Fundamental Mode Rayleigh Waves Research Articles

Estimation of Ground Structure at USM using Microtremor Observation Technique

Determination of ground structure is important for seismic hazard analysis and earthquake design of structures. Different types of ground structure at site, depending on its profile of shear-wave velocity, will amplify seismic wave at different extents. Therefore, structures should be designed accordingly to withstand the expected surface ground motion considering seismic site amplification. Microtremor observations were conducted in this study due to its simplicity, less field effort and economy. Field measurement was carried out at two sites at Universiti Sains Malaysia Engineering Campus where the actual soil profiles were known from the existing borelog data. Two sizes of circular array formed by three three-component velocity sensors along the circumference of circle and a three-component velocity sensor at the center for each array were performed. The recorded data were analysed using Spatial Autocorrelation (SPAC) method. Shear wave velocity profile for the site was then estimated through inversion of phase velocity. To produce convincing estimation of ground structure, the horizontal to vertical (H/V) spectra at the center of the circular array was compared with the computed ellipticity of the fundamental mode of Rayleigh wave. The obtained results were also compared with the borelog data. The accuracy for the estimation of ground structure based on various microtremor array sizes and analysis techniques was assessed.

Microtremor exploration for shallow S-wave velocity structure in Bandung Basin, Indonesia

We have conducted a microtremor survey for shallow S-wave velocity profiles to be used for seismic hazard evaluation in the Bandung Basin, Indonesia. In the survey, two arrays were deployed temporarily at each of 29 sites, by installing seven vertical sensors in triangular configurations with side lengths from 1 to 16 m. Records of vertical microtremors from each array were used to estimate Rayleigh wave phase velocity spectra using the spatial autocorrelation method, as well as the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio obtained at the centre of the arrays. Phase velocities at sites on the basin margin exhibit higher values than those obtained in the central part of the basin, in a frequency range of 7 to 30 Hz. The phase velocity data were used to deduce S-wave velocity profiles of shallow soil using a hybrid heuristic inversion method. We validated our inversion models by comparing observed horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios with ellipticities of the fundamental mode of Rayleigh waves, calculated for the inversion models. The S-wave velocity profiles in the area can be characterised by two soft layers over a firm engineering basement that has an S-wave velocity of 500 m/s. The S-wave velocities of the two layers are 120 and 280 m/s on average. The distribution of the averaged S-wave velocity in the top 30 m clearly indicates low values in the eastern central part and high values in the edge of the basin. The amplification is large in the areas with low velocity layers. In addition, we have proposed an empirical relation between the amplification factor and the topographical slope in the area.

Seismic Velocity Changes in the Backarc Continental Crust After the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku‐Oki Megathrust Earthquake

AbstractThe 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku‐Oki megathrust earthquake accompanied coseismic and postseismic displacements around the eastern Eurasian continental plate. Noise cross correlations produced transient seismic waveforms along interstation paths in the Korean Peninsula. We measured the traveltime changes of the fundamental mode Rayleigh waves over the range of 0.03–0.08 Hz after the megathrust earthquake. The temporal seismic velocity changes in the lower crust were assessed from the traveltime changes. The traveltimes increased instantly after the megathrust earthquake and were gradually recovered over several hundreds to thousands of days. The instant shear wave velocity decreases ranged between 0.731 (±0.057)% and 4.068 (±0.173)%. The temporal medium perturbation might be caused by the transient uniaxial tensional stress due to the coseismic and postseismic displacements. The medium properties may be recovered by progressive stress field reconstruction.

