Attenuation of seismic waves near an explosion*

Abstract

Abstract The energies of the first recorded pulses of seismic waves generated by a series of buried explosions is plotted as a function of distance from the shot point. At short distances the first pulse is a combination of the direct compressional wave, surface waves, and other pulses. Beyond 800 feet it is a pulse refracted at the bottom of the weathered layer. The refracted pulse has about 1/600 the energy of the direct pulse. The rate of attenuation of the two pulses is examined in an attempt to determine whether all the energy loss can reasonably be attributed to normal exponential absorption.