak,,
(ii)

i=

1, 2
(rs)
where
27rn

(in ha, lf-spce)

g.,

= g,i(k,,x)

i, j = 1, 2

k., = ko-]- 2z-niL

Ak,, = 2r/L
We now approximatethe infinite-sumequationsby the finite-sum equations,

(i)

j = 1, 2

[A,, g,,("(x) A.(:'g,,(i:, (' + (x)]e:.... /'

SMOOTHING BY THE USE OF COMPLEX FREQUENCY

The solution obtained above is the response

= hi(x) j = 1, 2 (16) to incident waves having the time function e-'. When m is real, the solutioncorresponds Instead of solvingthe aboveequationdirectly to the steady-statecase; that is, the response in x, we first take the Fourier transformof to sinusoidaloscillationslasting from the inbothsides multiplying by (1/L)e-2''m'/ inand finite past. In this case, the frequency spectrum tegrating over0 < x < L. Thenwe have4N + is a discrete line. In practical problems, we 2 simultaneous linear equations, are alwaysdealing with a signalof finitelength,
which has a continuous spectrum over a cer-

'. [A.(IG.(' + A.('G.('] = H

j = 1,2, m = --N, ... ,0, ... , +N
(7)

tain frequencyband. If we wanted to cover the frequency rangewith the solutions line for spectra, wouldneedan infinitenumberof we such solutions. simple and effectiveway of A

SURFACE

MOTION

OF LAYERED

MEDIUM

937

avoiding this problem is to make the frequency complex.The usefulness sucha procedure of in the seismogram synthesiswas pointed out by Phinney [1965]. By making the frequency complex, we are now looking at a response incident waves to having the nonstationary shape of an ex-

we request. that not only the real part but also the imaginary part of phase kx --VoZbe constant alongthe wave front. That is,

(o)x -

o)Z

+ i{Im (ko)x -- lm (o)Z} = constant

for
that

ponentially increasing oscillation, in which amplitudesare increased a factor e at every by time interval r -- 1/,. Here, , is the imaginary part of and must be taken positivefor
the reasons explainedlater.
Consider the contributions of disturbances at

z = xtan

Oo-

constant

where Oois the incidenceangle. It, then, follows

R e (ko) I m (ko) = = tan Oo Re (o) Im (o)

(20)

various parts of the medium to the motion at Im (ko) Im (uo) w, an observation point at t -- 0. The contribution = from a travel distancex must have originated at that sourcepoint at t -- --x/j3, where/ is where e is real positive and may be a function

the propagationvelocity of the waves. If x// >> r, the amplitudes the source at that
causedthe disturbancewere negligibly small,
and therefore the contribution from that dis-

of o, the real part of o. According to the periodicity argument sur-

roundingequation 13, the integral variable k can take only the discretevalues given by
t,,= k,,--ko

turbancemay be neglected. For example,if we take 1/, smaller than L//, the undesirable effect of the repeatedinterfaceshapecan be
removed.

= 2rn/L

(n = O,-4-1,-4-2...)

The frequencyspectrumfor the complex caseis no longer a discreteline, but is a continuousspectrumwith the bandwidthproportional to o,. Therefore, the solution should correspond a smoothed to one over that frequency band. By this procedure,we lose in

Thus the wave numbers k, in the infinite-sum

equation 14 must all have imaginary parts equal

to the imaginarypart of ko.In the complexk plane, this means that, when a plane source wave is given in terms of complexo and ko, periodicity imposesthe requirement that the frequency resolution but gain in stability and summation in (14) be over discrete complex along a line economize computation time for applicationto values of k that are equispaeed transient waves. throughkoparallelto the real k axis. Let us considerthe complexk plane in more The spatial distributions amplitudeand of the phase calculatedfor complex frequencymay detail, first discussing branchpoint locations be compared with thosethat we wouldobtain and remarking on the choice of signs of the of by spectralanalysisof transientrecordspre- vertical components wave number (equations multiplied by the time window of the shape 3 and 4). Since all the integrandsin (10) are i(t) -- e-q', whichshouldbe properlydelayed even functionsof v, we need not worry about at each station accordingto the arrival time the sign of v. The sign of v, is so chosen that
of source waves.

the backscattered waves attenuate

toward z --

When the imaginary part of is introduced, the length of the wave-numbervector / becomes complex, where / is the medium velocity. However,with this introductionthe components of the wave-number vector are not uniquely determined. For their unique determination, an additional condition is required. The conditionthat is appropriateto our problem is that the incident waves have constant

+o. In other words, we use the top sheet [Lapwood, 1040] of the complexk plane where Im(v,) is positive.The branchcut is definedby Im(w_) -- 0, which is a part of a hyperbola,
as is well known. It is also well known that

Re(v,) is positivebelowthe hyperbolaand is negative above in the first quadrant of k

plane for positive,.
The locations of branch lines and summation

amplitudealongthe wave front. In other words,

points k. are shown in Figure 3. The e line,

938
Ira(k)

AKI

AND

LARNER

f branch line

Irn 0 (,)>0 ():Im

Re() < 0

Im(z) >0

Re(z)O
k-n

/B

I,

k-2 k k k k_0 I ..... k I n

Re(k)

Fig. 3. Locations the summation of wave numberskn on the top sheetof the complex k planefor the caseo-- o(1 q- ie). The solidsquare the branchpoint, the opencircleis is
the sourcewave number, and the crosses the locationsks. are

which satisfies equation 21, is also indicated. The plane wavescorresponding the points to lying on this line haveconstant amplitude along a wave front and have a real unambiguous incidenceangle 0o as definedin equation20. The incidencewaves satisfy this condition,but the
scattered waves do not unless e -0. Thus

characteristic lengthsof the interfaceirregularity relativeto the wavelength, propagaand

tion direction of the incident plane wave. Sinceno exact solutions exist for this problem, we have used relative methods to estimate the

whenever is complex, the computed wave amplitudes A,'" and A, (' pertain to waves whosepropagation directionsare uncertain. In fact, for ks to the right of the dashedhyperbola in Figure 3, Re(v,) < 0 so that those waves
attenuate downward toward z = q-oo while

accuracyof our solutions. The various error criteria considered basedupon evaluation are of the displacement stress and discontinuities determined at the interface. A relation that fol-

lows from the conservation energy provides of another checkof accuracy.However, this error

appearing to propagate upward. Thus it is difficult to attach simple physical meaning to the waves that contribute to our frequency
smoothed solutions.
ANALYSIS OF ERRORS AND RESOLUTION

measure a comparatively is insensitive that one is equivalentto a weightedintegral of the boundary condition residuals. obtaina more We meaningful estimate the accuracy the comof of putedsurface motionby using representation a
theorem in which the residuals at the interface
are taken as sources.

