Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Near-surface seismic velocity structure plays a critical role in ground motion amplification during large earthquakes. In particular, the local Vp/Vs ratio strongly influences the amplitude of Rayleigh waves. Previous studies have separately imaged 3D seismic velocity and Vp/Vs ratio at seismogenic depth, but lack regional coverage and/or fail to constrain the shallowest structure. Here, we combine three datasets with complementary sensitivity in a Bayesian joint inversion for shallow crustal shear velocity and near-surface Vp/Vs ratio across Southern California. Receiver functions–including with an apparent delayed initial peak in sedimentary basins, and long considered a nuisance in receiver function imaging studies–highly correlate with short-period Rayleigh wave ellipticity measurements and require the inclusion of a Vp/Vs parameter. The updated model includes near-surface low shear velocity more in line with geotechnical layer estimates, and generally lower than expected Vp/Vs outside the basins suggesting widespread shallow fracturing and/or groundwater undersaturation.