Ray velocities in transversely isotropic media, from common-offset reflection data

The relationship between layer and apparent reflection velocities obtained fora layer much thinner than the overlying in a 2D transversely isotropic medium can be used to plot offset dependence of effective ray velocity indicative of anisotropy type. This approach, called point inversion, is based on the properties of two rays which are reflected from the layer top and bottom and connect the same source-receiver pair. Point inversion is applied, after constraining the layer thickness, to obtain the indicator ellipsoid of ray velocity and then to find the horizontal velocity and anisotropy in each layer. Processing of seismoacoustic radio buoy experimental data and numerical modeling show up to 16 percent anisotropy of type II in marine sediments.