Residualsai the inter/ace. To estimatethe Sourceso] errors. In a previous sectionwe errors in the wave field associated with the let the citedthe existence, our method,of an intrinsic interfacediscontinuities, us first consider in error attributable to the incompletedescription Kirchhoff integral solutionto the scalarHelmof the wave field near the interface (Rayholtz equation. u is a solution the equation If to

leigh ansatzerror, Uretsky [1965]; Meecham that is valid at all pointsof a regionR enclosed [1956]). Other errors that can arise include by the boundaryS, then it may be expressed
those attributable to truncating the infiniteas the integral,

sum equations, introducingthe periodicinto terface shape,and to smoothing with the use of complexfrequency. The list of errors can also include those occurring in the numerical
calculations.The sizes of these errors depend

'

'

On

uponcriticalparameters suchas the shape and

'

z')

On

z') 1

SURFACE MOTION OF LAYERED MEDIUM

The variables x' and z' are coordinates on the

939

boundaryS, and O/Onis the spatialderivativein

the outward
tion

a(x, z; x', z')

direction normal to S. The func-

tion G satisfies the inhomogeneous wave equa-

- 4
where

i IHo(
= [(,)'- + (z- z,)'-] '
, = [( - ,), + ( + z,)'-] ,

v6 + pJ'6 = -(-

z) ,(z-

z') (23)

throughoutR. Here, p is the massdensityand

B(x) is the Dirac delta function.

Now, let S consistof the free surface,the irregular interface, and vertical surfaces connecting the free surface and interface at x ---+m. The enclosed region is the layer (medium 1). The exact solutionu to our problem satisfies the scalar Helmholtz equation within the layer, as does our approximate solution Therefore, the difference Am_ -- Ul -- u must satisfy (22). By assumingthat a small amount of attenuation exists within the layer, we can neglect the contributions to motion from sourcesalong the vertical surface at infinity. We now take the Green's function G to be that solutionto (23) whosenormal derivative vanishesalong the free surface. The stress-free requirement at the free surface was imposed upon both the exact and the approximate solutions to our problem, and, hence, upon the
difference Au. With our choice of the Green's

Ho() is the zero order Hankel function of the

first kind. Along the free surface,z -- 0; this

becomes

G(x, x',')= Uo 0;
where

r = [(X- X')' -]By using (24) we could compute the exact free-surface motion, provided that we knew the errors in stress and displacement at the interface. However, we do not know these errors; instead, we know only the differences (residuals) between the approximate solutions in the layer and in the half-space. These residuals are just the differences between the real errors (at the interface) in the layer and in the half-space. That is, at the interface

function, the free-surface contribution to the Kirchhoff integral is zero; the error in surface motion can therefore be expressedin terms of the errors in displacementand stress,alongthe
interface. We have

= u,y- u.N AuN= AU.N(26)

= rNr,.N = ArAr

where and are the displacement and stress residuals, respectively; and Au and Ar are he real errors he half-spaceat he terface. In order o make a low order estimate of

=f [(,x', o; -)a-,(x', -) - u(', o; D] (24) ) x', d o(,

nterfaee
.

the error in free-surface motion, we shall assume tha he residualsare comparable to the actual errorsat the interface. That is, at the interface,

On

Using a and as soees in (24) yields

where

estimated error in displacement at the free surface,

/Xr(x', = , (.OuN(x',').) D \ On') Ou(x', On a(,o)= is the error in the y component stressalong of
the interface.

The Green'sfunctionthat satisfies (23), the

free surfacecondition,and the radiation condi-

+
where

cos(y-- a)

'

dS (27)

tion consistent with the e-'' time dependence

is given by

= dip angle of the interface.

94O

AKI

AND

LARNER

TABLE 1. Root-mean-square(rms) Errors and Conservationof Energy Errors () for the Examples Shown in the Figures

Figure
4

2N -{- 1
53 79 79 41 25 65 65 65 65 65 79 65 65 53 53 53 53 53 41 53 53 53 53 53 41 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79

deg
0 0 40 40 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 51 42 48 55 64 78 89.9 42 48 55 64 78 89.9 50 40 32 18 9 0 --9 --18 --32 --40 --50

0.1 O. 1 O. 1 O. 1 O. 1 0.0 0.01 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.01 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

c/,
0.5 O. 5 O. 67 O. 67 O. 67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.2 0.5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67

s
0.3 O. 3 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.05 0.05 0.15 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

L/W
5 5 32 32 32 5 5 5 5 2.5 13 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32

rms Error
0.112 O. 0053 O. 038 O. 054 O. 074 0.0019 0. 00039 0. 00034 0.012 0. 062 0.017 0. 00055 0.0013 0. 0040 0. 0031 0. 0041 0. 0075 0. 0225 0. 0205 0. 0185 0. 0091 0. 0053 0. 0078 0. 0092 0.0061 0. 048 0. 038 0. 027 0.012 0.019 0. 027 0.032 0.035 0. 052 0.049 0.075

5 X 10 -
.
, .

7 8 9 10

ooo

7 X 10 -6 3 X 10 -
, ,
, ,

11

12

13

* Positive values imply source wave incoming from the lower left.

_tan_ (x .x'). H,(') = first order Hankel

first kind.

