INVERSION OF SYNTHETICS: EFFECT OF POROELASTICITY

In this section we determine the effect of poroelasticity on the inversion. Previously, the near seafloor sediment was assumed to be an elastic medium. In reality, however, it is a porous medium whose pores are filled with fluid. In order to evaluate the possible impact on the data and the inversion, synthetics were generated for water overlaying a porous half space. The sediment was assumed to have 46% porosity, thus making it very unconsolidated. The effective parameters for the half-space are given in Table 7.

$$\phi \rho_2$$ v_p2 (m/s) v_s2 (m/s)

46 1671 430 1891

Table 7: Effective layer properties.