scholarly journals Tomographic image of the crust and uppermost mantle of the Ionian and Aegean regions

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Alessandrini ◽  
L. Beranzoli ◽  
G. Drakatos ◽  
C. Falcone ◽  
G. Karantonis ◽  
...  

We present a tomographic view of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Central Mediterranean area obtained from P-wave arrival times of regional earthquakes selected from the ISC bulletin. The P-wave velocity anomalies are obtained using Thurber's algorithm that jointly relocates earthquakes and computes velocity adjustments with respect to a starting model. A specific algorithm has been applied to achieve a distribution of epicentres as even as possible. A data set of 1009 events and 49072 Pg and Pn phases was selected. We find a low velocity belt in the crust, evident in the map view at 25 km of depth, beneath the Hellenic arc. A low velocity anomaly extends at 40 km of depth under the Aegean back arc basin. High velocities are present at Moho depth beneath the Ionian sea close to the Calabrian and Aegean arcs. The tomographic images suggest a close relationship between P-wave velocity pattern and the subduction systems of the studied area.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senad Subašić ◽  
Meysam Rezaeifar ◽  
Nicola Piana Agostinetti ◽  
Sergei Lebedev ◽  
Christopher Bean

<p>We present a 3D P-wave velocity model of the crust and uppermost mantle below Ireland. In the absence of local earthquakes, we used quarry and mining blasts recorded on permanent stations in the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and during various temporary deployments. We compiled a database of 1,100 events and around 20,000 P-wave arrivals, with each event associated with a known quarry. The source location uncertainty is therefore minimal. Both source and receiver locations are fixed in time and we used repeating events to estimate the travel time uncertainty for each source-receiver combination. We created a starting 1D velocity model from previously available data, and then used VELEST to calculate a preliminary minimum 1D velocity model. The 1D velocity model enabled us to remove outliers from the data set, and to calculate the final minimum 1D model used as the initial model in the 3D tomographic inversion. The resulting 3D P-wave velocity model will shed new light on the 3D crustal structure of Ireland.</p>


1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1263-1274
Author(s):  
Lawrence H. Jaksha ◽  
David H. Evans

Abstract A velocity model of the crust in northwestern New Mexico has been constructed from an interpretation of direct, refracted, and reflected seismic waves. The model suggests a sedimentary section about 3 km thick with an average P-wave velocity of 3.6 km/sec. The crystalline upper crust is 28 km thick and has a P-wave velocity of 6.1 km/sec. The lower crust below the Conrad discontinuity has an average P-wave velocity of about 7.0 km/sec and a thickness near 17 km. Some evidence suggests that velocity in both the upper and lower crust increases with depth. The P-wave velocity in the uppermost mantle is 7.95 ± 0.15 km/sec. The total crustal thickness near Farmington, New Mexico, is about 48 km (datum = 1.6 km above sea level), and there is evidence for crustal thinning to the southeast.


1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chiarabba ◽  
A. Amato

In this paper we provide P-wave velocity images of the crust underneath the Apennines (Italy), focusing on the lower crustal structure and the Moho topography. We inverted P-wave arrival times of earthquakes which occurred from 1986 to 1993 within the Apenninic area. To overcome inversion instabilities due to noisy data (we used bulletin data) we decided to resolve a minimum number of velocity parameters, inverting for only two layers in the crust and one in the uppermost mantle underneath the Moho. A partial inversion of only 55% of the overall dataset yields velocity images similar to those obtained with the whole data set, indicating that the depicted tomograms are stable and fairly insensitive to the number of data used. We find a low-velocity anomaly in the lower crust extending underneath the whole Apenninic belt. This feature is segmented by a relative high-velocity zone in correspondence with the Ortona-Roccamonfina line, that separates the northern from the southern Apenninic arcs. The Moho has a variable depth in the study area, and is deeper (more than 37 km) in the Adriatic side of the Northern Apennines with respect to the Tyrrhenian side, where it is found in the depth interval 22-34 km.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Fortin ◽  
Cedric Bailly ◽  
Mathilde Adelinet ◽  
Youri Hamon

