Assessing uncertainties in high-resolution, multifrequency receiver-function inversion: A comparison with borehole data

Abstract

We use teleseismic P-to-S converted waves from a permanent station to estimate the uncertainties in a 1D elastic model of the shallow crust (0–7 km depth) obtained from the inversion of receiver function (RF) data. Our earth model consists of layers with a constant S-wave velocity [Formula: see text] and P- to S-wave velocity ratio ([Formula: see text]). We apply a Bayesian formulation and transdimensional Monte Carlo sampling to compute the posterior uncertainties of the earth model. The model uncertainties rely on a realistic representation of the data uncertainties, and we estimate directly from the stacking of the teleseismic data, a full-error covariance matrix. To explore the effect of the number of teleseismic events and the RF frequency content, we compare the results of inverting a single RF computed for a cut-off filter frequency of 4 Hz with the joint inversion of four RFs computed from independent ensembles in a larger pool of events for cut-off frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 Hz. The inversion results are compared with the lithostratigraphy and sonic-log measurements from a 7 km deep borehole drilled near the seismic station. The inversion of a single RF results in larger uncertainties in the recovered [Formula: see text] profile and in the depth to seismic discontinuities compared with the multifrequency inversion. Moreover, the multifrequency inversion predicts more accurately the depth to a velocity inversion at approximately 6 km below the surface and matches more closely the borehole sonic-log data. Our results indicate that RF data can be used to map shallow (3–5 km depth) crustal interfaces with uncertainties in the order of 300–500 m, whereas uncertainties are consistently smaller (<300 m) for interfaces in the top kilometer.