(RM SE)"
function of the
UlNi(.0

(28)

The relative importance of the dimensionless

residuals /p, and w//,, in influencing surface

motion, is displayed (27). For example,in the in

case a shallow of depthof interface (w'/l,

1),

the surface motion is determined primarily by the displacementsat the interface because H,(')(x) dominates H0()(x) for small valuesof x. As a measureof residualsat the interface, we define relative root-mean-square (rms) error as the following:

where i and i are the displacementand stress residuals,respectively,at positionj along the interface;uNi and u,.Nare the computedvalues

of displacementat positionalong interface j the

in the layer and half-space;and z/i and ,. are the computed stressesat those positions. The positions are equispacedalong the x direction, and M is severaltimes larger than N,

SURFACE MOTION OF LAYERED MEDIUM

941

the truncationindexin (19). The rms errorvalues that we truncatethe infinite-sum equations to for the cases presented this paperare listed include upperlimit of 79 scatterorders(corin an in Table 1. responding the 2N -]- I wave numbers).This to Conservation energy. In discussing o] the truncation imposes the principal limitation on reflection of plane acoustic waves from cor- the accuracyof our solutions. For a given rugatedboundaries Meecham[1956] and Heaps medium configuration (characterized by the [1957] used a relationshipderived from the layer thickness, mediumparameters, the and conservation energy as a check on the ac- the shape of the interfaceirregularity), the of curacy of their computations. The conservation truncation error is dependent upon the followof energy statementis that, for problemsin- ing quantities:

volving real , the time averagednet flux of energy acrossa plane at large depth in the ha]fspacemust be zero. Below the deepest point on the interface, the exact solution can be completely represented a superposition plane by of
waves,

1. c/X, the ratios of the amplitude of the

interfaceirregularity to the wavelengths involved (c 2. s -------Id/dxl, themaximum slope the of

interface.

3. 0o,the angleof incidence.

U2(X --eikx+iYg-- Cneiknx+i'g)g the interface shape to the width of the z) E for
n---c

4. L/W, the ratio of the periodicity length

anomalous zone.

5. , the ratio of the imaginary real parts to

The mathematical statement of the conserva-

of frequency.

tion of energyrequirement that is

cos 0n/cos - I 0o

(30)

For a fixed number of scatter orders,the truncation error increases increasing with values
of c/X, s,, 0o, and L/W. Since the intrinsic

where 0 is the acuteanglebetweenvertical and the direction of propagationof the nth order scattered plane wave. The summation is over all regular plane wave orders (the inhomogeneous waves, i.e., those that decay exponentially away from the interface, are insensibleat large depth). When the coefficients , determinedusing A our approximatemethod (see equation 19), replace the exact solution coefficientsC in the left side of (30), the right sidebecomes -t- 8. I In the appendix,we demonstratethat the error 8 can be expressed a weighted integral of as
the interface residuals. This conservation of

(Rayleigh ansatz)error alsoincreases with and s, we cannotalways distinguish between the two errors.The quantitiesc/X and s, influence ratesof decrease the amplitudes the for
of the higher order wave-numberterms. To our surprise,the intrinsicerror doesnot dependon the angle of incidence0o, and the truncation error depends only slightly on 0o, as will be shown later. We find that, with 79 scatter orders,the rms error is generallylessthan 1% when c/X and s are lessthan unity. Thus we are able to study problemsinvolving reasonably irregularinterface shapes wavelengths and comparableto and largerthan the sizeof the irregularity.

energy error measureis more easily and accurately evaluated than is the rms error.

One meansfor studyingthe truncationerror, for a given scatteringproblem,is to compare The error 8 is included in Table I for those solutionsobtained using different truncation examplesinvolving real . The small values numbers.Figure 4 displaysone such example.
The problem configuration shownat the botis tom of the figure.A wave of wavelength km 50 is incident vertically upon a basin 5 km deep

of 8 confirm the accuracy of the numerical computations well as the fact that the wave as equations indeedsatisfied. are Example of the truncationerror. Our method for solving these wave-scatteringproblems is

by 50 km wide.The interface periodicity length

is 256 km in all the examplesdescribedin this paper (the use of an explicit unit of distance is simply for convenience;of course the solutions are unchanged when all lengthsare scaled

made feasible by the speed and large core memory of modern digital computers. Even so, computer time and storage constraintsrequire

942
3.0 ----

AKI
53 coefficents

AND

LARNER

E 2.0
io 00I I

-ee
I

79coefficents spanof directions than do the waveamplitudes

pertain to scattered wavescoveringa broader

in the layer. However,the wave amplitudes are

I,

Surface Position (kin)

---

layer- (53)

-- 3'0 I-

[half-space(3)

.1oyer half-space those in and

morebasically functions 10 -- 0o]than of of In[; hence half-space the waveamplitudes decay morerapidlywith increasing I than do in

'5 1.0
O0

GO

80

I00

'i'1 '
I

120

140

IGO

180

Surface

Position (kin)

=0.7 km/sec =2.0grn/cm s

=3.5 kmYsec 2.8 gm/cm $
X, = I0 krn I
Irn/Re =0.1

I vertical incidence

Fig. 4. Spatial distribution of the normalized

amplitudes of free-surfacedisplacementand the amplitudes of interface displacement (arbitrary units), displaying the effect of truncation of the

infinite-sumequationsora soft-basinproblem. The normalization is made with respect to the

displacement that would be obtained for the fiatlayer problem in the absence of the interface irregularity.

equally). The interface shapehas the form of

a single cyclecosine. Away from the basin, the

layer thickness is 0.01 km. Solutions were ob-

tained using53 and 79 scatterorders,respectively. The curves the centerof the figureare in spatial distributionsof interface displacement amplitude.When 53 coefficients used,the are solutionin the layer (dashedcurve) oscillates about the one in the half-space(solid curve). When 79 coefficients used,the interfacedisare placement distributions indistinguishable, are in
the figure, from the solid curve. The rms error for these two cases(Table 1) are 11.2% and 0.5%, respectively.Obviously, since the rms error is so small for the 79 coefficient example, the Rayleighansatzerror is insignificant this in
problem.

