The seismic velocity structure in the southern San Andreas Fault region is characterized by a known, distinct seismic velocity contrast on opposite sides of the fault, with a thick sedimentary region on the west side (Salton Sea area). Reverberations would affect the duration of shaking for El Centro, Mexicali, and other communities in the Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley. Furthermore, there are other areas where deep basins are bounded by faults that could have similar effects. Therefore, being able to determine the 3D structure is a critical facet of assessing the overall seismic hazard for structures on such basins.

By utilizing the particle motion of surface waves, we are able extract useful information about the S-wave velocity structure. To accomplish this, we measured Rayleigh-wave ellipticity of continuous broadband data from 2010 to 2014 for 67 stations within the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN). Measurements of Rayleigh-wave ellipticity were computed as the ratio between the vertical and horizontal amplitudes. Regional variations in the Rayleigh-wave ellipticity measurements at frequencies of 0.10 Hz up to and including 0.30 Hz illuminate small ellipticity values (i.e. horizontal elongation in Rayleigh-wave particle motion) across the entire frequency band in the regions specific to the thick sedimentary region. In this region, minimum ellipticity values (<0.20) observed at 0.10 Hz, 0.15 Hz, and at 0.20 Hz show a gradual increase up to 0.60 between 0.25 Hz to 0.40 Hz. In most areas exterior to the thick sedimentary region, ellipticity values are generally constant across the frequency band and are significantly higher (>0.90). The observed, small ellipticity values, which are characteristic of a slow velocity layer at shallow depths (upper 5-10 km), could have significant implications on the S-wave velocity structure. As the ZH-Ratio method is highly sensitive to the near-surface structure, combination of the ellipticity data with phase velocity data measured via noise cross-correlation could provide further compelling insight in the shallow S-wave velocity structure, particularly in the upper 5 km.