1D crustal structure of Albania region

A new crustal 1D layered model for Albania has been determined. The data used consist of P and S readings from 108 evenly distributed and well located earthquakes using the Albanian Seismic Network and nearby seismic stations. The method used was to relocate the data using many thousand models, which were varied in a systematic way in a wide range around a start model determined from currently available models. The model with the lowest average travel time residual RMS was then selected as a final model. Tests with synthetic data showed this to be a robust method. With the dataset, the average RMS was reduced from 0.69s, using the current model, to 0.56s using the start model and to 0.49s using the final model. The new hypocenters were also found to be closer to a set of well located ISC hypocenters than the original locations. The final model found is: Depth to interface (km)          P-velocity (km/s)             0                                              5.5             12                                            6.0             23                                            6.3             41                                            7.7 with a Vp/Vs=1.81. This final model is different from the currently used model in Albania and should therefore represent a significant improvement for earthquake location.