Note that dividingk -- ko -F 27rn/L by k yields sin 0 -- sin 0o -k nX/L, n ----O, 1, 2-.. where 9 is the acuteanglefrom vertical
associated with the nth order scattered wave

(the angle9 may be complex),and X -- 27r/k is wavelength.Because the wavelengthin the half-spaceis five times larger than that in the layer for the exampleshownin Figure 4, the
wave amplitudes in the half-space solution

the layer, and thus may explain the interesting finding that when an insufficient number (53) of scatterordersis used,the error in the half-spaceremains small, i.e., the solution in the half-spacesufferslittle error due to truncation of the wave-numberspectrum. The normalized amplitudes displacement of at the free surfaceare shownat the top of Figure 4. The normalization is made with respect to the amplitude that would be observed in the same problem if the layer had uniform thicknessgiven by the thickness away from the interface irregularity (0.01 km in this case). Note that the surface motion computed using 53 scatter orders departs very little from the more accurate solution. Thus, in this case, the rms error is a pessimisticmeasure of the accuracy of the computed motion at the free surface.The errors in the layer decay rapidly away from the interface because these errors occur predominantly in the higher order wave-number terms, which are attenuated due to our smoothing with the use of complexfrequency. The dots in Figure 4 are values of surface displacement computed using the ThomsonHaskell approximation assuming that the layer has uniform thicknessequal to the local thickness. Further comparisons with the fiat-layer theory are described a later section. in Example o/ the inherent error. In some problems,we encounterrelatively large interface residualsthat cannot be reduced by increasingthe number of scatteredwave orders. In fact, these residual errors increaseas more scatter orders are included.This type of error is probably the intrinsic Rayleigh ansatz error. Uretzky suggeststhat the intrinsic error is manifestedby asymptoticbehavior of the series representationin equationslike (19). That is, as N increasesfrom small values, the series approximation (19) first approaches to, then divergesfrom, the true solution.This is the behavior exhibitedin the exampleshownin Figure
5.

In this problem, a 10-km wavelengthwave is incident at 0o -- 40 from vertical upon a

SURFACE MOTION OF LAYERED MEDIUM

943

layer 25 km thick, with a severeirregularity 4. As N increases, oscillations the layer the in (step) in which the thickness varies 5 km as diminishas doesthe stressrms error slightly. a half-cyclecosinewave over 4 km, and thus As N increases further, however, stress the rms has a ma.ximum gradient of almost 2. The error again increases while the spatial oscillastressesat the interface (solid curve for the tionsin the half-space become more rapid and layer and dashed curve for the half-space) the oscillation amplitudes becomelarger and are displayedin the center of the figure for more concentrated near the step. The number three solutions obtained using2N - I -- 25, 41, of coefficients beyondwhich the displacement and 79 coefficients. The rms stress residuals for residualsbecomedivergent is generally difthesesolutions are 0.061, 0.060, and 0.064, re- ferent from that beyondwhich the stressrespectively. The sizesof these rms errors do not sidualsdiverge.In these casesinvolving 25, reflect the large residual localizedat the step 41, and 79 coefficients rms displacement the realthough they are determined predominantly siduals declined from 0.0816 to 0.0480 and by it. In the 25-coefficients case,the truncation 0.0145, respectively.
error is manifested as an oscillation of stresses

It is difficult to assessthe effect of the irre-

in the layer as in the exampleshownin Figure

movable localized residuals thesestep probin

Free Surface Dsplacement

/-',, ---

2N + I: 4 1,79
2N +1:25

Lo
0.5

layer
8

2N+I

--79

---

half -space

-I00

-80

-60

-40

-20

20

40

60

80

I00 km

25 km

2;).5 km

layer 1 =3.0km/sec
PI =2.8gm/cm3
half space

5km

2: 4.0 km/sec
:
2:
:

3.3 gm/cm3
I0 km
3 98 sec

Fig. 5. Spatialdistributions the normalized of amplitudes free-surface of displacement and interfacestress displaying stress the residuals or three solutions f, computed using2N - 1 -25, 41, and 79 coefficients. normalization made with respect the displacement The is to that would be obtainedfor the fiat-layerproblem,and stresses expressed equivalentunits are in
of displacement multiplyingby (1/po.,o). by

944

AKI AND LARNER

I Free_ Displacement Surface

0.5
o.o
0 ZO

1.0

1.0 1,0

40

60

80

I00

120

140

160

180

200

220

240km

/, Free Surface

Layer =3.0 ,,81 km/sec

Half -space, ,82=4.0 km/sec

51 --

46-- =6- I km X

3'

PI gm/cm = :5 Z.8
Incidence

P2 =3'3gm/cm3 I Vertical
Xz = I0 km
n o

(db)
-I0-

_

_

Inhomogeneous
woves in

half-space

&--O.I
-30
o

_o40, _
_

000 *000

o -50o

-60I
-30

I
-20

I
-I0 0

I
I0

I
20

I
$0

Scotter Ord.er Number (n)

Fig. 6. (Upperportion)Spatialdistributions the normalized of amplitude free-surface of displacement, a dented discontinuity for M problem, displaying smoothing the effects the of use of complex frequency. The normalization the sameas that described Figure4. is in (Lower portion) Wave-number spectrum spectralamplituderatio versusscatter-order of
number; is the ratio of the imaginary to real parts of frequency.

lems upon the computeddisplacements the at free surface. The stepped M discontinuityexamples presentedbelow must be considered in that light. The fact that the stresses the layer in (41 coefficientcase) roughly reflect the step shape of the interface suggests that the errors in the layer may not be so severe as the residualssuggest. The irremovable errors are larger only in problems involving steeply sloping interfaces, and in these problemsparticularly when the wavelength is small as compared with the amplitudesof the interface anomalies. For less severe interface shapessuch as those in the dented M discontinuity problemspresented below, the rms residualsare small and well distributed over the length of the interface. In those cases, the errors continuallydecrease as
2N - 1 increases the maximum value of 79. to

large inherenterrors.We find that if the

truncation errors are small when Oo-- 0, they remain small when Ooincreases even to grazing

incidence(0o -- /2). The inherenterror appearsto be independent Oo. of Exampleo the smoothing eect o complex requency. Figure6 demonstrates smooththe

ing of the spatialdistribution computed of freesurface displacements effectedby the use of complex frequency. The problemconfiguration consists a half-space of overlainby a layer 6/ wavelengths thick with a 5-km depression in
the interface. The depressionhas a cosine shapefor one cycle (50 km). A 10-km wavelength wave is incident vertically. The top
curves are the computedfree-surfacedisplace-

Surprisingly, find that the existence we of shadowzonesin our problemsdoesnot imply

ment amplitude (each normalized to the respective fiat-layersolution described as previously)for threevaluesof e, the ratio of imaginary to real part of frequency. The amplitude scaleappliesto the e -- 0.1 curve; the other

