The Solution of the Inverse Problem in Geophysical Interpretation – R. Cassinis – 1981

Published in 1981, The Solution of the Inverse Problem in Geophysical Interpretation captures an important period in the development of modern geophysics: the effort to reconstruct the hidden structure of Earth from measurements made at its surface.

An inverse problem works backward from observations to determine their underlying cause. Rather than starting with a known geological structure and predicting what instruments should measure, geophysicists collect seismic and other physical data and ask: What structure beneath our feet could have produced these observations? This deceptively simple question became fundamental to seismic imaging, Earth structure research, mineral exploration, and many of today's computational methods for studying otherwise inaccessible systems.

Edited by R. Cassinis of the University of Milan, this volume contains proceedings from the Third Course of the International School of Applied Geophysics, held in Erice, Sicily, from March 27–April 4, 1980. Subjects include linearized inversion of teleseismic data, seismic surface waves, crust and upper-mantle structural models, and other mathematical and geophysical approaches to extracting physical structure from indirect observations.

The volume is part of the Ettore Majorana International Science Series, Physical Sciences, Volume 11, and was published by Plenum Press in 1981.

It is also a historical artifact from a consequential period in applied Earth science. Geophysical inversion and seismic techniques greatly expanded humanity's ability to understand the planet's interior, while many of the same advances were adopted for increasingly sophisticated petroleum and mineral exploration. By the early 1980s, the environmental consequences of fossil-fuel dependence were becoming substantially harder to regard as unknowable. Viewed four decades later, books such as this document both remarkable scientific progress and the complicated industrial history surrounding many of its applications.

The underlying mathematics of the inverse problem extends far beyond petroleum exploration: inverse methods now appear throughout seismology, medical imaging, astronomy, remote sensing, acoustics, engineering, and numerous other fields in which scientists must infer an inaccessible reality from observable signals.

Publication details:
The Solution of the Inverse Problem in Geophysical Interpretation
Edited by R. Cassinis
Plenum Press, New York and London
1981
Ettore Majorana International Science Series — Physical Sciences, Vol. 11
ISBN 0-306-40735-3
Printed in the United States

Condition: Vintage academic hardcover. Appears to be a former research or institutional copy and may contain associated markings. Interior pages shown appear clean and well preserved. Please review photographs for the exact condition of the copy.

An unusual piece for collections focused on geophysics, seismology, mathematical geology, computing, scientific history, Earth science, or the history of scientific exploration.