Experimental Evidence of S*‐wave*

During development of theoretical methods to compute synthetic seismograms, a new type of wave called S*‐wave was discovered by Hron and Mikhailenko. This wave propagates with the shear‐wave velocity and can be interpreted as a non‐geometrical wave arrival with large amplitudes strongly depending on the depth of a pure P‐point source. In this first experimental verification of the existence of S*‐waves by means of two‐dimensional model‐seismics it is demonstrated that: 1. the S*‐wave exists and depends on the source distance from the free surface; 2. the S*‐wave is generated as an ordinary shear wave on the free surface at the point located directly above the P‐source, as illustrated in the synthetic seismograms. The measured seismograms agree remarkably well with the computed ones.