Geology topics

J.P. Castagna

Publications and source records attributed to J.P. Castagna.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2006

Anomalous postcritical refraction behavior for certain transversely isotropic media

Snell's law at the boundary between two transversely isotropic media with a vertical axis of symmetry (VTI media) can be solved by setting up a fourth order polynomial for the sine of the reflection/transmission angles. This approach reveals the possible presence of an anomalous postcritical angle for certain transversely isotropic media. There are thus possibly three incident angle regimes for the reflection/refraction of longitudinal or transverse waves incident upon a VTI medium: precritical, postcritical/preanomalous, and postanomalous. The anomalous angle occurs for certain strongly anisotropic media where the required root to the phase velocity equation must be switched in order to obey Snell's law. The reflection/transmission coefficients, polarization directions, and the phase velocity are all affected by both the anisotropy and the incident angle. The incident critical angles are also effected by the anisotropy. ?? 2006 Acoustical Society of America.

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America↗

USGS2005

AVO for one- and two-fracture set models

A theoretical comparison is made of PP and PS angle-dependent reflection coefficients at the top of two fractured-reservoir models using exact, general, anisotropic reflection coefficients. The two vertical-fracture models are taken to have the same total crack density. The primary issue investigated is determination of the fracture orientation using azimuthal AVO analysis. The first model represents a single-fracture set and the second model has an additional fracture set oblique to the first set at an angle of 60??. As expected, the PP-wave anisotropy is reduced when multiple fracture sets are present, making the determination of orientation more difficult than for the case of a single-fracture set. Long offsets are required for identification of dominant fracture orientations using PP-wave AVO. PS-wave AVO, however, is quite sensitive to fracture orientations, even at short offsets. For multiple-fracture sets, PS signals can potentially be used to determine orientations of the individual sets. ?? 2005 Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.

Geophysics↗

USGS2001

Three-parameter AVO crossplotting in anisotropic media

Amplitude versus offset (AVO) interpretation can be facilitated by crossplotting AVO intercept ( A ), gradient ( B ), and curvature ( C ) terms. However, anisotropy, which exists in the real world, usually complicates AVO analysis. Recognizing anisotropic behavior on AVO crossplots can help avoid AVO interpretation errors. Using a modification to a three-term ( A , B , and C ) approximation to the exact anisotropic reflection coefficients for transversely isotropic media, we find that anisotropy has a nonlinear effect on an A versus C crossplot yet causes slope changes and differing intercepts on A versus B or C crossplots. Empirical corrections that result in more accurate crossplot interpretation are introduced for specific circumstances.

Geophysics↗