Anisotropic Tomography Around La Réunion Island From Rayleigh Waves

AbstractIn the western Indian Ocean, the Réunion hot spot is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Temporal interactions between ridges and plumes have shaped the structure of the zone. This study investigates the mantle structure using data from the Réunion Hotspot and Upper Mantle‐Réunions Unterer Mantel (RHUM‐RUM) project, which significantly increased the seismic coverage of the western part of the Indian Ocean. For more than 1 year, 57 ocean bottom seismometer stations and 23 temporary land stations were deployed over this area. For each earthquake station path, the Rayleigh wave fundamental mode phase velocities were measured for the periods from 30 s to 300 s and group velocities for the period from 16 s to 250 s. A three‐dimensional model of the shear velocity in the upper mantle was built in two steps. First, the path mean phase and group velocities were inverted, to obtain regionalized velocity maps for each separate period. Then, all of the phase and group velocity maps were combined and inverted at each grid point, to obtain the local S wave velocity as a function of depth, using a transdimensional inversion scheme. The three‐dimensional anisotropic S wave velocity model has resolution down to 300 km in depth. The tomographic model and surface tectonics are correlated down to ∼100 km in depth. Starting at 50 km in depth, a slow velocity anomaly beneath Rodrigues Ridge and the east‐west orientation of the azimuthal anisotropy show a connection between Réunion upwelling and the Central Indian Ridge. The slow velocity signature beneath La Réunion is connected at greater depths (150–300 km) with a large slow velocity zone beneath the entire Mascarene Basin. This develops along a northeast direction, following the general motion direction of the African Plate. These observations indicate nonisotropic spreading of hot plume material and dominant horizontal flow in the upper mantle beneath this area.

A study on surface wave dispersion due to the effect of soft layer in layered media

Surface wave techniques are widely used as non-invasive method for geotechnical site characterization. Field surface wave data are collected and analyzed using different processing techniques to generate the dispersion curves, which are further used to extract the shear wave velocity profile by inverse problem solution. Characteristics of a dispersion curve depend on the subsurface layering information of a vertically heterogeneous medium. Sometimes soft layer can be found between two stiff layers in the vertically heterogeneous media, and it can affect the wave propagation dramatically. Now most of the surface wave techniques use the fundamental mode Rayleigh wave propagation during the inversion, but this may not be the actual scenario when a soft layer is present in a vertically layered medium. This paper presents a detailed and comprehensive study using finite element method to examine the effect of soft layers which sometimes get trapped between two high velocity layers. Determination of the presence of a soft layer is quite important for proper mechanical characterization of a soil deposit. Present analysis shows that the thickness and position of the trapped soft layer highly influence the dispersion of Rayleigh waves while the higher modes also contribute in the resulting wave propagation.

Global seismic attenuation imaging using full-waveform inversion: a comparative assessment of different choices of misfit functionals

Author(s): Karaoglu, H; Romanowicz, B | Abstract: We present the results of synthetic tests that aim at evaluating the relative performance of three different definitions of misfit functionals in the context of 3-D imaging of shear wave attenuation in the earth's upper mantle at the global scale, using long-period full-waveform data. The synthetic tests are conducted with simple hypothetical upper-mantle models that contain Qμ anomalies centred at different depths and locations, with or without additional seismic velocity anomalies. To build synthetic waveform data sets, we performed simulations of 50 events in the hypothetical (target) models, using the spectral element method, filtered in the period range 60-400 s. The selected events are chosen among 273 events used in the development of radially anisotropic model SEMUCB-WM1 and recorded at 495 stations worldwide. The synthetic Z-component waveforms correspond to paths and time intervals (fundamental mode and overtone Rayleigh waves) that exist in the real waveform data set. The inversions for shear attenuation structure are carried out using a Gauss-Newton optimization scheme in which the gradient and Hessian are computed using normal mode perturbation theory. The three different misfit functionals considered are based on time domain waveform (WF) and waveform envelope (E-WF) differences, as well as spectral amplitude ratios (SA), between observed and predicted waveforms.We evaluate the performance of the three misfit functional definitions in the presence of seismic noise and unresolved S-wave velocity heterogeneity and discuss the relative importance of physical dispersion effects due to 3-D Qμ structure. We observed that the performance of WF is poorer than the other two misfit functionals in recovering attenuation structure, unless anelastic dispersion effects are taken into account in the calculation of partial derivatives. WF also turns out to be more sensitive to seismic noise than E-WF and SA. Overall, SA performs best for attenuation imaging. Our tests show that it is important to account for 3-D elastic effects (focusing) before inverting for Qμ. Additionally, we show that including high signal-to-noise ratio overtone wave packets is necessary to resolve Qμ structure at depths greater than 250 km.

