Detecting a scatterer in a 3D elastic medium using shear waves and a multi-scattering wavefield

Being very contrasting scatterers, small subsurface features such as fractures, reefs, and voids can generate strong scattered waves. Detection and interpretation of primary diffraction events from target objects is highly difficult due to strong interfering noise coming from direct waves, surface waves, and scattering from other subsurface heterogeneities. Seismic energy can be trapped within voids as circumferential waves and then slowly released long after the impact. The use of shear waves can be beneficial for shallow diffraction imaging. The time reversal mirror (TRM) approach allows multiple scattering to be taken into account. In this paper, we combine the advantages of using shear waves with TRM to detect and localize small scale subsurface scatterers.