SURFACE

MOTION

OF LAYERED

MEDIUM

945

curves are displacedupward. The use of complex frequency severely damps the oscillations alongthe limbs of the e ----- distribution.Those 0 oscillationshave an 8-km wavelength, characteristic of the cutoff wavenumber (N -- 32 in these examples),and are thus causedby the sharp cutoff of the wavenumberspectrum.The inner two- or three-sidelobesin the top curve
are actual lateral wave interference side lobes. effects. The

tions (not shownhere) for problemsinvolving scatteringat the irregular interfacebetweentwo half-spaces.In those problems,layering effects are absent.We find that the spectral amplitude ratios decay more slowly with increasing k/k for problemsinvolvinglonger wavelengths relative to the dimensionsof the interface irregularity.
SOFT B,srN PROBLEM

use of complex frequency smoothsout these For real frequency, the layer vibrates in a

Let us consider groundmotion at the surface of a soft medium basin when plane $H waves resonancecondition where the thickness is 6 are incidentfrom below.This problemhas been wavelengths (seethe discussion the soft basin studiedby other investigators of primarily under cases below). Over the depression, amplitude the assumptionthat the basin structure conthe distribution displays these characteristics of sistsof horizontallyfiat layers having the same fiat-layer interference. When the frequency stratification as the one directly beneath the becomes complex, these vertical-interference observation point. In other words, a problem
effects deteriorate with the results that the

main side lobesare lessdeep and the amplitude at the center of the anomaly is increased.The introduction of complex frequency alters the

of three dimensions has been treated as if it were one-dimensional. We wish to test the

surfacedisplacement distribution from onethat is dominatedby fiat-layer interferenceeffects the interferencebetween upgoing and downto one dominated by wave focusingand de- going waves that havethe samephase velocity focusing effects (the later-arriving multiple in the horizontal direction. This phenomenon
reverberations de-emphasized). are The bottom portion of Figure 6 contains wave-number spectrafor the e ----0 and e = 0.1 eases.These are plots (on a deeibelscale) of of vertical interference can be completely de-

validity of this assumption. a horizontally In fiat-layeredmedium,the surfacemotion, due to an incidentplane wave, is determinedby

the spectral amplitude ratiosIA,J"!/IAo'"I versus the scatter order number n. A (" is the com-

scribed the Thomson-Haskell by method. the If interfaceis not plane, scattered waveswith horizontal phase velocities differentfrom that of the incident wave are generated,and the
lateral interference can become as important
as the vertical one.

plex amplitudeof wavesin the layer (equation 19), with horizontalwave number given by 2-n/L. For normal incidence,the spectra are symmetric aboutn -- 0; thus,the e -- 0 amplitudes are plotted only to the right and the e = 0.1 amplitudes only to the left of the n ----0 line. For e = 0, the amplitudesdo not

It will be shownthat, so long as the interface slopeis small, the fiat-layer theory using the stratificationdirectly beneath each observation point givesa satisfactory result. As the interface becomes more irregular,the effectof lateral interference becomes important. We shall show decay sufficiently rapidly out to the cutoff an extremeexample,where the lateral interordernumber, thuseausing 8-kmoscillations ference of pseudo-Love the waves gives rise to a alreadymentioned. large amplitudevariation across basin that a Althoughtheseamplituderatiosare small,a has a uniform thickness over a finite area. We

significantdegree of wave-numbercoupling shall also observe that the lateral interference more significant when the directionof (diffraction)is indicated. the basis simple becomes On of ray theoryrefraction, neglecting reverberations incident waves becomes closer to the horizontal. The first exampleis illustratedin Figure 7. in the layer, we expectcontributions only from waves whose < 3. However, require In[ we the The velocity and density of half-spaceare 15 larger wave number (larger n) wavesto ad- and 1.4 times those of the soft basin, respecequately.. satisfythe boundary conditions. We tively, as shownin the figure; thereforethe ratio is 7. The width of the basinis interprethe wave-number coupling diffrac- impedance as tion primarily on the basisof similarcomputa- 50 km, and the depth is 1 km at the deepest

946

AKI AND LARNER

* flat layer response

approximate solution Inl indicating significant wave-number coupling

spectralamplitudesdecayslowlywith increasing

(maximum depth is % wavelength); the solid line is the solution computed by the present method; the dots are amplitudes computedby the local Thomson-I-laskellapproximation using local layer parameters. (Lower portion) Wave-number spectrum of spectral-amplituderatio versus scatter-order number.

attributable both to diffraction and multiple reverberations the layer. in .,' \. e".-e..ee : .e.e.e.e e'e/ e 8 i.o. In the second example, the incident wavelength in the layer is chosenas exactly twice I I I I I I I I I I the greatest depth of the basin, as shown in I00 120 140 160 180 Figure 8. The fiat-layer theory predicts a Surface Position (km) resonancecondition at depths that are (2n -vertical scale 1)/4 times the wavelength and an anti=5.0 horizontal scale /9 =0.7 km/sec resonancecondition at depths that are n/2 p =2.0gm/cm 3 incidence I vertical times the wavelength,where n is an integer. =3.5 km/sec In this example, antiresonance occurs where =2.8 gm/cm 3 the basin depth is maximum, and resonance occurs where the depth is half the maximum. Figure 8 showsthat the solution obtained by -o,,.- (db) our method agreeswell with the prediction by the fiat-layer theory, althoughthe wave-number spectrumfor this caseindicateslarger amplitude scattered waves than in the previous example. i, -30 -20 -I0 0 I0 20 30 In the third example, the basin structure Scoffer Order Number (n) consists a long sectionof uniform thickness of Fig. ?. (Upper portion) Normalized displace- boundedby short sections rapidly changing of ment amplitude at the free surfaceo soft basin thickness. As shown in Figure 9, the uniform a
/

zoL

oF_..-"
80 I00 120 140 Surface Position

,/ I

,,/

'"-..._ .
160 180

point. The shape of the interface irregularity is a cosineform for one cycle. The smooth curve in the top of Figure 7 shows the amplitude of surface motion, calculated by our method, when plane waves whosewavelengthis 5 km in the layer (25 km in the half-space) are incident vertically. The imaginary part of frequencyis set at 10% of the real part. The dots in the same figure are

(km)

0.7 km/sec

verticol scale horizontal=2.5 scale

incidence

2.0 3 gm/cm I vertical

3.5km/sec

:>.8 gm/cm 3
Im
/Re = O. I

amplitudescalculated the fiat-layer theory by assuming, eachpoint, that the basinstructure at

is a horizontal layer having a constant thicknessequal to that directly beneaththe point.
I
-40

Love ,_] -iO'Jc't I-,-Love wove wove

o (db) ...-...

region-]""/ '%.... region I--

-.... -2o v:.-.... :..'..: T :.

