Characterization of shallow geology by high frequency seismic noise tomography

Abstract

To study the applicability of the passive seismic interferometry technique to near-surface geological studies, seismic noise recordings from a small scale 2-D array of seismic stations were performed in the test site of Nauen (Germany). Rayleigh wave Green's functions were estimated for different frequencies. A tomographic inversion of the traveltimes estimated for each frequency from the Green's functions is then performed, allowing the laterally varying 3-D surface wave velocity structure below the array to be retrieved at engineering–geotechnical scales. Furthermore, a 2-D S-wave velocity cross-section is obtained by combining 1-D velocity structures derived from the inversion of the dispersion curves extracted at several points along a profile where other geophysical analyses were performed. It is shown that the cross-section from passive seismic interferometry provides a clear image of the local structural heterogeneities that are in excellent agreement with georadar and geoelectrical results. Such findings indicate that the interferometry analysis of seismic noise is potentially of great interest for deriving the shallow 3-D velocity structure in urban areas.