Comparison of Velocity Models for South America through Seismic Wave Modeling of Ten Andean Earthquakes Recorded by the Brazilian Seismographic Network using the Spectral Element Method

In this work, we carried out simulations of seismic waves propagation for ten large earthquakes occurred in Chile between 2011 and 2016,using the SPECFEM3D Global software (Komatitsch and Tromp, 2000) and the Centroid Moment Tensor solutions from the global catalog (Dziewonski, Chou and Woodhouse, 1981; Ekström, Nettles and Dziewonski, 2012). For each event, the complete wave field was calculated using the spectral element method and recorded at the coordinates of the Brazilian Seismographic Network, thus we can compare the synthetic seismograms with the real data. Initially, we assess the differences between CRUST1.0 and CRUST2.0 models using the transversely isotropic PREM for the internal part of the planet. We will also compare the PREM velocity model plus CRUST1.0 with the Feng's velocity model for South America (Feng, Van der Lee and Assumpção, 2007), calculated using Partitioned Waveform Inversion. For each model, we will evaluate the misfit for all stations of the network. The similarity can be estimated by pure RMS or combining it with cross-correlation. Travel-time residuals can also be used to better constrain velocity anomalies and avoid cycle-skipping. The results will help to assess which model is more appropriated to start a Full-waveform Tomography of the South American continent and the surrounding oceans.