Minimum 1-D velocity model in Southeastern Sicily (Italy) from local earthquake data: an improvement in location accuracy

The monitoring of seismic activity inSoutheastern Sicily (Italy) has beenrecently improved by a digital seismicnetwork. This effort has produced ahomogeneous and complete dataset which weused to define a reference 1-D velocitymodel. We have inverted P- and S-wavearrival times from 51 selected localearthquakes by using several initialvelocity and layer thickness models. Then,the range of possible velocity modelsobtained was tested with earthquakelocations to select the best velocitymodel. Improvements in location accuracy byusing the Minimum 1-D velocity model, withrespect to the locations obtained by usingthe routine velocity model, were evidencedfrom the reduced residuals, the smallerestimated location errors, and theincreased tendency of foci to cluster. Thedistribution of relocated hypocentersconfirmed the lack of seismic activity inthe central part of the area.