Seismic Wave Propagation and Scattering in the Heterogeneous Earth

The “Seismic Wave Propagation and Scattering in the Heterogeneous Earth”  book focuses on recent developments in the area of seismic wave propagation and scattering through the randomly heterogeneous structure of the Earth, with emphasis on the lithosphere. The presentation combines information from many sources to present a coherent introduction to the theory of scattering in acoustic and elastic materials and includes analyses of observations using the theoretical methods developed.

The second edition of the “Seismic Wave Propagation and Scattering in the Heterogeneous Earth” especially includes new observational facts such as the spatial variation of medium in homogeneities and the temporal change in scattering characteristics and recent theoretical developments in the envelope synthesis in random media for the last ten years. Mathematics is thoroughly rewritten for improving the readability. Written for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students of geophysics or planetary sciences, this book should also be of interest to civil engineers, seismologists, acoustical engineers, and others interested in wave propagation through inhomogeneous elastic media.

Seismic waves, whether generated by natural earthquakes or man-made sources, have yielded an extensive wealth of information about the Earth’s interior.

In classical seismology, scientists model the Earth as a series of horizontal layers or spherical shells. These layers have varying elastic properties, and researchers deduce these properties by studying the travel times and dispersion of seismic waves. However, it’s essential to note that the Earth doesn’t consist of uniformly structured horizontal layers. Classic seismic methods do accommodate significant variations in the Earth’s composition, but they might not effectively address smaller-scale irregularities.

On a different note, coda waves, which are continuous wave trains following the direct S waves, have provided valuable insights. They reveal the presence of random-sized heterogeneities distributed haphazardly within the layers of the classic seismic model.

Contents

• Introduction
• Heterogeneity in the Lithosphere
• Phenomenological Study of CodaWaves
• Born Approximation for Wave Scattering in Inhomogeneous Media
• Attenuation of High-Frequency Seismic Waves
• Synthesis of Three-Component Seismogram Envelopes of a Small Earthquake
• Wave Propagation in Random Media and the Radiative Transfer Theory
• Envelope Synthesis Based on the Radiative Transfer Theory
• Parabolic Equation and Envelope Synthesis Based on the Markov Approximation
• Green’s Function Retrieval from the Cross-Correlation Function of RandomWaves
• Epilogue
• References.