Shallow three-dimensional structure of the San Jacinto fault zone revealed from ambient noise imaging with a dense seismic array

International audienceWe use 1 month of continuous seismic waveforms from a very dense seismic network to image with unprecedented resolution the shallow damage structure of the San Jacinto fault zone across the Clark fault strand. After calculating noise correlations, high apparent velocity arrivals coming from below the array are removed using a frequency-wavenumber filter. This is followed by a double-beamforming analysis on multiple pairs of subarrays to extract phase and group velocity information across the study area. The phase and group velocity dispersion curves are regionalized into phase and group velocity maps at different frequencies, and these maps are inverted using a neighbourhood algorithm to build a 3-D shear wave velocity model around the Clark fault down to ∼500 m depth. The model reveals strong lateral variations across the fault strike with pronounced low-velocity zones corresponding to a local sedimentary basin and a fault zone trapping structure. The results complement previous earthquake- and seismic noise-based imaging of the fault zone at greater depth and clarify properties of structural features near the surface