In order to give a more reliable shallow crust model for the Chinese mainland, the present study collected many short-period surface wave data which are better sensitive to shallow earth structures. Different from traditional two-step surface wave tomography, we developed a new linearized surface wave dispersion inversion method to directly get a 3D S-wave velocity model in the second step instead of inverting for 1D S-velocity profile cell by cell. We convert all the regionalized dispersions into linear constraints for a 3D S-velocity model. Checkerboard tests show that this method can give reasonable results. The distribution of the middle- and upper-crust shear-wave velocity of the Chinese mainland in our model is strongly heterogeneous and related to different geotectonic terrains. Low-velocity anomalies delineated very well most of the major sedimentary basins of China. And the variation of velocities at different depths gives an indication of basement depth of the basins. The western Tethyan tectonic domain （on the west of the 95°E longitude） is characterized by low velocity, while the eastern Tethyan domain does not show obvious low velocity. Since petroleum resources often distribute in sedimentary basins where low-velocity anomaly appears, the low velocity anomalies in the western Tethyan domain may indicate a better petroleum prospect than in its eastern counterpart. Besides, low velocity anomaly in the western Tethyan domain and around the Xing＇an orogenic belt may be partly caused by high crustal temperature. The weak low-velocity belt along -105°E longitude corresponds to the N-S strong seismic belt of central China.
Micro-aftershocks with magnitude range of 1.5--4 around the Wenchuan earthquake epicenter, the southern part of the Longmenshan fault zone, exhibit good frequency-magnitude linear relationships, thus enabling b-value analysis. The average b-value for micro-aflershocks of M1.5-4 from July to December of 2008 in our local study region is about 0.88, similar to the b-value for all aftershocks ofM3.0-5.5 from May, 2008 to May, 2009 along the whole Longmenshan fault zone. The similarity between the local and regional b-values possibly indicates that the southern part of the Longmenshan fault zone has similar seismogenic environment to the whole Longmenshan fault zone. Alternatively, it may also imply that b-values derived from all events without consideration of structural variation can not discriminate local-scale tectonic information. The present study shows that the b-value for the Wenchuan earthquake micro-aftershocks varies with different regions. The b-value in southwest of the Yingxiu town is higher than that in the northeast of the Yingxiu town. The high b-value in the southwest part where the Wenchuan earthquake main shock hypocenter located indicates that the current stress around the hypocenter region is much lower than its surrounding area. The b-values are also dependent on depth. At shallow depths of 〈5 km, the b-values are very small （-0.4）, possibly being related to strong wave attenuation or strong heterogeneity in shallow layers with high content of porosity and fractures. At depths of-5-11 km, where most aftershocks concentrated, the b-values become as high as -0.9-1.0. At the depth below -11 km, the b-values decrease with the depth increasing, being consistent with increasing tectonic homogeneity and increasing stress with depth.
