Rayleigh wave group velocity distributions for East Asia using ambient seismic noise

Vertical component data from 206 broadband seismometer stations from Korean networks Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and Korea Meteorological Administration, the Japanese F-net network, and the Chinese New China Digital Seismograph Network and Northeast China Extended Seismic Array network are collected for the year 2011, and the ambient seismic noise is analyzed. Rayleigh wave group velocity distribution maps are created in the period range 10 to 70 s. Our results are largely consistent with previous studies of the area but provide greater detail in the Korean peninsula and the Sea of Japan. Low group velocities are observed in the Ulleung basin, and the Chubu-Kanto and Kyushu regions in Japan. At 10 s period, sediment basins in the Sea of Japan appear as low group velocity regions relative to higher group velocity continental regions. At periods longer than 40 s, a low group velocity region emerges in the Ulleung basin region, and is bounded by the Korean peninsula.