Quadratic wavefront and traveltime approximations in inhomogeneous layered media with curved interfaces

A quadratic approximation for the square of the traveltime from a source region to a receiver region is given for a three‐dimensional (3-D) medium consisting of inhomogeneous layers with curved interfaces. The square of the traveltime, being a function of source and receiver coordinates, is developed in a Taylor series around a reference source and receiver point. The relationships of the traveltime parameters to the ray parameters and the wavefront curvature matrices are shown. Using midpoint, half‐offset coordinates gives a simplified traveltime function compared to using source‐receiver coordinates only in the case that the reference source point and the reference receiver point coincide (zero‐offset approximation). For a medium consisting of homogeneous layers with plane dipping interfaces, the traveltime approximation is further simplified. The derived traveltime approximation is shown to be exact for a reflection from a plane dipping interface in a homogeneous medium. Explicit expressions for the tr...