Near-surface compressional and shear wave speeds constrained by body-wave polarization analysis

A new technique to constrain near-surface seismic structure that relates body-wave polarization direction to the wave speed immediately beneath a seismic station is presented. The P-wave polarization direction is only sensitive to shear wave speed but not to compressional wave speed, while the S-wave polarization direction is sensitive to both wave speeds. The technique is applied to data from the High-Sensitivity Seismograph Network in Japan, and the results show that the wave speed estimates obtained from polarization analysis are compatible with those from borehole measurements. The lateral variations in wave speeds correlate with geological and physical features such as topography and volcanoes. The technique requires minimal computation resources, and can be used on any number of three-component teleseismic recordings, opening opportunities for non-invasive and inexpensive study of the shallowest (similar to 100 m) crustal structures.