VS of the uppermost crust structure of the Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy) from ambient noise Rayleigh wave analysis

Shear wave velocities (VS) are defined in the uppermost 1–2km of the Campi Flegrei caldera through the non-linear inversion of the group velocity dispersion curves of fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves extracted from ambient noise cross-correlations between two receivers. Noise recordings, three months long, at 12 seismic stations are cross-correlated between all couples of stations. The experiment provided successful results along 54 paths (inter-stations distance), of which 27 sampled a depth > 1km.VS contour lines are drawn from 0.06km b.s.l. to 1km depth b.s.l. and show difference between the offshore (gulf of Pozzuoli and coastline) and the onshore areas. At 0.06km b.s.l., the gulf of Pozzuoli and the coastline are characterized by VS of 0.3–0.5km/s and of 0.5–0.7km/s, respectively. Such velocities are typical of Neapolitan pyroclastic soils and fractured or altered tuffs. The inland shows VS in the range 0.7–0.9km/s, typical of Neapolitan compact tuffs. Velocities increase with depth and, at 1km depth b.s.l., velocities lower than 1.5km/s are still present in the gulf and along the coastline while velocities higher than 1.9km/s characterize the eastern sector (grossly coincident with the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera rim), the S. Vito plain and the area between Solfatara and SW of Astroni.Such features are much more evident along two cross-sections drawn in the offshore and onshore sectors by integrating our VS models with literature data. Our models join previous noise cross-correlation studies at greater scale at depths of 0.7–0.8km, hence the picture of the Campi Flegrei caldera is shown up to a depth of 15km. VS of about 1.7km/s, corresponding to compression velocities (VP) of about 3km/s (computed by using the VP/VS ratio resulted in the inversion), are found at depths of 1.1km, in the centre of the gulf of Pozzuoli, and at a depth of about 0.7km b.s.l. onshore. An increment of VS velocity (~1.9–2.0km/s) is locally observed onshore which might be attributed to a layer of tuffs and tuffites interbedded with thin lava beds, according to the correlation of VS with stratigraphies in the deep drillings of S. Vito.

Crust and upper mantle shear wave structure of Northeast Algeria from Rayleigh wave dispersion analysis

We resolve the crust and upper mantle structure beneath Northeast Algeria at depths of 0–400km, using inversion of fundamental mode Rayleigh wave. Our data set consists of 490 earthquakes recorded between 2007 and 2014 by five permanent broadband seismic stations in the study area. Applying a combination of different filtering technics and inversion method shear wave velocities structure were determined as functions of depth.The resolved changes in Vs at 50km depth are in perfect agreement with crustal thickness estimates, which reflect the study area’s orogenic setting, partly overlying the collision zone between the African and Eurasian plates. The inferred Moho discontinuity depths are close to those estimated for other convergent areas. In addition, there is good agreement between our results and variations in orientations of regional seismic anisotropy. At depths of 80–180km, negative Vs anomalies at station CBBR suggest the existence of a failed subduction slab.

Ambient noise tomography across Mount St. Helens using a dense seismic array

AbstractWe investigated upper crustal structure with data from a dense seismic array deployed around Mount St. Helens for 2 weeks in the summer of 2014. Interstation cross correlations of ambient seismic noise data from the array were obtained, and clear fundamental mode Rayleigh waves were observed between 2.5 and 5 s periods. In addition, higher‐mode signals were observed around 2 s period. Frequency‐time analysis was applied to measure fundamental mode Rayleigh wave phase velocities, which were used to invert for 2‐D phase velocity maps. An azimuth‐dependent traveltime correction was implemented to mitigate potential biases introduced due to an inhomogeneous noise source distribution. Reliable phase velocity maps were only obtained between 3 and 4 s periods due to limitations imposed by the array aperture and higher‐mode contamination. The phase velocity tomography results, which are sensitive to structure shallower than 6 km depth, reveal an ~10–15% low‐velocity anomaly centered beneath the volcanic edifice and peripheral high‐velocity anomalies that likely correspond to cooled igneous intrusions. We suggest that the low‐velocity anomaly reflects the high‐porosity mixture of lava and ash deposits near the surface of the edifice, a highly fractured magmatic conduit and hydrothermal system beneath the volcano, and possibly a small contribution from silicate melt.

