Passive seismic data processing with no prior information: Estimating the crustal shear-wave velocity model of the South Lokichar Basin (Kenya) through integration of ambient seismic noise and teleseismic earthquake data

Abstract

In the context of a passive seismic survey that was launched in the South Lokichar Basin, southwest of Lake Turkana, in Kenya, a seismic network consisting of 13 3-component broadband stations was deployed in the area. In this study, records of both ambient seismic noise and natural seismicity are jointly exploited, through ambient noise tomography and earthquake-based methodologies respectively, in order to obtain a reference shear-wave velocity (VS) crustal model. The applied passive seismic techniques allowed to constrain the VS distribution at depths ranging from the shallow parts of the crust down to Moho and the upper mantle. The lateral variations of the calculated VS model at depth are highly compatible with those obtained from previous experiments carried out across the Kenya rift. This agreement is a strong indication of the reliability of our results and leads us to infer that our model has the potential to serve as a reference VS crustal model for the broader region of the South Lokichar Basin.

Presentation Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Session Start Time: 1:50 PM

Presentation Time: 3:05 PM

Location: Poster Station 12

Presentation Type: Poster