Ambient noise tomography of a linear seismic array based on an improved Voronoi tessellation

Ambient noise tomography,when applied to a dense linear seismic array,has the capability to provide detailed insights into the fine velocity structures across diverse tectonic settings.The linear station arrangement naturally generates parallel and concentrated ray paths along the array trend.This unique geometry requires specific optimization of the inversion methodology and model parameterization.The Bayesian-based transdimensional inversion method,characterized by its fully non-linear nature and high degree of freedom in parameter settings,offers a powerful tool for ambient noise inversion.To effectively adapt this method to a linear array layout,we propose a modification to the Voronoi cell tessellation built in the transdimensional method.By introducing spatial priority to the Voronoi kernels,we strategically increased the density of Voronoi cells along the direction of the array.We then applied the modified approach to a linear seismic array in the North China Craton and validated its robustness through phase velocity images and resolution tests.Our improved non-uniform sampling technique in the 2-D model space accelerates convergence while simultaneously enhancing model accuracy.Compared with the conventional damped leastsquares method,the proposed algorithm revealed a shear-wave velocity map with notable low-velocity anomalies situated in the middle and lower crust beneath the borders of the Ordos block and its surrounding orogenic belt.Aligned with the crustal structures revealed by receiver function and electrical imaging,our findings indicated that the western and eastern margins of the Ordos block had experienced intensive crustal wedge deformation and re-melting,respectively.

Fast estimation of distance between two hydrophones using ocean ambient noise in multi-ship scenarios

Accurately estimating the bearing of a target with two hydrophones requires knowing the precise distance between them.However,in practice,it is difficult to measure this distance accurately due to the influence of current.To solve this problem,we propose a method for extracting the time-domain Green's function between two points in multi-ship scenarios and for extracting the time-domain waveform arrival structure between two hydrophones in real-time based on long samples of ship radiation noise cross-correlation.Using the cross-correlation function of the radiated noise from any ship located in the end-fire direction of the two hydrophones,we can estimate the distance between the hydrophones in real-time.To verify the accuracy of our estimation,we compare the result of azimuth estimation with the actual azimuth based on the azimuth estimation of a cooperative sound source in the maritime environment.Our experimental results show that the proposed method correctly estimates the distance between two hydrophones that cannot be directly measured and estimates the position of a cooperative sound source 4 km away with an average deviation of less than 1.2°.

3D S-wave velocity structure of the Ningdu basin in Jiangxi province inferred from ambient noise tomography with dense array

The Ningdu basin,located in southern Jiangxi province of southwest China,is one of the Mesozoic basin groups which has exploration prospects for geothermal energy.A study on the detailed velocity structure of the Ningdu basin can provide important information for geothermal resource exploration.In this study,we deployed a dense seismic array in the Ningdu basin to investigate the 3D velocity structure and discuss implications for geothermal exploration and geological evolution.Based on the dense seismic array including 35 short-period(5 s-100 Hz)seismometers with an average interstation distance of~5 km,Rayleigh surface wave dispersion curves were extracted from the continuous ambient noise data for surface wave tomographic inversion.Group velocity tomography was conducted and the 3D S-wave velocity structure was inverted by the neighborhood algorithm.The results revealed obvious low-velocity anomalies in the center of the basin,consistent with the low-velocity Cretaceous sedimentary rocks.The basement and basin-controlling fault can also be depicted by the S-wave velocity anomalies.The obvious seismic interface is about 2 km depth in the basin center and decreases to 700 m depth near the basin boundary,suggesting spatial thickness variations of the Cretaceous sediment.The fault features of the S-wave velocity profile coincide with the geological cognition of the western boundary basincontrolling fault,which may provide possible upwelling channels for geothermal fluid.This study suggests that seismic tomography with a dense array is an effective method and can play an important role in the detailed investigations of sedimentary basins.