Lithospheric structure of the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau from Rayleigh wave tomography

AbstractLithospheric shear wave velocity beneath the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is obtained from Rayleigh wave tomography using earthquake data recorded by the temporary ChinArray and permanent China Digital Seismic Array. Fundamental mode Rayleigh wave phase velocities at periods of 20–100 s are determined and used to construct the 3‐D shear wave velocity model. Low‐velocity anomalies appear along or close to the major faults in the middle crust and become a broad zone in the lower crust, suggesting block extrusion in the shallow crust and diffuse deformation in the lower crust, both of which play important roles in accommodating the collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates. A vertical low‐velocity column beneath the Tengchong Volcano is observed, which could be caused by upwelling of warm mantle due to the lithosphere extension in the Thailand rift basin to the south or by fluid‐induced partial melting due to the subduction of the Burma slab. The western Yangtze Craton is characterized by low velocity in the crust and uppermost mantle above the fast mantle lithosphere, indicating possible thermal erosion at the western craton edge resulted from the extrusion of the Tibetan Plateau. A low‐velocity zone is imaged at the depths of 70–150 km beneath the eastern part of the Yangtze Craton, which could be caused by small‐scale mantle convection associated with the subduction of the Burma microplate and/or the opening of the South China Sea.

Underplating along the northern portion of the Zagros suture zone, Iran

A 2-D absolute shear wave velocity model has been resolved beneath a seismic profile across the northeastern margin of the Arabian Plate—Central Iran by simultaneously inverting data from P receiver functions and fundamental mode Rayleigh wave phase velocity. The data were gathered by a linear seismic array crossing the Zagros fold and thrust belt, Urmia–Dokhtar magmatic arc and Central Iran block assemblage as three major structural components of the Arabia–Eurasia collision. Our model shows a low-velocity tongue protruding from upper to lower crust which, north of the Zagros suture, indicates the signature of an intracontinent low-strength shear zone between the underthrusting and overriding continents. The velocity model confirms the presence of a significant crustal root as well as a thick high-velocity lithosphere in footwall of the suture, continuing northwards beneath the overriding continent for at least 200 km. These features are interpreted as underthrusting of Arabia beneath Central Iran. Time to depth migration of P receiver functions reveals an intracrustal flat interface at ∼17 km depth south of the suture; we interpret it as a significant decoupling within the upper crust. All these crustal scale structural features coherently explain different styles and kinematics of deformation in northern Zagros (Lorestan zone) with respect to its southern part (Fars zone).

Shear wave velocities in the upper mantle of the Western Alps: new constraints using array analysis of seismic surface waves

It remains challenging to obtain absolute shear wave velocities of heterogeneities of small lateral extension in the uppermost mantle. This study presents a cross-section of Vs across the strongly heterogeneous 3-D structure of the western European Alps, based on array analysis of data from 92 broad-band seismic stations from the CIFALPS experiment and from permanent networks in France and Italy. Half of the stations were located along a dense sublinear array. Using a combination of these stations and off-profile stations, fundamental-mode Rayleigh wave dispersion curves were calculated using a combined frequency-time beamforming approach. We calculated dispersion curves for seven arrays of approximately 100 km aperture and 14 arrays of approximately 50 km aperture, the latter with the aim of obtaining a 2-D vertical cross-section of Vs beneath the western Alps. The dispersion curves were inverted for Vs(z), with crustal interfaces imposed from a previous receiver function study. The array approach proved feasible, as Vs(z) from independent arrays vary smoothly across the profile length. Results from the seven large arrays show that the shear velocity of the upper mantle beneath the European plate is overall low compared to AK135 with the lowest velocities in the internal part of the western Alps, and higher velocities east of the Alps beneath the Po plain. The 2-D Vs model is coherent with (i) a ∼100 km thick eastward-dipping European lithosphere west of the Alps, (ii) very high velocities beneath the Po plain, coherent with the presence of the Alpine (European) slab and (iii) a narrow low-velocity anomaly beneath the core of the western Alps (from the Brianconnais to the Dora Maira massif), and approximately colocated with a similar anomaly observed in a recent teleseismic P-wave tomography. This intriguing anomaly is also supported by traveltime variations of subvertically propagating body waves from two teleseismic events that are approximately located on the profile great circle.

