THE DELAY-TIME METHOD

Depth to refractor beneath each geophone rather than at shot points only as in the intercept method

Delay time: Delay-time is the time spent by a

wave to travel up or down through the V1
layer (slant path) compared to the time the
wave would spend if traveling along the
projection of the slant path on the refractor
(AB or CD in Fig.1)

Total delay time is

𝑦
𝑇𝐸𝐺 = 𝑡𝑅 −
𝑉2 Figure.1
Where tR is the total time along EBCG or GCBE (these are reciprocal times).
(Note: lower case t refers to times that can be measured from time-distance plots; uppercase T refers to delay times.)
By definition,
Observe that there is no slant path in layer V1 for BC, and so it has no delay-time
𝑇𝐸𝐺 = 𝑇𝐸 + 𝑇𝐺
component
Substituting, So,
𝑉2 1 𝑉1 1
𝑦 𝑇𝐺 = ℎ𝐺 − ℎ𝐺
𝑡𝑅 = 𝑇𝐺 + 𝑇𝐸 + 𝑉1 (𝑉22 − 𝑉12 )1/2 𝑉2 (𝑉22 − 𝑉12 )1/2
𝑉2

(𝑉22 −𝑉12)
Find delay-time at a geophone by solving for 𝑇𝐺 = ℎ𝐺
𝑉1 𝑉2 (𝑉22 − 𝑉12 )1/2
𝑦
𝑇𝐺 = 𝑡𝑅 − − 𝑇𝐸 𝑉1 𝑉2
𝑉2 ℎ𝐺 = 𝑇𝐺 2
(𝑉2 − 𝑉12 )1/2
By definition,
𝐶𝐺 𝐶𝐷 This equation shows that if one knows V1 , V2 , TG then
𝑇𝐺 = −
𝑉1 𝑉2 one can obtain the depth below geophone G
By trigonometry, we can demonstrate that But just a minute!
ℎ𝐺 ℎ𝐺 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃𝑖𝑐 We cannot measure TG directly
𝑇𝐺 = −
𝑉1 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 𝑉2
𝑖𝑐
The solution is to use forward and reverse profiles together to
Using the relationships, get TG

𝑉1 (𝑉22 − 𝑉12 )1/2 𝑉1

𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃𝑖𝑐 = 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃𝑖𝑐 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃𝑖𝑐 =
𝑉2 𝑉2 (𝑉22 − 𝑉12 )1/2
Consider Figure 2. A geophone, G, is located between forward If we assume that the refractor is planar,
source EF and reverse source ER
𝑇𝐺𝐹 = 𝑇𝐺𝑅
Summing,
𝑥 𝑦−𝑥
𝑡𝐸𝐹𝐺 + 𝑡𝐸𝑅𝐺 = 𝑇𝐸𝐹 + 𝑇𝐸𝑅 + 2𝑇𝐺 + +
𝑉2 𝑉2

Because of the requirement of reciprocity,

𝑦
𝑡𝑅 = 𝑇𝐸𝐹 + 𝑇𝐸𝑅 +
𝑉2

Figure 2 and, therefore,

Rewrite 𝑡𝐸𝐹𝐺 + 𝑡𝐸𝑅𝐺 = 𝑡𝑅 + 2𝑇𝐺
𝑦
𝑡𝑅 = 𝑇𝐺 + 𝑇𝐸 +
𝑉2
and
The traveltime from EF to G (tEG ) is measured on a field 𝑡𝐸𝐹 𝐺 + 𝑡𝐸𝑅 𝐺 − 𝑡𝑅
𝑇𝐺 =
seismogram and is plotted on a time-distance graph. 2

for a geophone situated between EF dan EG This gives delay-time entirely in terms of measurable
quantities that can be obtained from a plot of T(x).
𝑥 𝑦−𝑥
𝑡𝐸𝐹 𝐺 = 𝑇𝐸𝐹 + 𝑇𝐺𝐹 + 𝑡𝐸𝑅 𝐺 = 𝑇𝐸𝑅 + 𝑇𝐺𝑅 +
𝑉2 𝑉2
Assumptions 4. distances traveled on refractor are approximately equal to
surface distances:
1. The drawing on the left, not the drawing on the right:

2. planar refractor below all G.

3. relief on reflector must be small compared with

average depth of reflector in order for ER to lie on
refractor.
Note: depth (dash-dotted line below) is the Missing information:
perpendicular distance from G to the refractor:
The drawing on the left, not the drawing on the right: • If refractor is irregular, then its velocity isn’t given by the
slope of the traveltime plot.
• Obtain V2 by plotting ½ (tEFG – tERG ) vs geophone location
Summary of procedure for delay-time calculation

1. Plot forward and reversed traveltimes. Use only the geophone locations that record both forward and reverse
refractions.

The corresponding forward and reverse raypaths to geophone G are shown below.
2. Calculate tEFG and tERG for locations in 2)

3. Calculate tEFG – tERG Vs position; the slope gives V1

𝑡𝐸𝐹 𝐺 + 𝑡𝐸𝑅𝐺 − 𝑡𝑅
4. calculate 𝑇𝐺 =
𝑉2
𝑉1 𝑉2
5. calculate ℎ𝐺 = 𝑇𝐺
(𝑉22 − 𝑉12 )1/2

6. plot circles of radius hG

7. find tangent to circles. This is the refractor boundary in cross-section