Azimuthally anisotropic ambient-noise tomography using the AlpArray seismic network
<p>We make use of the AlpArray Seismic Network to study the properties of the ambient-noise field and create a new 3D shear-velocity model of the Alpine crust. The latter will be used to improve our understanding of the tectonic processes that formed the Alps.</p><p>From two years of data, more than 150,000 station-station cross-correlations are extracted and used to evaluate strength and directivity of the noise field and its seasonal variations. Phase-velocity measurements for both Love and Rayleigh waves are obtained and the anisotropic phase-velocity structure is imaged. At mid-crustal levels, the strongest azimuthal anisotropy is found underneath the northern Italian Po plain and in the northern Dinarides, with strengths of 10-20% and a fast axis direction pointing NNE in Italy and NE in the Dinarides. In the western and central Alps we find an approximately NE direction and a strength of 5%; the eastern Alpine fast axis point toward the north with strengths of 2-5%.</p><p>We apply a probabilistic inversion to resolve the 3D shear-velocity structure of the crust. The homogeneous and dense station setup results in a shear-velocity model of unprecedented resolution for the uppermost 60 km of the crust underneath the entire orogen. By using data in the period range between 2 and 100s, we are able to better constrain shallow structures, such as the sedimentary basins, and to link surface-geological features to velocity variations observed at depth.</p>