Inferences on the lithospheric structure of Campi Flegrei District (southern Italy) from seismic noise cross-correlation

Lithospheric VS models are defined in the Campi Flegrei District (southern Italy) through the non-linear inversion of the group velocity dispersion curves of fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves extracted from ambient noise cross-correlations between two receivers, and the regional group and phase velocities of the Italian cellular lithospheric model (1°×1°cells). Four paths are investigated, of which one (ISCHIA-MIS) across two adjoining cells.The distribution of VS shows a pyroclastic covering with VS increasing from 0.3–0.7km/s to 2.1km/s. It rests on a lava or carbonate basement, about 5–6km thick, with VS increasing from 2.1km/s to 3.1km/s at about 2km of depth and rising to ∼0.6km towards the island of Procida. A metamorphic layer is detected at an average depth of 7.7km with VS of 3.8–3.9km/s, about 5km thick, overlying a low velocity layer (VS of 3.5km/s) at about 11–12km of depth. The VS model along the ISCHIA-MIS path, as average of the models obtained by combining local and regional dispersion data of the two adjoining cells, is well consistent with the other paths. The Moho discontinuity is retrieved at about 23km of depth with VS of 4.2km/s.

Shear-wave velocity structure of the Tongariro Volcanic Centre, New Zealand: Fast Rayleigh and slow Love waves indicate strong shallow anisotropy

Models of the velocity structure of volcanoes can help define possible magma pathways and contribute to calculating more accurate earthquake locations, which can help with monitoring volcanic activity. However, shear-wave velocity of volcanoes is difficult to determine from traditional seismic techniques, such as local earthquake tomography (LET) or refraction/reflection surveys. Here we use the recently developed technique of noise cross correlation of continuous seismic data to investigate the subsurface shear-wave velocity structure of the Tongariro Volcanic Centre (TgVC) of New Zealand, focusing on the active Ruapehu and Tongariro Volcanoes. We observe both the fundamental and first higher-order modes of Rayleigh and Love waves within our noise dataset, made from stacks of 15min cross-correlation functions. We manually pick group velocity dispersion curves from over 1900 correlation functions, of which we consider 1373 to be high quality. We subsequently invert a subset of the fundamental mode Rayleigh- and Love-wave dispersion curves both independently and jointly for one dimensional shear-wave velocity (Vs) profiles at Ruapehu and Tongariro Volcanoes. Vs increases very slowly at a rate of approximately 0.2km/s per km depth beneath Ruapehu, suggesting that progressive hydrothermal alteration mitigates the effects of compaction driven velocity increases. At Tongariro, we observe larger Vs increases with depth, which we interpret as different layers within Tongariro's volcanic system above altered basement greywacke. Slow Vs, on the order of 1–2km/s, are compatible with P-wave velocities (using a Vp/Vs ratio of 1.7) from existing velocity profiles of areas within the TgVC, and the observations of worldwide studies of shallow volcanic systems that used ambient noise cross-correlation methods.Most of the measured group velocities of fundamental mode Love-waves across the TgVC are 0.1–0.4km/s slower than those of fundamental mode Rayleigh-waves in the frequency range of 0.25–1Hz. First-higher mode Love-waves are similarly slower than first-higher mode Rayleigh waves. This is incompatible with synthetic dispersion curves we calculate using isotropic, layered velocity models appropriate for Ruapehu and Tongariro, in which Love waves travel more quickly than Rayleigh waves of the same period. The Love-Rayleigh discrepancy is likely due to structures such as dykes or cracks in the vertical plane having increased influence on surface-wave propagation. However, several measurements at Ruapehu have Love-wave group velocities that are faster than Rayleigh-wave group velocities. The differences between the Love- and Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves also vary with the azimuth of the interstation path across Ruapehu and Tongariro Volcanoes. Significant azimuthal dependence of both Love and Rayleigh-wave velocities are also observed. This suggests azimuthal anisotropy within the volcanic structures, which coupled with radial anisotropy, makes the Vs structures of Ruapehu and Tongariro Volcanoes anisotropic with orthorhombic or lower order symmetry. We suggest that further work to determine three-dimensional volcanic structures should include provisions for such anisotropy.