I"" I
-20

I-1 I 0

I ""1
$0

-30

-I0

I0

20

40

Scatter Order Number (n) Agreementbetweenthe dots and the smooth curve is excellent,demonstrating that the fiatFig. 8. (Upper portion) Normalized displacelayer assumption a good one in calculating merit amplitude at the free surfaceof a soft basin is

the surface motion for this case.

The wavespropagating vertically (n -- 0)

dominate the scattered waves in this case, as indicated in the wave-number spectrum shown at the bottom of Figure 7. However, the

(maximum depth ]s % wavelength in the layer). The dots are amplitudes computed by the local Thomson-Haskell aproximation using local layer parameters. (Lower portion) Wave-number spectrum of spectral-amplituderatio versus scatterorder number.

SURFACE MOTION

OF LAYERED

MEDIUM

947

section is 1 km deep and 80 km wide. This section is flanked on each side by a sloping interface, having the shape of cosinefor a half cycle over a horizontal distance of 10 km. The wavelengthof waves in the layer is exactly 4 times the thickness of the uniform section, satisfying the resonance condition mentioned before.Note that in this examplethe imaginary part of frequency is 1% of the real part. The fiat-layer theory predicts the amplitude distribution as shown by the dashed line at the top of Figure 9. The solutionby our method gives amplitudes that fluctuate considerably above and below the curve predicted by the fiat-layer theory. The wave-number spectrum at the bottom shows secondarypeaks at the horizontal wave number corresponding Love to waves in the uniform portion of the basin. The Love wave region indicated in Figure 9 in-

observationon a two-dimensionalstructure by a theory appropriate for a one-dimensional structure, the observedand theoretical amplitudes can differ by a factor of 2. The last example in this section (Figure 10) comparesthe motions of a soft basin for waves of long wavelength (20 km in the layer) incident from two different directions. For the

zero degree incidenceangle case, we see again that the fiat-layer theory predicts the result calculatedby our method. For the 51 incidence angle case, however, we see a significant discrepancy between the theoretical and calculated solutions.The fiat-layer theory predicts a considerabledecreaseof amplitude with increaseof incidenceangle. On the other hand, our solution shows a nearly equal or even slightly greater amplitude for the larger incidenceangle. This result is intuitively acceptable because, for cludes those horizontal wave numbers that are wavelengths comparable to the width of the betweeno//2and o//, where ois the angular basin, the motion of a soft basin is perhaps frequencyand/ and/2 are the shearvelocities determined primarily by the vibration of the in the layer and in the half-space,respectively. basement, relatively independent of the inciWe interpret the large amplitude variation dence direction for the wave that forces that across the basin as due to lateral interferences vibration. We may interpret this result as between the primary waves (n -- O) and implying that relatively more energy is trapped scattered pseudo-Love waves. This example in the basin as the propagation direction of demonstrates that if we try to explain the incident waves becomes closer to horizontal.

8.0
6.0

approximate solution
riot layer response

4D
2.0

o.o

60

80

I00

I
Surface

120

140

160

I
180

i
200

Position

(kin)

vertical

scale scale

=0.7 km/sec

vertical incidence

horizontal

5.0

2.0gm/cm 3
=3.5 km/sec

=2.8gm/cm 3
Im/Re =0.01

Lovewave---I

o_Jr_ (db)
'1'

- Lovewave

c/),1 = I/4

region I---I_10' region T.

-40

I"I I I-4 I %1 II
-30 -20 -,0 0 0 20 30 40

.:

, -2o ..o T o :.. ";-3o '..':"

Scotter Order Number (n)

Fig. 9. (Upper portion) Normalized displacement amplitude at the free surface of a fiat

soft basin (maximumdepth is % wavelength the layer). The dots are amplitudes in computed by the local Thomson-Haskellapproximationusing local layer parameters. (Lower portion)
Wave-number spectrum of spectral-amplitude ratio versus scatter-order number.

948

AKI AND LARNER

7.0

4.0

.o .o
3.0
I00

/ , e,

---

riot response(o=O*) ioye,

eo.Oo-'"

xx, riot layer

_
080

120
Surface

140
Position

160

= 0.7

,:)=,.5
P2=2.8
Real

XI =20 km

Fig. 10. Normalizeddisplacement amplitudes the free surfaceof a soft basin for two at directionsof incidence long wavelength(100 km in the half-space)waves.The dots are of amplitudescomputedby the local Thomson-Haskell approximationusing local layer
rameters.

DENTED AND STEPPED M DISCONTINUITY

If the M discontinuity and the interfacesin the earth's crust are horizontal planes, the
amplitude observed at the surface due to tele-

seismic body waveswill not showspatial variation within a small area in which the incident

waves may be regarded as plane waves. We are interested, this section, possible in in amplitude anomalies that may be caused irregular by shapes of these interfaces. This problem is scales are shown for the uppermost curve in somewhat differentfrom the previousproblem each case. of a soft basin because the distance from the The solidcirclesare projections the trough of observationpoint to the irregular interface is of the interface depression along geometricray

with wavelength10 km in the half-space(7.5 km in the layer) are incident from below at various incidence angles. The top traces are free-surfacedisplacement amplitudes,for each incidence angle, normalized to the respective amplitudes obtained for the plane layer case without the dent. The phasedelaysare likewise relative to the phasescalculatedin the plane layer case. The amplitude and phase-delay

greater. In this problem, the ray-geometrical paths. The maxima of flux densitycalculated by effects,such as focusingand defocusing, start ray theory occurat nearly thesesamepositions playing an apparently significant role. in this case(theselocations indicatedby the are arrows). The double arrows for the 8o -- 64 In the examplepresented below,the imaginary part of frequencyo is sufficientlylarge so that curves denote the intersections of caustics with the exponential windowe-"' is down to 1/e the free surface. No ray theory arrows are

