Malaysian Journal of Geosciences (MJG)

The complex dynamic processes such as the magma movements in the crust and uppermost mantle result in the anisotropic wave propagation. In case of the Rayleigh and Love surface waves, this anisotropy is known as the Rayleigh-Love wave discrepancy. The surface wave propagation beneath the Central Anatolia shows this discrepancy for which we utilize the vertical transverse isotropy in the form of forward solutions. We use single-station and two-station methods to attain the observed surface wave dispersion curves in the period range 7-40 s and then apply the two-dimensional (2-D) tomography to convert these curves into the velocity maps defined through a 0.05o x 0.05o – sized grid. The damped least-squares technique is used to invert the individual group and phase velocity curves for the one-dimensional (1-D) structure. The latter 1-D inversion provides the depth profiles for the Voigt isotropic average shear-wave velocity (𝑉𝑆) and the radial anisotropy (𝜉). The 𝑉𝑆 and 𝜉 depth profiles are employed to construct the vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) velocity structure beneath a grid point. Through the forward modeling, the VTI velocity structure is revised to jointly fit the observed Rayleigh and Love group and phase velocities. In the forward modeling, the fifth VTI parameter (𝜂𝐾) measuring the departure from the elliptic condition (𝜂𝐾=1.0) and the anisotropic velocity perturbations (𝑎𝑃2⁄ and 𝑎𝑆2⁄) are primarily adjusted to achieve the fit between the observed and theoretical dispersion curves. In the depth range ~20-30 km, the 𝜂𝐾 is generally found to be 𝜂𝐾<1.0 changing in the range 0.94≤𝜂𝐾≤0.95, which is consistent with the PREM and the expression 𝑎𝑃2⁄=0.5𝑎𝑆2⁄ appears to be valid for the mid-to-lower crust beneath the studied region. In particular, the Rayleigh group velocities require the setting 𝜂𝐾<1.0 in the mid-to-lower crustal depth range.