The Interaction of Seismic Waves with Horizontal Velocity Contrasts

A new method is proposed to consider the propagation of seismic waves through a multilayered medium containing a layer in which there is a horizontal discontinuity in elastic parameters. This technique is based on the iterative solution of a system of singular integral equations and represents an extension of conventional matrix methods for multilayered elastic media. An alternative formulation based on the use of elastodynamic representation theorems is also presented since this displays more clearly the formal structure of the method.