Crustal structure of the northeastern Tibetan plateau,the Ordos block and the Sichuan basin from ambient noise tomography

We apply ambient noise tomography to significant seismic data resources in a region including the northeastern Tibetan plateau,the Ordos block and the Sichuan basin.The seismic data come from about 160 stations of the provincial broadband digital seismograph networks of China.Ambient noise cross-correlations are performed on the data recorded between 2007 and 2009 and high quality inter-station Rayleigh phase velocity dispersion curves are obtained between periods of 6 s to 35 s.Resulting Rayleigh wave phase velocity maps possess a lateral resolution between 100 km and 200 km.The phase velocities at short periods (<20 s) are lower in the Sichuan basin,the northwest segment of the Ordos block and the Weihe graben,and outline sedimentary deposits.At intermediate and long periods (>25 s),strong high velocity anomalies are observed within the Ordos block and the Sichuan basin and low phase velocities are imaged in the northeastern Tibetan plateau,reflecting the variation of crustal thickness from the Tibetan plateau to the neighboring regions in the east.Crustal and uppermost mantle shear wave velocities vary strongly between the Tibetan plateau,the Sichuan basin and the Ordos block.The Ordos block and the Sichuan basin are dominated by high shear wave velocities in the crust and uppermost mantle.There is a triangle-shaped low velocity zone located in the northeastern Tibetan plateau,whose width narrows towards the eastern margin of the plateau.No low velocity zone is apparent beneath the Qinling orogen,suggesting that mass may not be able to flow eastward through the boundary between the Ordos block and the Sichuan basin in the crust and uppermost mantle.

Three dimensional shear wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath China from ambient noise surface wave tomography

We determine the three-dimensional shear wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle in China using Green's functions obtained from seismic ambient noise cross-correlation.The data we use are from the China National Seismic Network,global and regional networks and PASSCAL stations in the region.We first acquire cross-correlation seismograms between all possible station pairs.We then measure the Rayleigh wave group and phase dispersion curves using a frequency-time analysis method from 8 s to 60 s.After that,Rayleigh wave group and phase velocity dispersion maps on 1° by 1° spatial grids are obtained at different periods.Finally,we invert these maps for the 3-D shear wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath China at each grid node.The inversion results show large-scale structures that correlate well with surface geology.Near the surface,velocities in major basins are anomalously slow,consistent with the thick sediments.East-west contrasts are striking in Moho depth.There is also a fast mid-to-lower crust and mantle lithosphere beneath the major basins surrounding the Tibetan plateau (TP) and Tianshan (Junggar,Tarim,Ordos,and Sichuan).These strong blocks,therefore,appear to play an important role in confining the deformation of the TP and constraining its geometry to form its current triangular shape.In northwest TP in Qiangtang,slow anomalies extend from the crust to the mantle lithosphere.Meanwhile,widespread,a prominent low-velocity zone is observed in the middle crust beneath most of the central,eastern and southeastern Tibetan plateau,consistent with a weak (and perhaps mobile) middle crust.

Lithospheric structure and deformation in SE Tibet revealed by ambient noise and earthquake surface wave tomography: Recent advances and perspectives

High-resolution lithospheric structure is essential for understanding the tectonic evolution and deformation patterns of the southeastern Tibetan plateau. This is now possible due to recent advances in ambient noise and earthquake surface wave tomography, and great improvements in data coverage from dense portable array stations deployed in SE Tibet. In this review paper, I first give a brief overview of the tomographic methods from ambient noise and earthquake surface waves, and then summarize the major findings about the lithospheric structure and deformation in SE Tibet revealed by ambient noise and earthquake surface wave tomography as well as by other seismic and geophysical observations. These findings mainly include the 3-D distribution of mechanically weak zones in the mid-lower crust, lateral and vertical variations in radial and azimuthal anisotropy, possible interplay of some fault zones with crustal weak zones, and importance of strike-slip faulting on upper crustal deformation. These results suggest that integration of block extrusion in the more rigid upper-middle crust and channel flow in the more ductile mid-lower crust will be more compatible with the current geophysical observations. Finally I discuss some future perspective researches in SE Tibet, including array-based tomography, joint inversion using multiple seismic data, and integration of geodynamic modeling and seismic observations.

