Seismic wave propagation in a stratified half-space

A simple approach to evaluate the stratified half-space response is proposed. This approach is the combination of the reflection and transmission properties of elastic media (Kennett and Kerry, 1979) with the discrete wavenumber summation method (Bouchon, 1981). Numerical examples show that surface reflected phases play an important role in shaping the nature of the seismograms for local earth· quakes. 1. In troduction The problem of the excitation and propagation of seismic waves in a stratified elastic half-space has been extensively discussed since the pioneering work of Lamb (1904). Recently, many approaches have been proposed to evaluate the response of elastic solid to excitation by transient point sources. For example, there are generalized ray theory (Heimberger, 1968; Sato, 1973), reflectivity method (Fuchs and MUller, 1971; Kind, 1978), reflection and trans· mission matrices method (Kennett, 1983; Kennett and Kerry, 1979), and discret