Rayleigh-wave attenuation in the southern Korean Peninsula from Helmholtz tomography

Seismic attenuation offers insights into subsurface material properties, which are independent of the velocity information obtained from seismic tomography. Because seismic‐wave amplitude attenuation is sensitive to several factors such as temperature, mineral grain size, partial melt, and compositional variations, quantitative attenuation analysis provides additional constraints on the thermal and rheological state of the Earth’s interior. However, compared to seismic imaging studies, attenuation characteristics of the subsurface beneath the southern Korean Peninsula remain poorly constrained. In this study, we analyze seismic waveforms recorded at approximately 40 broadband seismic stations deployed across the southern Korean Peninsula between 2009 and 2012, and derive preliminary Rayleigh-wave attenuation estimates over the period range of 20–120 s. The results show generally low attenuation at short periods (20–30 s), which are primarily sensitive to the crust and uppermost mantle, whereas relatively high attenuation is observed at longer periods (80–120 s), corresponding to asthenospheric depths. These patterns likely reflect increasing temperature and rheological heterogeneity in the upper mantle. Future work will expand station coverage and invert the attenuation measurements to construct a detailed depth‐dependent attenuation model beneath the southern Korean Peninsula.