Composition of high frequency ambient noise from cross-correlation:A case study using a small aperture array

Long-time cross correlation of ambient noise has been proved as a powerful tool to extract Green's function between two receivers.The study of composition of ambient noise is important for a better understanding of this method.Previous studies confirm that ambient noise in the long period (3 s and longer) mostly consists of surface wave,and 0.25-2.5 s noise consists more of body waves.In this paper,we perform cross correlation processing at much higher frequency (30-70 Hz) using ambient noise recorded by a small aperture array.No surface waves emerge from noise correlation function (NCF),but weak P waves emerge.The absence of surface wave in NCF is not due to high attenuation since surface waves are strong from active source,therefore probably the high ambient noise mostly consists of body wave and lacks surface wave.Origin of such high frequency body waves in ambient noise remains to be studied.

Love wave tomography in Italy from seismic ambient noise

We estimate Love wave empirical Green's functions from cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise to study the crust and uppermost mantle structure in Italy.Transverse-component ambient noise data from October 2005 through March 2007 recorded at 114 seismic stations from the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) national broadband network,the Mediterranean Very Broadband Seismographic Network (MedNet) and the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) yield more than 2 000 Love wave group velocity measurements using the multiple-filter analysis technique.In the short period band (5-20 s),the cross-correlations show clearly one-sided asymmetric feature due to non-uniform noise distribution and high local activities,and in the long period band (>20 s) this feature becomes weak owing to more diffusive noise distribution.Based on these measurements,Love wave group velocity dispersion maps in the 8-34 s period band are constructed,then the SH wave velocity structures from the Love wave dispersions are inverted.The final results obtained from Love wave data are overall in good agreement with those from Rayleigh waves.Both Love and Rayleigh wave inversions all reveal that the Po plain basin is resolved with low velocity at shallow depth,and the Tyrrhenian sea is characterized with higher velocity below 8 km due to its thin oceanic crust.

Ambient noise surface wave tomography of marginal seas in east Asia

We conducted ambient noise tomography in east Asia, including the Chinese coastal provinces, Korea Peninsular, Japan,Taiwan Island, and marginal seas in between. We retrieved Rayleigh Green's functions from inter-station correlations of 12 months of continuous waveform data at 573 broadband stations in the region. We obtained group and phase velocity dispersion curves and dispersion maps for periods from 10 to 70 s and inverted for 3D Vs model of the crust and uppermost mantle. Moho and lithosphere thickness were derived from the 3D model. We observed three prominent low velocity zones in the upper mantle, two in the accretionary wedges above the Pacific and Philippine subduction slabs and one beneath the Changbai Mountain region. The crust and lithosphere are generally thin in the region. The velocity anomalies, crustal thickness, and lithosphere thickness all show a similar trend in NNE-SSW direction. The lithosphere shows a striking " sausage"-type structure with alternating thickness. The crust thickness and lithosphere thickness both decrease progressively from NW to SE direction, which coincides with the distribution of episodic magmatism in SE China.We propose that the subduction of paleo-Pacific slab and its rollback were mainly responsible for the crustal and lithosphere extension and the mantle lithosphere removal in east Asia.

Surface wave tomography on a large-scale seismic array combining ambient noise and teleseismic earthquake data

We discuss two array-based tomography methods,ambient noise tomography (ANT) and two-planewave earthquake tomography (TPWT),which are capable of taking advantage of emerging large-scale broadband seismic arrays to generate high resolution phase velocity maps,but in complementary period band:ANT at 8-40 s and TPWT at 25-100 s period.Combining these two methods generates surface wave dispersion maps from 8 to 100 s periods,which can be used to construct a 3D v S model from the surface to ～200 km depth.As an illustration,we apply the two methods to the USArray/Transportable Array.We process seismic noise data from over 1 500 stations obtained from 2005 through 2009 to produce Rayleigh wave phase velocity maps from 8 to 40 s period,and also perform TPWT using ～450 teleseismic earthquakes to obtain phase velocity maps between 25 and 100 s period.Combining dispersion maps from ANT and TPWT,we construct a 3D vS model from the surface to a depth of 160 km in the western and central USA.These surface wave tomography methods can also be applied to other rapidly growing seismic networks such as those in China.