The thermal structure of cratonic lithosphere from global Rayleigh wave attenuation

The resolution of and level of agreement between different attenuation models have historically been limited by complexities associated with extracting attenuation from seismic-wave amplitudes, which are also affected by the source, the receiver, and propagation through velocity heterogeneities. For intermediate- and long-period Rayleigh waves, removing the amplitude signal due to focusing and defocusing effects is the greatest challenge. In this paper, three independent data sets of fundamental-mode Rayleigh wave amplitude are analyzed to investigate how three factors contribute to discrepancies between the attenuation models: uncertainties in the amplitude measurements themselves, variable path coverage, and the treatment of focusing effects. Regionalized pure-path and fully two-dimensional attenuation models are derived and compared. The approach for determining attenuation models from real data is guided by an analysis of amplitudes measured from synthetic spectral-element waveforms, for which the input Earth model is perfectly known. The results show that differences in the amplitude measurements introduce only very minor differences between the attenuation models; path coverage and the removal of focusing effects are more important. The pure-path attenuation values exhibit a clear dependence on tectonic region at shorter periods that disappears at long periods, in agreement with pure-path phase-velocity results obtained by inverting Rayleigh wave phase delays. The 2-D attenuation maps are highly correlated with each other to spherical-harmonic degree 16 and can resolve smaller features than the previous generation of global attenuation models. Anomalously low attenuation is nearly perfectly associated with continental cratons. Variations in lithospheric thickness are determined by forward modeling the global attenuation variations as a thermal boundary layer of variable thickness. Temperature profiles that satisfy the attenuation values systematically overpredict and underpredict Rayleigh wave phase velocity in cratons at short and long periods, respectively. Introducing a low-velocity layer at depths 60–80 km and a high-velocity layer that begins at 200 km can resolve the discrepancy. The former is consistent with receiver-function detections of a mid-lithospheric discontinuity, and the latter may correspond to the Lehmann discontinuity.

Joint Inversion for Earthquake Depths Using Local Waveforms and Amplitude Spectra of Rayleigh Waves

Reliable earthquake depth is fundamental to many seismological problems. In this paper, we present a method to jointly invert for centroid depths with local (distance < 5°) seismic waveforms and regional (distance of 5°–15°) Rayleigh wave amplitude spectra on sparse networks. We use earthquake focal mechanisms and magnitudes retrieved with the Cut-and-Paste (CAP) method to compute synthetic amplitude spectra of fundamental mode Rayleigh wave for a range of depths. Then we grid search to find the optimal depth that minimizes the joint misfit of amplitude spectra and local waveforms. As case studies, we apply this method to the 2008 Wells, Nevada Mw6.0 earthquake and a Mw5.6 outer-rise earthquake to the east of Japan Trench in 2013. Uncertainties estimated with a bootstrap re-sampling approach show that this joint inversion approach constrains centroid depths well, which are also verified by independent teleseismic depth-phase data.

Crust structure beneath Jilin Province and Liaoning Province in China based on seismic ambient noise tomography

We imaged the crust structure beneath Jilin Province and Liaoning Province in China with fundamental mode Rayleigh waves recorded by 60 broadband stations deployed in the region. Surface-wave empirical Green's functions were retrieved from cross-correlations of inter-station data and phase velocity dispersions were measured using a frequency–time analysis method. Dispersion measurements were then utilized to construct 2D phase velocity maps for periods between 5 and 35s. Subsequently, the phase-dispersion curves extracted from each cell of the 2D phase velocity maps were inverted to determine the 3D shear wave velocity structures of the crust. The phase velocity maps at different periods reflected the average velocity structures corresponding to different depth ranges. The maps in short periods, in particular, were in excellent agreement with known geological features of the surface. In addition to imaging shear wave velocity structures of the volcanoes, we show that obvious low-velocity anomalies imaged in the Changbaishan-Tianchi Volcano, the Longgang-Jinlongdingzi Volcano, and the system of the Dunmi Fault crossing the Jingbohu Volcano, all of which may be due to geothermal anomalies.