in 3.98 seconds. This time is short compared with the travel time through the layer (10 secondsfor one-way vertical path); therefore, the effects of multiples are nearly absent in theseexamples. Figure 11 showsresults for a case in which the interface, located at a nominal depth of 25 km, has a depression with depth 5 km and width 50 km. The shape of dent is a cosine for one cycle. The velocities and densitiesof the layer and half-spaceroughly correspond to

shown for the 8o =

78 and 89.9 cases be-

cause the ray-theory solutions have shadow zone gaps. The rms errors (Table 1) are small
even for the case 8o ---- 89.9 . Note that the

amplitude variations and the breadths of the phase-delay anomalies increasewith increasing incidence angle and that the qualitative shapes
of the anomalies are consistent with one another

while 8ochanges.
The dashed curves for the 8o ---- 55 are

amplitudes and phasedelayscomputed using thoseof the crustand uppermantle,respec-,.the theory.The amplitude very large ray is tively, as shownin the figure.The plane waves near 149 km because the focal region is near

SURFACE
the free surface. The discontinuities

MOTION

OF LAYERED

MEDIUM

949

at 120 and

170 are artificial manifestations the sensitivity of of the ray-theory solutionto the secondderivative of interface shape. Our solutionsare reasonable, smoother versions of the ray-theory solutions.When the incident wavelength is reduced to 5 km in our method, the amplitude peak at 149 km increases, and the depression at 164 km moves to the left toward the raytheory lobe. Also, the phase-delaycurve then nearly coincides with the ray-theory solution. These consistent suites of curvesand the good accuracy suggestthat the solutionsare valid even to grazing incidence. Note that the 0o ---89.9 amplitude curve does not normalize to unity away from the anomaly. The reason
2.0

is that waves at nearly grazing incidencehave 'seen' the repeated depressions rather than a 25-kin-thick fiat layer. The next example is the case of a rise as shown in Figure 12. The media parametersfor this caseare identicalto thosefor the preceding one. The arrows indicate the positions where the minima of flux intensity and maxima of phase advance calculatedby ray theory occur. The solid circles indicate the projected positions of the crest of the rise along the geometric ray paths. The residual errors are again small. The amplitude variations are less simple than those in the previous case.However, the 8o -55 curve compareswell with the ray-theory solution except at the artificial discontinuities

80=89.9

1.0

80=78 OoO

1.0

80 =64
80=55 80=48
8o=42
1.0

0.250.0

8o=89.9'
80= 78' 80= 64'
80 = 55'
8o = 48 8o= 42
i i I i

-0.25

0.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0 0.0

140 160 180 200 220

I 240

20

40

60

80

i00

120

260

DISTANCE

(kin)

CRUST

t
30 km

Cl=3.0 km/sec
pi =2.8 gm/cm 3
C2= 4.0 km/sec

25km

MANTLE 89'9'-'-"
78

p2 3.3gm/cm = 3
X2 = I0 km
=0,1

42

Fig. 11. Spatial distributions of normalized amplitudes and phase delays for the freesurfacedisplacements the downward-dented discontinuityproblem as functionsof the in M angle of incidence0o.The dots show the projected positionsof the trough of the depression along the geometricray paths. The arrows show the positionsof peak flux intensities and phase delays predicted from ray theory (excluding multiple reflections).The dashed curves
are ray theoretical solutions.

950
1.5

AKI AND LARNER

- o =89.9e

1.00. 0.0

o='78
eo=64 8o:55
eo=4e

80=42

._. 0.25
"'
:

0.0

0.25

80=89.9 eo=78
0.0 0.0

80 =64

8o=55
8o=48 8o =42

i
20

I I
140

0.0
0.0
I
160

i
40

i
60

I . 80

I
i00

i
180

I
200

J
220

I
240

iI
260

120

DISTANCE

(kin)

CRUST

$ 20 km

25 km

C =3.0km/sec m

MANTLE 89.9 78o-.-'"" I_ 50 krn r"

Pm gm/cm' =2'8
C2=4.0 krn/sec ,o 2:3.3 gm/cm

64'

,:;.//
42

,2 km = I0

.:o.,

Fig. 12. Spatial distributionsof normalizedamplitudesand phasedelaysfor the free-surface displacementsin the upward-dented M discontinuity problem as functions of the angle of incidenceCo. The dots show the projected positions.of the minimal flux intensitiesand phase delays, respectively, predicted from the ray theory (excluding multiple reflections). The dashed curves are ray theoretical solutions.

in the ray-theory solution. The phase delays compare very well with ray-theory predictions. Again the anomalies increase with incidence angle. Such amplitude and phase-delayanomalies for near-grazingincidence may be useful as interpretation tools in refraction seismology. The last example is the caseof 'stepped'M discontinuityas shownin Figure 13. The height of step is 5 km, the depth to the center of step is 25 km. The shape of step is a cosinefor a half cycle (with wavelength 8 km) connected to half wavelength cosineson both sides. The solid circlesagain indicatethe projectedposition of the center of step along geometrical ray paths. Incident waveshave the samewavelength and the same imaginary to real part ratio as those in the precedingtwo examples. When the
waves are incident from the side of thinner crust

ment between the projected points of center of step and the maximum of amplitude calculated by our method. The above three examplesillustrate that the amplitude-distribution and phase-delay anomaly
observed at the surface are sensitive functions

of the interface shape.The changeof amplitude distribution with the changeof incidenceangle

is especially diagnostic the depth of the irof regular interface.We believethat our method
can serve as a new useful tool in the study of regionalgeophysics. Conclusion. Our method providesa practical means for the study of aspects of the wave fields peculiar to the simple two-dimensional models discussed. The amplitudes and slopes of the interface irregularitiesthat we study are larger than those allowed in the iterative approximation method of Rayleigh or in various

to that of thicker crust, we find a generalagree-

SURFACE

MOTION

OF LAYERED

MEDIUM

951

perturbation methods [Gilbert and Knopo[l, 1960; Herrera, 1964; Mclvor, 1968]. The computational schemeis straightforward and more easily applied than is the method of Banaugh [1962]. (Also, see Sharma [1967]). Banaugh's method is based upon an integral representation for the solution and, in principle, can be applied to scatteringof waves from obstacles of arbitrary shape without sufferingfrom the Rayleighansatzerror. However,for comparable computation effort, when his methodis applied to problem geometries similar to those treated in this paper, errors arise that are more severe
than our truncation errors.