The shallow Longmenshan crustal S-velocity structure of the fault zone using ambient noise tomography of a seismic dense array

The Longmenshan fault zone(LMSF),characterized by complex structures and strong seismicity,is located at the junction between the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and the north-western Sichuan basin.Since the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12,2008,abundant studies of the formation mechanism of earthquakes along the LMSF were performed.In this study,a short-period dense seismic array deployed across the LMSF was applied by ambient noise tomography.Fifty-two 3-D seismic instruments were used for data acquisition for 26 days.We calculated the empirical Green's functions(EGFs)between different station-pairs and extracted 776 Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves between 2 and 7 s.And then,we used the direct-inversion method to obtain the fine shallow crustal S-wave velocity structure within 6 km depth in the middle section of the Longmenshan fault zone and nearby areas.Our results show that the sedimentary layer(>5 km)exists in the northwest margin of Sichuan Basin with a low S-wave velocity(~1.5-2.5 km/s)which is much thicker than that beneath the Longmenshan fault zone and the Songpan-Garze block.The high-velocity structures with clear boundaries below the middle of Longmenshan fault zone(~2-4 km)and the Songpan-Garze block(~4.5-6 km)probably reveal the NW-SE distribution patterns of both the Pengguan complex and the high-density belt hidden in the northwest of the Pengguan complex.And the obviously high-velocity anomalies observed at the depth of^1-2 km in the southeastern margin of the Songpan-Garze block can be considered as the Laojungou granites.Our results provide a high-resolution shallow velocity structure for detailed studies of the Longmenshan fault zone.

Monitoring of velocity changes based on seismic ambient noise: A brief review and perspective

Over the past two decades,the development of the ambient noise cross-correlation technology has spawned the exploration of underground structures.In addition,ambient noise-based monitoring has emerged because of the feasibility of reconstructing the continuous Green’s functions.Investigating the physical properties of a subsurface medium by tracking changes in seismic wave velocity that do not depend on the occurrence of earthquakes or the continuity of artificial sources dramatically increases the possibility of researching the evolution of crustal deformation.In this article,we outline some state-of-the-art techniques for noise-based monitoring,including moving-window cross-spectral analysis,the stretching method,dynamic time wrapping,wavelet cross-spectrum analysis,and a combination of these measurement methods,with either a Bayesian least-squares inversion or the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo method.We briefly state the principles underlying the different methods and their pros and cons.By elaborating on some typical noisebased monitoring applications,we show how this technique can be widely applied in different scenarios and adapted to multiples scales.We list classical applications,such as following earthquake-related co-and postseismic velocity changes,forecasting volcanic eruptions,and tracking external environmental forcing-generated transient changes.By monitoring cases having different targets at different scales,we point out the applicability of this technology for disaster prediction and early warning of small-scale reservoirs,landslides,and so forth.Finally,we conclude with some possible developments of noise-based monitoring at present and summarize some prospective research directions.To improve the temporal and spatial resolution of passive-source noise monitoring,we propose integrating different methods and seismic sources.Further interdisciplinary collaboration is indispensable for comprehensively interpreting the observed changes.

