The Reflectivity Method for Synthetic Seismograms at a Buried Receiver

Abstract The reflectivity method for computing synthetic seismograms at the ground surface has been extended to include buried receivers while maintaining computational stability. Three-component seismograms are computed for two test cases and compared with results obtained through other methods, confirming the validity of the extension. Another example based on a real situation is used to examine the common assumption that shallow borehole seismograms can be approximated by surface seismograms. The results support this assumption for the vertical component, but not for the horizontal components, where both amplitudes and waveforms differ substantially.