Rayleigh wave group velocities in central California

Experimentally determined Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves of group velocity are given for five paths from NTS to stations in the network operated by the Seismographic Station at U.C. Berkeley. Periods observed range from 4 to 14 seconds. Although, as expected, two different paths from NTS to the western edge of the Sierra Nevada resulted in similar curves, efforts to find empirical curves appropriate to the Great Valley and the Coast Ranges on the assumption of provinces with parallel boundaries were not successful. Estimates of group velocity across the Great Valley along the path NTS to BRK indicate velocities, in the period range 5–9 seconds, considerably lower than would be expected from crustal models so far suggested.