Analysis of Surface Waves in an Elastic Medium with Aquifer

Abstract

We study propagation of seismoacoustic waves in a three-layer medium consisting of a homogeneous isotropic solid deformable layer loaded on a uniform liquid layer above a homogeneous isotropic solid half-space. This medium models a geological section in which the top soil layer is separated from the deep rock by an aquifer. The dispersion relation is obtained and analyzed, and its solutions for cases that are important from the practical point of view are presented. Features of the dispersion curves and spatial distribution of the mode fields made it possible not only to reveal the existence of an aquifer under the top soil layer, but also determine its thickness and depth. It is shown that the ratio of vertical and horizontal components of the displacement vector measured on the Earth’s surface is a significant parameter for solving the geological medium reconstruction problem.