Application of the time-frequency polarization analysis to study the complexity of surface wave propagation

Abstract

A new technique called the time-frequency polarization analysis was introduced in this paper. The technique combined the traditional surface wave analysis techniques (moving window and multi-filter) with the singular value decomposition method to measure the incidence azimuth of surface waves with different wavelengths. It was applied to study the progagation paths of surface waves across the different blocks of Chinese continent and different zones of Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) plateau. The results show that the method can make full use of the differences in frequency compositions and arrival times of different surface wave modes, and give better polarization analysis results. The analysis by actual data shows that the lateral heterogeneity of the lithospheric structure influences the propagation paths of surface waves severely. Deviations of the paths across the Qinghai-Xizang plateau from great circle paths are great. Deviations of the surface waves across the different zones in Qinghai-Xizang plateau are different.