Joint Full-Waveform Inversion of Ambient Noise, Teleseismic, and Local Earthquake Data to image the Lithospheric Structure Beneath Central California

We present a joint full-waveform inversion (FWI) method that integrates ambient noise, teleseismic, and local earthquake data to image lithospheric structure. Synthetic experiments demonstrate that the joint inversion outperforms inversions using individual data types by leveraging the complementary sensitivities of surface waves, body waves and scattering waves, yielding a more coherent and internally consistent multiparameter lithospheric model that includes compressional-wave velocity (Vp), shear-wave velocity (Vs), and density.

We apply the joint inversion method to investigate the lithospheric structure beneath central California, producing a new three-dimensional shear-wave velocity (Vs) model that reaches a depth of 200 km. Our final model delineates a sharp crustal interface between the Great Valley (GV) and the western Sierra Nevada Batholith (SNB), and clearly images the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) beneath the western coast. These large-scale structural features are in good agreement with recent receiver function and traveltime tomography studies, while our model further resolves small-scale heterogeneities that were poorly constrained in previous single-datatype inversions.