A new stacking technique in ambient noise tomography

We have developed a new stacking technique in ambient noise tomography to obtain high-quality dispersion curves of Rayleigh waves.This technique is used to stack the vertical components of the Estimated Green Functions(EGFs) obtained respectively from cross correlation of the ambient noise data recorded by a remote seismic station and one of the short distance seismic stations of a seismic array.It is based on a phase-matched filter and is implemented by a four-step iterative process:signal compression,stacking,signal extraction and signal decompression.The iterative process ends and gives the dispersion curve of Rayleigh wave when the predicted one and the processing result converge.We have tested the method using the vertical components of synthetic Rayleigh wave records.Results show that this new stacking method is stable and it can improve the quality of dispersion curves.In addition,we have applied this method to real data.We see that the results given by our new technique are obviously better than the ones employing the traditional method which is a three-step process:signal compression,signal extraction and signal decompression.In conclusion,the new method proposed in this paper can improve the signal to noise ratio of EGFs,and can therefore potentially improve the resolution of ambient noise tomography.

Passive Seismic Structure Imaging of a Coal Mine by Ambient Noise Seismic Interferometry on a Dense Array

Active source seismic method is generally used to image subsurface structures for resource exploration,including oil,gas and coal.Although it can provide highresolution subsurface structures,due to some economic and environmental restrictions,it is not suitable in some cases.In recent 20 years,passive seismic survey based on ambient noise seismic interferometry(ANSI)has started to be widely used in imaging subsurface structures.In comparison,ANSI does not need active sources and can image subsurface structures at different depths as a lowcost alternative to active seismic exploration.

Statistics of underwater ambient noise at high sea states arisen from typhoon out zones in the Philippine Sea and South China Sea

Oceanic noise is the background interference in sonar performance prediction and evaluation at high sea states.Statistics of underwater ambient noise during Typhoons Soulik and Nida were analyzed on the basis of experimental measurements conducted in a deep area of the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.Generated linear regression,frequency correlation matrix(FCM),Burr distribution and Gumbel distribution were described for the analysis of correlation with environmental parameters including wind speed(WS),significant wave height(SWH),and the inter-frequency relationship and probability density function of noise levels(NLs).When the typhoons were quite close to the receivers,the increment of NLs exceeded 10 dB.Whilst ambient noise was completely dominated by wind agitation,NLs were proportional to the cubic and quintic functions of WS and SWH,respectively.The fitted results between NLs and oceanic parameters were different for“before typhoon”and“after typhoon”.The fitted slopes of linear regression showed a linear relationship with the logarithm of frequency.The average observed typhoon-generated NLs were 5 dB lower than the Wenz curve at the same wind force due to the insufficiently developed sea state or the delay between NLs and WS.The cross-correlation coefficient of FCM,which can be utilized in the identification of noise sources in different bands,exceeded 0.8 at frequencies higher than 250 Hz.Furthermore,standard deviation increased with frequency.The kurtosis was equal to 3 at>400 Hz approximately.The characteristics of NLs showed good agreement with the results of FCM.

Ambient Noise Tomography of Jinan:The Migration of Groundwater and the Formation of Geothermal Water

Jinan is an important city in eastern China,with rich groundwater in the region.There are four famous springs in the urban area and an abundance of geothermal water in the northern part,which makes the migration of groundwater in this area a very important issue.To study the shallow shear wave velocity structure and groundwater migration in Jinan,we utilized almost a month of continuous waveform data from 175 short period seismometers deployed by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences,in order to calculate the cross-correlation function.We picked 7749 group dispersion curves and 6117 phase dispersion curves with a period range of 0.2–2 s.Through inversion,we obtained the fine threedimensional shear wave velocity and azimuthal anisotropy structure(0–2.4 km).Combining the results with local geological and hydrological data,the following conclusions were reached.(1)There are widespread high velocity anomalies in the region between the Qianfoshan and Wenhuaqiao faults,as well as to the east of the Wenhuaqiao Fault,which may be related to the intrusive gabbro known as the Jinan Intrusive Rock.(2)The two distinct high velocity anomalies in our model(referred to as west and east Jinan Intrusive Rock in this paper)may indicate that the Jinan Intrusive Rock was broken through crustal movement.(3)There is an obvious low velocity layer under the intrusive rock,which could be the channel of groundwater migration.The precipitation in the southern mountain region seeps down into the ground,then is blocked by the Jinan Intrusive Rock and can only progress downwards to a deeper part,where the groundwater is heated by the geothermal gradient.The heated water finally arrives at the northern part and forms geothermal water.(4)The depth of the low velocity layer beneath the Jinan Intrusive Rock varies laterally,which may indicate that the depth of the groundwater migration is different beneath the west and east Jinan Intrusive Rock.(5)There is strong azimuthal anisotropy in southern Jinan,with nearly E-W fast orientation,which may be related to the tilt limestone layering structure.

