Surface-wave tomography at mining sites — A case study from Central Sweden

Summary In mineral exploration, a detailed description of the near-surface is important when seismic reflection is applied, because the heterogeneity of the shallow layers can influence the imaging of deeper targets. The use of surface waves can provide valuable information about the shallow subsurface but multichannel methods might be limited by the existence of lateral variations in the subsurface. On the contrary, surface-wave tomography has the potential to locate more accurately subsurface heterogeneities and lateral variations without lacking penetration depth. We apply surface-wave tomography on the mining site of Blotberget (Ludvika Mines, Sweden). A checkerboard test provides information about the resolution and is used for the parameterization of the initial model for the tomographic inversion. The results provide a detailed description of the shallow subsurface, showing the potential of using surface-wave tomography in seismic exploration, also for challenging data from mining sites.