Seismic Shear Waves in Deep Seismic Reflection Surveys: Some Notes on Problems and Profits

Shear (S) waves differ from compressional (P) waves because of their lower propagation velocities, their lower frequencies and due to the different character of their particle motion. The move-out of travel-time branches of S-wave reflections is different from P waves owing to the difference in the propagation velocities. To distinguish between P and S waves requires broadband-frequency acquisition, long receiver arrays and three-component recording. S-wave generation at the source and P-to-S-wave conversion at crustal interfaces can be very efficient, implying that there is a real danger of misinterpreting signals if only vertical components are used. On the other hand, integrated P- and S-wave studies promise to provide very efficient lithological discriminators in the crystalline crust, in particular concerning the quartz content, and indicators for rock anisotropy, which can be interpreted for the existence of fine layering, the direction of the recent stress regime (alignments of micro-fractures) or for the direction of palaeo-stress (alignments of minerals).