isotropic) media where all but one of the interfaces are plane and parallel. This includesthe

problemof variabletopography. The methodis readily extendedto include problemsinvolving additional irregular interfaces; however, we must sacrificeeither accuracy or roughness of the irregular interface in the problemsthat can be solvedunder the present computational
constraints.
APPENDIX

The method was programmed for the IBM 360-65 at the M.I.T. computationcenter. Computation time is controlledby the number of theorem is that scatteringordersrepresenting solution.For our a given problem configuration and frequency, we economize handlingcases by involvingvarioussource-wave directionsconcurrently.Typical computer time for problems involvingthe maxi- where Im denotes the imaginary part of, the mum number of scatteringordersis 4 minutes asteriskdenotes complex conjugate, and S is the for the first incident-wave direction and 20 surfaceenclosing R. seconds for each additional direction. Let us apply (A1) to the approximate solution Although we showedno examplesin this u,N in the regionof the half-space boundedby paper, the computerprogramis applicable to the interface, the plane at large constant z, problems involving multilayered (homogeneous,and vertical surfacesat x = 0 and x = L (L is

The error in conservationo/ energy. When frequency is real, if u is a solution to the homogeneous Itelmholtzequation scalar throughout a region R, then the real and imaginary parts are individuallysolutions, throughoutR, to the sameequation.A consequence Green's of

Im Ou)=o (A1) fsu(u* as

, 'o" 1.0 3_.=.j_ .0

18
1.5
1.0

00-' 50

I.O

1.0
1.0 1.0
20 I 40 I 60 km I

9'.,._._O
-40 -20 0
9_2.5 km

0.5
20
40
i

60 km
!

O.C

-60 I

-40 I

-20 I

0 I

layer

1=3.0 km/sec

half-space

2 = 4.0 km/sec

P2=3'3 gm/cm$
)'1 = 7.5 km
Tma/Reu =0.1
Incident drections wove

Incident wave directions

Fig. 13. Spatial distributions the normalized of amplitudes free-surface of displacement for the stepped discontinuity M problemas functions the angleof incidence The dots ,of Co. showthe projectedpoitionof the centerof the step alongthe geometric paths. ray

952

AKI AND LARNER

the period of the interface shape). For convenience,we make the horizontal componentof wave number ko (equation 2) of the source

fo2i(m-n) L '
e

dx = 0

when

Recallingthat the inhomogeneous wavesdo not the number of wavelengthsacrossL. With this contributewhen z is large, we find choice,both the exact and approximatesolutions have the period L in the horizontal direction; consequently,the integrals over the vertical portionsof $ at = 0 and = L cancel.Equation

wave equal to 2't/L where t, an integer, is

ncos IA,I2= 1 COS(2) 0n 0o

A1 becomes

r//2 ----oL 0o i +. cos

The

(A5)
8 is

Imfo
[arge z

U2N T2N dx :

The quantity 8 is the departure from the conservation of energy requirement ascribab]eto
the residuals at the interface. error

=im

interface

f u.N*r2x dS---- tz2 x=L

=0

(A2)

more easily and accuratelyevaluated,by means

of summation over the scattered wave orders on

the left side of (A5), than is the rms error. The

error 8 is not a sensitive one for two reasons.

First, the amplitudesand phases the residuals of generally oscillatealong the interface, tending to producesmallvaluesof V; second, this error measuredoesnot have preferentialweightingof the vertical surfaces at x -- 0 and x ---- L. Again, the integrals along the vertical surfaces the larger residuals(localizedanomalies)as does the rms error criterion. cancel.Also, the integral along the free surface We note that the conservation of energy vanishes because of the stress-free condition. criterion providesa measureof the error in the We have, then solution for the half-space only, and states nothing about the solutionin the layer. To see Im UlN* rlN dS = 0 (A3) this, we replace in (A3) by the exact so]u=0 interface tion , and note that u: Au + at the

Equation A2 defines quantity 7. the Similarly, let us apply (A1) to the approximate solution Ul in the region of the layer boundedby the free surface,the interface, and

fx x----L

Using (26) and (A3), we rewrite the integral

over the interface in (A2) as

interface.

We find that

/z2r/= Im

interface

fx [a* q -- u,* x----L

=0

interface

fx [u* /xr2 q- /Xu2r ----L

=0

q- Au2* Ar2] dS

This integral for V is independentof the approximatesolutionin the layer; it vanishes with That is, V is an integral of stressand displacethe errors Aur and A in half-spacesolution. ment residualsweighted by the approximate When frequency is complex, the real and solutionin the layer. Sincev vanishes with the imaginary parts of u no longer individually residuals,it is a measureof the accuracyof satisfy the homogeneous scalar wave equation. the approximatesolution. Applicationof Green'stheoremyieldsa volume The integral along the plane at large z is integral on the right side of (A1). In that case, readily evaluated when we replaceu2,r,r by an we could attach no physicalmeaningto an error expression obtainedfrom the computedsolution, measurebasedupon the integral 7. equation 19. Becausethe solutionis periodic for Acknowledgments. An outline of the method our choiceof ko, we can use the orthogonalfry
condition,
describedin the present paper was conceived by the senior author (Keiiti Aki), when he was working at the National Center for Earthquake Research, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, under a Taper appointment. lie owes

- a, rl]

aS

(A4)

fo2' L (n,-n)x/L
dx = L

when

m =

SURFACE MOTION OF LAYERED MEDIUM

a pleasant and profitable summer to L. C. Pakiser and his colleagues at Menlo Park. The fast Fourier transform program used in the present paper was written by Ralph Wiggins of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology. The authors thank Dr. Wiggins and Dr. David Boore for suggesting valuable improvements over the original manuscript. A part of the computation was done at the computation center, M.I.T. This research was supported partly by the National Science Foundation under grant GA4039, and partly by the Advanced Research Project Agency; it was monitored by the Air Force
Office of Scientific Research under contract AF

953

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815, 1957.

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