An approach for calculating first‐arrival traveltimes in a transversely isotropic medium is developed and has the advantage of avoiding shadow zones while still being computationally fast. Also, it works with an arbitrary velocity grid that may have discontinuities. The method is based on Fermat’s principle. The traveltime for each point in the grid is calculated several times using previously calculated traveltimes at surrounding grid points until the minimum time is found. Different ranges of propagation angle are covered in each traveltime calculation such that at the end of the process all propagation angles are covered. This guarantees that the first‐arrival traveltime for a specific grid point is correctly calculated. The resulting algorithm is fully vectorizable. The method is robust and can accurately determine first‐arrival traveltimes in heterogeneous media. Traveltimes are compared to finite‐difference modeling of transversely isotropic media and are found to be in excellent agreement. An application to prestack migration is used to illustrate the usefulness of the method.
We developed a modeling algorithm for transversely isotropic media that uses finite‐difference operators in a staggered grid. Staggered grid schemes are more stable than the conventional finite‐difference methods because the differences are actually based on half the grid spacing. This modeling algorithm uses the full elastic wave equation that makes possible the modeling of all kinds of waves propagating in transversely isotropic media. The spatial derivatives are represented by fourth‐order, finite‐difference operators while the time derivative is represented by a secondorder, finite‐difference operator. The algorithm has no limitation on the acquisition geometry or on the heterogeneity of the media. The program is currently formulated to work in a 2-D transversely isotropic medium but can readily be extended to 3-D. Snapshots can be obtained at any time with no additional computational cost. A four‐layer model is used to show the usefulness of the method. Horizontal and vertical component seismograms are modeled in transversely isotropic media and compared with seismograms modeled in the corresponding isotropic media.
In many instances in exploration geophysics we are interested in the so‐called one‐way wave equation. This equation allows the wave fields to propagate in the positive depth direction, but not in the reverse (−Z) direction. Some modeling and migration methods, such as the f-k method (Stolt, 1978) and the phase‐shift method (Gazdag, 1978), produce in a natural way the one‐way wave equation. The main advantage of the one‐way wave equation is that it does not give rise to multiples or interlayer reverberations and enables the observation of primary events only.
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