Backarc spreading and mantle wedge flow beneath the Japan Sea: insight from Rayleigh-wave anisotropic tomography

We present the first high-resolution Rayleigh-wave phase-velocity azimuthal anisotropy tomography of the Japan subduction zone at periods of 20–150s, which is determined using a large number of high-quality amplitude and phase data of teleseismic fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves. The obtained 2-D anisotropic phase-velocity models are then inverted for a 3-D shear-wave velocity azimuthal anisotropy tomography down to a depth of ∼300km beneath Japan. The subducting Pacific slab is imaged as a dipping high-velocity zone with trench-parallel fast-velocity directions (FVDs) which may indicate the anisotropy arising from the normal faults produced at the outer-rise area near the Japan trench axis, overprinting the slab fossil fabric, whereas the mantle wedge generally exhibits lower velocities with trench-normal FVDs which reflect subduction-driven corner flow and anisotropy. Depth variations of azimuthal anisotropy are revealed in the big mantle wedge beneath the Japan Sea, which may reflect past deformations in the Eurasian lithosphere related to backarc spreading during 21 to 15 Ma and complex current convection in the asthenosphere induced by active subductions of both the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates.

Wave equation dispersion inversion using a difference approximation to the dispersion-curve misfit gradient

We present a surface-wave inversion method that inverts for the S-wave velocity from the Rayleigh wave dispersion curve using a difference approximation to the gradient of the misfit function. We call this wave equation inversion of skeletonized surface waves because the skeletonized dispersion curve for the fundamental-mode Rayleigh wave is inverted using finite-difference solutions to the multi-dimensional elastic wave equation. The best match between the predicted and observed dispersion curves provides the optimal S-wave velocity model. Our method can invert for lateral velocity variations and also can mitigate the local minimum problem in full waveform inversion with a reasonable computation cost for simple models. Results with synthetic and field data illustrate the benefits and limitations of this method.

Seismic evidence of crustal heterogeneity beneath the northwestern Deccan volcanic province of India from joint inversion of Rayleigh wave dispersion measurements and P receiver functions

The northwestern Deccan volcanic province (NWDVP) of India, encompassing the Saurashtra peninsula and the adjoining Gulf of Cambay, is investigated through joint inversion of surface wave dispersion measurements and teleseismic P receiver functions, to estimate the crustal and shallow upper mantle shear wave velocity (Vs) structure. The Mw∼7.7 Bhuj earthquake and the post Bhuj regional events, recorded during the period 2001–2010 at 7 stations along 37 source-receiver paths were used along with 35 teleseismic events. A joint curve fitting inversion technique is applied to obtain a best fit for the fundamental mode Rayleigh wave group velocity dispersion curves for time periods 5–50s and high quality crustal P wave receiver functions obtained at each station. Significant crustal heterogeneity is observed within the study region with the average crustal Vs ranging from 3.5km/s to 3.8km/s with the paths cutting across the Gulf of Cambay exhibiting large reduction in shear wave velocities. Utilizing the average crustal Vs≈3.66km/s estimated for Saurashtra, together with the average crustal P wave velocity (Vp)≈6.54km/s derived independently through deep seismic sounding studies, yields a bulk Vp/Vs ratio of 1.786 or an equivalent crustal Poisson’s ratio of 0.271. A major contribution to the high Poisson’s ratio comes from the 12 to 16km thick lower crustal layers with shear velocities ranging from 3.8km/s to 4.19km/s suggesting widespread magmatic underplating due to emplacement of mafic cumulates in the lower crust. The shallow uppermost mantle shear velocities are in the range 4.2–4.5km/s averaging 4.36km/s, which is less than that observed for the Indian shield, indicating the effects of residual thermal anomaly. The variation in the crustal Vs, high Poisson’s ratios and low upper mantle shear velocities reflect the thermal and compositional effects of the Deccan volcanism which are manifested in terms of pervasive presence of mafic dykes, volcano plutonic complexes, lower crustal mafic cumulates and possible partial melt due to elevated geotherms. The significant crustal alterations are possibly a result of weakening of the lithosphere by a mantle thermal source, leading to a thin and weak lithosphere which facilitated the Deccan volcanism through the rift zones of northwestern India.