Under-ice ambient noise in the Arctic Ocean: observations at the long-term ice station

Under-ice ambient noise in the Arctic Ocean is studied using the data recorded by autonomous hydrophones at the long-term ice station during the 9th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition.Time-frequency analysis of two 7-s-long ice-induced noise samples shows that both ice collision and ice breaking noise have many outliers in the time-domain(impulsive characteristic)and abundant frequency components in the frequency-domain.Ice collision noise lasts for several seconds while the duration of ice breaking noise is much shorter(i.e.,less than tens of milliseconds).Gaussian distribution and symmetric alpha stable(sαs)distribution are used in this paper to fit the impulsive under-ice noise.The sαs distribution can achieve better performance as it can track the heavy tails of impulsive noise while Gaussian distribution fails.This paper also analyzes the meteorological variables during the under-ice noise observation experiment and deduces that the impulsive ambient noise was caused by the combined force of high wind speed and increasing atmosphere temperature on the ice canopy.The Pearson correlation coefficients between long-term power spectral density variations of under-ice ambient noise and meteorological variables are also studied in this paper.

Statistics Modeling of Shallow Sea Ambient Noise and Its Applications in Low-frequency Line Spectrum Detection

The noise's statistical characteristics are very important for signal detection.In this paper,the ambient noise statistical characteristics are investigated by using the recorded noise data in sea trials first,and the results show that the generalized Gaussian distribution is a suitable model for the ambient noise modeling.Thereafter,the optimal detector based on maximum likelihood ratio can be deduced,and the asymptotic detector is also derived under weak signal assumption.The detector's performance is verified by using numerical simulation,and the results showthat the optimal and asymptotic detectors outperform the conventional correlation-integration system due to accuracy modeling of ambient noise.

The influences of large earthquake signals on the recovery of surface waves from ambient noise cross-correlation functions

Ambient noise tomography(ANT)has been widely used to image crust and upmost mantle structures.ANT assumes that sources of ambient noise are diffuse and evenly distributed in space and the energy of different modes is equipartitioned.At present,the sources of the primary and the secondary microseisms are well studied,but there are only a few on the studies of long-period ambient noise sources.In this study,we study the effects of large earthquake signals on the recovery of surface waves from seismic ambient noise data recorded by seismic stations from the US permanent networks and Global Seismographic Network(GSN).Our results show that large earthquake signals play an important role on the recovery of long-period surface waves from ambient noise cross-correlation functions.Our results are consistent with previous studies that suggest the contribution of earthquake signals to the recovery of surface waves from cross-correlations of ambient noise is dominant at periods larger than 20–40 s.

Fault detection by reflected surface waves based on ambient noise interferometry

Detecting subsurface fault structure is important for evaluating potential earthquake risks associated with active faults.In this study,we propose a new method to detect faults using reflected surface waves observed in ambient noise cross correlation functions.Ambient noise tomography using direct surface waves obtained from ambient noise interferometry has been widely used to characterize active fault zones.In cases where a strong velocity contrast exists across the fault interface,fault-reflected surface waves are expected.We test this idea using a linear array deployed in the Suqian segment of Tanlu fault zone in Eastern China.The fault-reflected surface waves can be clearly seen in the cross-correlation functions of the ambient noise data,and the spatial position of the fault on the surface is close to the stations where the reflected signals first appear.Potentially reflected surface waves could also be used to infer the dip angle,fault zone thickness and the degree of velocity contrast across the fault by comparing synthetic and observed waveforms.