The shear velocity and [Formula: see text] structure for the upper 1 km in different tectonic regions of the Arabian shield have been investigated using high‐frequency vertical component records of Rayleigh waves (1–20 Hz), which were recorded at source‐to‐receiver separations 55–80 km during a deep seismic refraction survey. Group and phase velocities of the fundamental and first higher modes were inverted for the shear‐wave velocity structure; Rayleigh‐wave attenuation coefficients were determined from the decay of the amplitude spectrum of the fundamental mode and used to invert for the [Formula: see text] structure. Models derived from the data were tested by calculating synthetic seismograms for the fundamental and the first higher modes from surface‐wave theory with a center of compression used to represent the source; both band‐pass filtered step and Dirac delta source time functions were tested. Modeling indicates that the shear‐wave velocity of the shield increases from 2.6 km/s to 3.4 km/s in the upper 400 m of the crust. [Formula: see text] increases from 30 in the upper 50 m to 150 at 500 m depth. The underlying material has a [Formula: see text] of 400–500 for the out‐cropping igneous rocks such as granite and may reach values higher than 700 for the metamorphic green schist rock. A band‐pass filtered Dirac delta source time function produces the synthetic that is the best fit with observations.

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Ð The group-velocity distribution beneath the Arabian Plate is investigated using Love and Rayleigh waves. We obtained a balanced path coverage using seismograms generated by earthquakes located along the plate boundaries. We measured Love-and Rayleigh-wave group-velocity dispersion using multiple ®lter analysis and then performed a tomographic inversion using these observations to estimate lateral group velocity variations in the period range of 5±60 s. The Love-and Rayleigh-wave results are consistent and show that the average group velocity across Arabia increases with increasing period. The tomographic results also delineate ®rst-order regional structure heterogeneity as well as the sharp transition between the Arabian shield and the Arabian platform. Systematic dierences are observed in the distribution of the short-period group velocities across the two provinces, which are consistent with surface geology. The slower velocities in the platform reveal the imprint of its thick sedimentary section, while faster velocities correlate well with the exposed volcanic¯ows in the shield. Shear-wave velocity models for the two regions, obtained from the inversion of the group velocities, con®rm results from previous studies of higher S-wave velocity in the upper crust beneath the shield. This may be due to the present remnants of the oceanic crust (ophiolite belts) associated with the island arcs evolutionary model of the Arabian shield.The mapping of the surface-wave group velocity using a large data can be used in constraining the regional structure at existing and planned broadband stations deployed in this tectonically complex region as part of the seismic monitoring under CTBT.

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