An efficient algorithm for double‐difference tomography and location in heterogeneous media, with an application to the Kilauea volcano

Abstract

Improving our understanding of crustal processes requires a better knowledge of the geometry and the position of geological bodies. In this study we have designed a method based upon double‐difference relocation and tomography to image, as accurately as possible, a heterogeneous medium containing seismogenic objects. Our approach consisted not only of incorporating double difference in tomography but also partly in revisiting tomographic schemes for choosing accurate and stable numerical strategies, adapted to the use of cross‐spectral time delays. We used a finite difference solution to the eikonal equation for travel time computation and a Tarantola‐Valette approach for both the classical and double‐difference three‐dimensional tomographic inversion to find accurate earthquake locations and seismic velocity estimates. We estimated efficiently the square root of the inverse model's covariance matrix in the case of a Gaussian correlation function. It allows the use of correlation length and a priori model variance criteria to determine the optimal solution. Double‐difference relocation of similar earthquakes is performed in the optimal velocity model, making absolute and relative locations less biased by the velocity model. Double‐difference tomography is achieved by using high‐accuracy time delay measurements. These algorithms have been applied to earthquake data recorded in the vicinity of Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes for imaging the volcanic structures. Stable and detailed velocity models are obtained: the regional tomography unambiguously highlights the structure of the island of Hawaii and the double‐difference tomography shows a detailed image of the southern Kilauea caldera–upper east rift zone magmatic complex.