Random rays and seismic amplitude anomalies

Gives an explanation of the phenomenon, sometimes observed in exploration seismology, of anomalously large amplitudes which seem inconsistent with the traveltime curves when the data are interpreted as resulting from reflections from smooth interfaces of piece-wise homogeneous media. Monte Carlo simulations illustrate how this phenomenon can occur when the homogeneous media have small, smooth, random velocity fluctuations which vary on a length scale which is large compared with a wavelength but small compared with the propagation distance. -Authors