<p>Linking ultrasonic measurements made on samples, with sonic logs and seismic subsurface data, is a key challenge for the understanding of carbonate reservoirs. To deal with this problem, we investigate the elastic properties of dry lacustrine carbonates. At one study site, we perform a seismic refraction survey (100 Hz), as well as sonic (54 kHz) and ultrasonic (250 kHz) measurements directly on outcrop and ultrasonic measurements on samples (500 kHz). By comparing the median of each data set, we show that the P wave velocity decreases from laboratory to seismic scale. Nevertheless, the median of the sonic measurements acquired on outcrop surfaces seems to fit with the seismic data, meaning that sonic acquisition may be representative of seismic scale. To explain the variations due to upscaling, we relate the concept of representative elementary volume with the wavelength of each scale of study. Indeed, with upscaling, the wavelength varies from millimetric to pluri-metric. This change of scale allows us to conclude that the behavior of P wave velocity is due to different geological features (matrix porosity, cracks, and fractures) related to the different wavelengths used. Based on effective medium theory, we quantify the pore aspect ratio at sample scale and the crack/fracture density at outcrop and seismic scales using a multiscale representative elementary volume concept. Results show that the matrix porosity that controls the ultrasonic P wave velocities is progressively lost with upscaling, implying that crack and fracture porosity impacts sonic and seismic P wave velocities, a result of paramount importance for seismic interpretation based on deterministic approaches.</p><p>Bailly, C., Fortin, J., Adelinet, M., & Hamon, Y. (2019). Upscaling of elastic properties in carbonates: A modeling approach based on a multiscale geophysical data set. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 124. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JB018391</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 133 ◽  
pp. 01011
Author(s):  
Jakub Kokowski ◽  
Zbigniew Szreder ◽  
Elżbieta Pilecka

In the study, the determining of the reference velocity of the P-wave in coal seams used in seismic profiling to assess increases and decreases in relative stresses at large depths has been presented. The seismic profiling method proposed by Dubinski in 1989 covers a range of depth up to 970 m. At present, coal seams exploitation in Polish coal mines is conducted at greater depths, even exceeding 1200 m, which creates the necessity for a new reference velocity model. The study presents an empirical mathematical model of the change of the P-wave velocity in coal seams in the geological conditions of the Jastrzebie coal mine. A power model analogous to the Dubinski’s one was elaborated with new constants. The calculations included the results from 35 measurements of seismic profiling carried out in various coal seams of the Jastrzebie mine at depths from 640 to 1200 m. The results obtained cause changes in the result of calculations of seismic anomalies. Future validation of the proposed model with larger data set will be required.


Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. R271-R293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuno V. da Silva ◽  
Gang Yao ◽  
Michael Warner

Full-waveform inversion deals with estimating physical properties of the earth’s subsurface by matching simulated to recorded seismic data. Intrinsic attenuation in the medium leads to the dispersion of propagating waves and the absorption of energy — media with this type of rheology are not perfectly elastic. Accounting for that effect is necessary to simulate wave propagation in realistic geologic media, leading to the need to estimate intrinsic attenuation from the seismic data. That increases the complexity of the constitutive laws leading to additional issues related to the ill-posed nature of the inverse problem. In particular, the joint estimation of several physical properties increases the null space of the parameter space, leading to a larger domain of ambiguity and increasing the number of different models that can equally well explain the data. We have evaluated a method for the joint inversion of velocity and intrinsic attenuation using semiglobal inversion; this combines quantum particle-swarm optimization for the estimation of the intrinsic attenuation with nested gradient-descent iterations for the estimation of the P-wave velocity. This approach takes advantage of the fact that some physical properties, and in particular the intrinsic attenuation, can be represented using a reduced basis, substantially decreasing the dimension of the search space. We determine the feasibility of the method and its robustness to ambiguity with 2D synthetic examples. The 3D inversion of a field data set for a geologic medium with transversely isotropic anisotropy in velocity indicates the feasibility of the method for inverting large-scale real seismic data and improving the data fitting. The principal benefits of the semiglobal multiparameter inversion are the recovery of the intrinsic attenuation from the data and the recovery of the true undispersed infinite-frequency P-wave velocity, while mitigating ambiguity between the estimated parameters.


