A new scheme for joint surface wave and earthquake travel-time inversion and resulting 3-D velocity model for the western North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

We have developed a joint inversion of surface wave group velocity (U) and local earthquake travel-time (LET) data and applied it to the North Island, New Zealand, to improve the existing New Zealand wide 3-D seismic velocity model. This approach takes full advantage of the differing sensitivities of surface and body waves. The data are complementary, particularly at shallow depths where LET tomography suffers from vertical smearing and surface wave tomography is susceptible to horizontal smearing. The employed U observations are 2-D models at discrete periods which were developed for Rayleigh wave dispersion curves measured from the 1744 interstation Green’s Functions obtained by stacked cross-correlations of broadband ambient noise data. In the volume surrounding each U observation, we distribute numerous points for relating the U observation to the gridded 3-D tomography model, analogous to points along a raypath. The partial derivatives at the points are computed using the U sensitivity kernels for Vp and Vs, with Vs related to Vp and Vp/Vs perturbations. Thus, the U observations are included along with the travel-time observations in a joint inversion to best fit the data and the existing tomography model. The resulting model favors the U where there is little travel-time resolution. The combined inversion used 2949U observations at 6–16s period and LET from 1509 earthquakes that extend to 370km depth, and improved the model fit by reducing the U residual data variance by 62% and the LET by 9%. The resulting model generally has better constrained depth of shallow anomalies, with decreased velocity in the upper 2km in the western North Island, and slight focusing of crustal high velocity features at 8km depth. Significantly, the increased resolution in the shallowest 5km of the model improves the utility of the 3-D model for use in seismic hazard assessment, wave propagation studies, and studies comparing seismic velocities to geological mapping.