Crustal seismic velocity in the Marche region (Central Italy): computation of a minimum 1-D model with seismic station corrections.

Abstract

A 1-D velocity model for the Marche region (central Italy) was computed by inverting P- and S-wave arrival times of local earthquakes. A total of 160 seismic events with a minimum of ten observations, a travel time residual ≤ 0.8 s and an azimuthal gap lower than 180° have been selected. This “minimum 1-D velocity model” is complemented by station corrections, which can be used to take into account possible near-surface velocity heterogeneities beneath each station. Using this new P-wave velocity model and the program HYPOELLIPSE (Lahr, 1999), the selected local events were relocated. Earthquake locations in this study are of higher quality with respect to the original ones. The obtained minimum 1-D velocity model can be used to improve the routine earthquakes locations and represents a further step towards more detailed seismotectonic studies of the area.