Mantle Heterogeneities and the SCEC Reference Three - Dimensional Seismic Velocity Model

We determine upper mantle seismic velocity heterogeneities below Southern California from the inversion of teleseismic travel-time residuals. Teleseismic P-wave arrival times are obtained from three temporary passive experiments and Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) stations, producing good raypath coverage. The inversion is performed using a damped least-squares conjugate gradient method (LSQR). The inversion model element spacing is 20 km. Before the inversion, the effects of crustal velocity heterogeneities represented by the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) seismic velocity model version 2 are removed from the teleseismic travel times. The P-wave inversion produces a variance reduction of 43%. S-wave velocities are determined from laboratory Vp/Vs ratios. The most prominent features imaged in the results are high P-wave velocities ( 3%) in the uppermost mantle beneath the northern Los Angeles basin, and the previously reported tabular high-velocity anomaly ( 3%) to depths of 200 km beneath the Transverse Ranges, crosscutting the San Andreas fault. We incorporate the upper mantle seismic velocity heterogeneities into the SCEC Southern California reference seismic velocity model. The prior accounting for the crustal velocity heterogeneity demonstrates the utility of the top-down method of the SCEC seismic velocity model development.