Imaging the Northern Los Angeles Basins with Autocorrelations

Caifeng Zou, & Robert W. Clayton

Published September 10, 2023, SCEC Contribution #13053, 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #049

We use autocorrelations created from teleseismic waves and ambient noise to map the internal structure in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino, CA Basins. The causal side of the autocorrelation function of the transmission seismogram at a surface receiver from a deep source is equivalent to the zero-offset reflection seismogram at the same station. Thus, the seismic waves and their codas recorded at a single station can be used to retrieve the reflectivity of the underlying medium through autocorrelation. It is usually necessary to remove the common mode for the autocorrelation in order to unveil the reflectivity. We apply this to 10 nodal lines consisting of 758 geophones with 250-300 m spacing. We show that the autocorrelation function from one well-selected teleseismic event is able to provide strong illumination of subsurface. We derive consistent results from teleseismic waves and ambient noise, and compare the images to those from receiver functions.

Key Words
sedimentary basin, autocorrelation, ambient noise, teleseismic

Citation
Zou, C., & Clayton, R. W. (2023, 09). Imaging the Northern Los Angeles Basins with Autocorrelations. Poster Presentation at 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Seismology