2018 ◽  
pp. 267-283
Author(s):  
Ronald T. Marple ◽  
James D. Hurd, Jr. ◽  
Lanbo Liu ◽  
Seth Travis ◽  
Robert J. Altamura

High-resolution LiDAR (light detection and ranging) images of northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire reveal a 10-km-long, NW-SE-oriented topographic lineament in northeastern Massachusetts that we interpret to be the surface expression of a SW-dipping thrust fault along which the 1727 Newbury, Massachusetts, earthquake occurred. The Newburyport lineament coincides with the northeast edge of a 10-kmlong, NW-SE-oriented ridge, herein named Merrimack ridge, that parallels the NW-SE-trending segment of the Merrimack River downstream from where it bends 90° to the southeast. The northwestern end of the Newburyport lineament coincides with a 1-km-long, ~7- to 15-m-high, NE-facing Newburyport scarp that is located just south of the bend in the river. The Newburyport lineament also parallels the NW-SE-oriented nodal planes of the focal mechanism that was generated for the 1999 Amesbury, Massachusetts, earthquake. A P-wave velocity tomographic model generated from a seismic-refraction profile across the Newburyport scarp shows a ~40-m-wide low-velocity zone dipping ~41° SW. Velocities along this zone decrease 15–50%, which suggests that the Newburyport lineament is associated with the surface expression of a SW-dipping brittle fault zone. The LiDAR images also revealed three other NW-SE-trending lineaments in the study area.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Cui ◽  
Yuanze Zhou

<p>As one of the most active intracontinental orogenic belts in the world, the Tien Shan orogenic belt originated in the Paleozoic and then experienced tectonic activities such as plate subduction and closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean. Previous seismological and geodynamic studies have shown the observed the low-velocity anomaly (LVA) beneath the central Tien Shan at the uppermost mantle, which has a significant influence on the formation and modification of the crust and mantle lithosphere ( Lei et al, 2007). However, the distribution, morphology and physical property of the LVA are highly debatable.</p><p>We conduct 2-D forward waveform modeling based on spectral-element method (SEM) to investigate waveform distortions that were generated by the velocity contrast boundary of the LAV. The broadband P- and S- waves from three intermediate-depth earthquakes at Hindu Kush-Pamir were recorded by the Chinese Digital Seismograph Network (Zheng et al., 2010). We use these records to confirm the location, shape and velocity decrement of the LVA by fitting the observed records with the synthetics through SEM based on the 1D velocity structures (TSTB-B) of the central Tien Shan and northern Tarim basin (Gao et al., 2017). We find the LVA at 10~100 km beneath the eastern part of the central Tien Shan. And the northward under-thrusting of the Tarim Basin may trigger some mantle upwelling, contributing to the observed LVA.</p><p>Lei, J., Zhao, D. (2007). Teleseismic P-wave tomography and the upper mantle structure of the central Tien Shan orogenic belt.<em> Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors</em>, 162, 165-185, doi: 10.1016/j.pepi.200704010.</p><p>Zheng, X., Jiao, W., Zhang, C., et al. (2010). Short-Period Rayleigh-Wave Group Velocity Tomography through Ambient Noise Cross-Correlation in Xinjiang, Northwest China.<em> Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America</em>, 100(3): 1350-1355, doi: 10.1785/0120090225.</p><p>Gao, Y., Cui, Q., Zhou, Y. (2017). Seismic detection of P-wave velocity structure atop MTZ beneath the Central Tian Shan and Tarim Basin. <em>Chinese Journal of Geophysics ( in Chinese with English Abstract )</em>, 60 (1) : 98-111, doi: 10.6038 /cjg20170109.</p>


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