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A BLIND ZONE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF HIDDEN LAYERS WITHIN A SEQUENCE OF HORIZONTAL OR DIPPING REFRACTORS *
- Source: Geophysical Prospecting, Volume 26, Issue 4, Oct 1978, p. 703 - 721
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- 27 Apr 2006
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Abstract
In seismic refraction surveys, in particular those using first arrival recording techniques, the hidden layer problem occurs where energy from a refractor of higher velocity arrives at the surface before energy from an overlying refractor. The maximum thickness of the hidden layer is referred to as the blind zone.
Hypothetically, every recorded refractor has an associated blind zone which may or may not contain a hidden layer. For an assumed earth model of plane constant‐velocity layers and stepwise increase of velocity with depth, the effect of a blind zone on an interpreted depth section may be evaluated by defining an intercept time for a blind zone of assumed or known velocity and by using standard time‐term equations for layer thicknesses and depths.
The treatment covers an arbitrary number of blind zones embedded within a multilayer sequence of horizontal or dipping refractors. Model calculations affirm the benefits of this approach compared with previous methods which, in general, have been restricted to the case of two horizontal layers with one intermediate blind zone.