Love Wave Tomography in Southern Africa from A Two-Plane-Wave Inversion Method

li, aibing ; li, lun;

Array measurements of surface wave phase velocity can be biased by multipath arrivals. A two-plane-wave (TPW) inversion method, in which the incoming wavefield is represented by the interference of two plane waves, is able to account for the multipath effect and solve for laterally varying phase velocity. Despite broad applications of the TPW method, its usage has been limited to Rayleigh waves. In this study, we have modified the TPW approach and applied it to Lovewaves. Main modifications include decomposing Lovewave amplitude on the transverse component to x and y components in a local Cartesian system for each earthquake and using both components in the inversion. Such decomposition is also applied to the two plane waves to predict the incoming wavefield of an earthquake.We utilize fundamental mode Love wave data recorded at 85 broad-band stations from 69 distant earthquakes and solved for phase velocity in nine frequency bands with centre periods ranging from 34 to 100 s. The average phase velocity in southern Africa increases from 4.30 km s−1 at 34 s to 4.87 km s−1 at 100 s. Compared with predicted Love wave phase velocities from the published 1-D SV velocity model and radial anisotropy model in the region, these values are compatible from 34 to 50 s and slightly higher beyond 50 s, indicating radial anisotropy of VSH > VSV in the shallow upper mantle. A high Love wave velocity anomaly is imaged in the central and southern Kaapvaal craton at all periods, reflecting a cold and depleted cratonic lithosphere. A low velocity anomaly appears in the Bushveld Complex from 34 to 50 s, which can be
interpreted as being caused by high iron content from an intracratonic magma intrusion. The modified TPW method provides a new way to measure Love wave phase velocities in a regional array, which are essential in developing radial anisotropic models and understanding the Earth structure in the crust and upper mantle.