An improved 1-D seismic velocity model for seismological studies in the Campania–Lucania region (Southern Italy)

We present a 1-D velocity model of the Earth's crust in Campania–Lucania region obtained by solving the coupled hypocentre–velocity inverse problem for 1312 local earthquakes recorded at a dense regional network. The model is constructed using the VELEST program, which calculates 1-D ‘minimum’ velocity model from body wave traveltimes, together with station corrections, which account for deviations from the simple 1-D structure. The spatial distribution of station corrections correlates with the P-wave velocity variations of a preliminary 3-D crustal velocity model that has been obtained from the tomographic inversion of the same data set of P traveltimes. We found that station corrections reflect not only inhomogeneous near-surface structures, but also larger-scale geological features associated to the transition between carbonate platform outcrops at Southwest and Miocene sedimentary basins at Northeast. We observe a significant trade-off between epicentral locations and station corrections, related to the existence of a thick low-velocity layer to the NE. This effect is taken into account and minimized by re-computing station corrections, fixing the position of a subset of well-determined hypocentres, located in the 3-D tomographic model.