3D Simultaneous Traveltime Inversion for Velocity Structure, Hypocenter Locations, and Reflector Geometry Using Multiple Classes of Arrivals

Traditionally, traveltime tomography entails inversion of either the velocity field and the reflector geometry sequentially, or the velocity field and the hypocenter locations simultaneously or in a cascaded fashion, but seldom are all three types (velocities, geometry of reflectors, and source locations) updated simultaneously because of the compromise between the different classes of model variable and the lack of different seismic phases to constrain these variables. By using a state-of-the-art ray-tracing algorithm for the first and later arrivals combined with a popular linearized inversion solver, it is possible to simultaneously recover the three classes of model variables. In the work discussed in this paper we combined the multistage irregular shortest-path ray-tracing algorithm with a subspace inversion solver to achieve simultaneous inversion of multi-class variables, using arrival times for different phases to concurrently obtain the velocity field, the reflector shapes, and the hypocenter locations. Simulation and comparison tests for two sets of source–receiver arrangements (one the ideal case and the other an approximated real case) indicate that the combined triple-class inversion algorithm is capable of obtaining nearly the same results as the double-class affect inversion scheme (velocity and reflector geometry, or velocity and source locations) even if a lower ray density and irregular source-receiver geometry are used to simulate the real situation. In addition, the new simultaneous inversion method is not sensitive to a modest amount of picking error in the traveltime data and reasonable uncertainty in earthquake hypocenter locations, which shows it to be a feasible and promising approach in real applications.