This figure shows the wave field generated by an impulsive point compressional source in a shallow water environment over soft sediments. Even for this simple model the wavefield is quite complex. The wavefronts corresponding to a large family of multi-paths are labelled.
The water depth is 100m and the source depth is 50m. The source time series in pressure is the third derivative of a Gaussian pulse and has a peak frequency of 10Hz. The snapshot shows the vertical displacement of the wavefield at 1.2s after the initiation of the pulse. The water layer is homogeneous with a velocity of 1500m/s and a density of 1000kg/m**3. The sedimentary bottom is represented by a vertical velocity gradient over the upper 250m. At the seafloor the sediment compressional velocity is 2.0k/s, the shear velocity is 0.68k/s and the density is 2000kg/m**3. At 250m depth the sediment compressional velocity is 2.25k/s, the shear velocity is 0.76k/s and the density is 2100kg/m**3. Below 250m the sediment is homogeneous.