45 research outputs found

    Advancements in seismic tomography with application to tunnel detection and volcano imaging

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    Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1998Practical geotomography is an inverse problem with no unique solution. A priori information must be imposed for a stable solution to exist. Commonly used types of a priori information smooth and attenuate anomalies, resulting in 'blurred' tomographic images. Small or discrete anomalies, such as tunnels, magma conduits, or buried channels are extremely difficult imaging objectives. Composite distribution inversion (CDI) is introduced as a theory seeking physically simple, rather than distributionally simple, solutions of non-unique problems. Parameters are assumed to be members of a composite population, including both well-known and anomalous components. Discrete and large amplitude anomalies are allowed, while a well-conditioned inverse is maintained. Tunnel detection is demonstrated using CDI tomography and data collected near the northern border of South Korea. Accurate source and receiver location information is necessary. Borehole deviation corrections are estimated by minimizing the difference between empirical distributions of apparent parameter values as a function of location correction. Improved images result. Traveltime computation and raytracing are the most computationally intensive components of seismic tomography when imaging structurally complex media. Efficient, accurate, and robust raytracing is possible by first recovering approximate raypaths from traveltime fields, and then refining the raypaths to a desired accuracy level. Dynamically binned queuing is introduced. The approach optimizes graph-theoretic traveltime computation costs. Pseudo-bending is modified to efficiently refine raypaths in general media. Hypocentral location density functions and relative phase arrival population analysis are used to investigate the Spring, 1996, earthquake swarm at Akutan Volcano, Alaska. The main swarm is postulated to have been associated with a 0.2 km\sp3 intrusion at a depth of less than four kilometers. Decay sequence seismicity is postulated to be a passive response to the stress transient caused by the intrusion. Tomograms are computed for Mt. Spurr, Augustine, and Redoubt Volcanoes, Alaska. Relatively large amplitude, shallow anomalies explain most of the traveltime residual. No large amplitude anomalies are found at depth, and no magma storage areas are imaged. A large amplitude low-velocity anomaly is coincident with a previously proposed geothermal region on the southeast flank of Mt. Spurr. Mt. St. Augustine is found to have a high velocity core

    P wave velocity variations in the Coso Region, California, derived from local earthquake travel times

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    Inversion of 4036 P wave travel time residuals from 429 local earthquakes using a tomographic scheme provides information about three-dimensional upper crustal velocity variations in the Indian Wells Valley-Coso region of southeastern California. The residuals are calculated relative to a Coso-specific velocity model, corrected for station elevation, weighted, and back-projected along their ray paths through models defined with layers of blocks. Slowness variations in the surface layer reflect local geology, including slow velocities for the sedimentary basins of Indian Wells and Rose valleys and relatively fast velocities for the Sierra Nevada and Argus Mountains. In the depth range of 3–5 km the inversion images an area of reduced compressional velocity in western and northern Indian Wells Valley but finds no major velocity variations beneath the Coso volcanic field to the north. These results are consistent with a recent study of anomalous shear wave attenuation in the Coso region. Between 5 and 10 km depth, low-velocity areas (7% slow) appear at the southern end of the Coso volcanics, reaching east to the Coso Basin. Numerical tests of the inversion's resolution and sensitivity to noise indicate that these major anomalies are significant and well-resolved, while other apparent velocity variations in poorly sampled areas are probably artifacts. The seismic data alone are not sufficient to uniquely characterize the physical state of these low-velocity regions. Because of the Coso region's history of Pleistocene bimodal volcanism, high heat flow, geothermal activity, geodetic deformation, and seismic activity, one possibility is to link the zones of decreased P velocity to contemporary magmatic activity

    Consistent phase picking for regional tomography models: application to the greater Alpine region

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    The resolution and reliability of tomographic velocity models strongly depends on quality and consistency of available traveltime data. Arrival times routinely picked by network analysts on a day-to-day basis often yield a high level of noise due to mispicks and other inconsistencies, particularly in error assessment. Furthermore, tomographic studies at regional scales require merging of phase picks from several networks. Since a common quality assessment is not usually available for phase data provided by different networks, additional inconsistencies are introduced by the merging process. Considerable improvement in the quality of phase data can only be achieved through complete repicking of seismograms. Considering the amount of data necessary for regional high-resolution tomography, algorithms combining accurate picking with an automated error assessment represent the best tool to derive large suitable data sets. In this work, we present procedures for consistent automated and routine picking of P-wave arrival times at local to regional scales including consistent picking error assessment. Quality-attributed automatic picks are derived from the MPX picking system. The application to earthquakes in the greater Alpine region demonstrates the potential of such a repicking approach. The final data set consists of more than 13 000 high-quality first-arrivals and it is used to derive regional 1-D and preliminary 3-D P-wave models of the greater Alpine region. The comparison with a tomographic model based on routine phase data extracted from the ISC Bulletin illustrates effects on tomographic results due to consistency and reliability of our high-quality data se

    Absence of Evidence for a Shallow Magma Chamber Beneath Long Valley Caldera, California, in Downhole and Surface Seismograms

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    A downhole seismometer at 900-m depth and a temporary network of surface stations were deployed to use rays from local microearthquakes to study the upper and middle crust beneath the Long Valley caldera. The downhole seismograms show S waves with high apparent amplitudes from earthquakes located 2–20 km to the south of the downhole seismometer. In contrast, S waves from earthquakes located in the distance range 20–30 km to the south have low apparent amplitudes. If P and S amplitudes are normalized relative to the respective coda amplitudes, the S to coda amplitude ratios appear to remain constant but the P to coda amplitude ratios vary significantly with takeoff angle. A comparison of the calculated radiation patterns for a double couple in a uniform halfspace and focal mechanisms of the recorded earthquakes suggest that the observed variations in P and S amplitudes are caused by radiation pattern effects. Reanalysis of possible travel time delays found by Elbring and Rundle (1986), who used a subset of the borehole data analyzed in this study, shows that they underestimated the epicentral distances to three of the earthquakes and hence generated an artificial kink in the reduced travel time versus depth curve. Synthetic calculations of reduced travel time versus depth suggest that an apparent velocity of 5.7 km/s gives less scatter than 6.0 km/s used by Elbring and Rundle (1986). Plots of ts/tp versus depth show that contrary to the findings of Elbring and Rundle (1986), the Vp/Vs ratio stays fairly constant with depth and a small (<3-km diameter) magma chamber cannot easily be resolved. Furthermore, combined analysis of downhole and surface data shows that neither data set requires a low-velocity zone or a zone of anomalously high Vp/Vs at depth below the Casa Diablo area

    Development of tomographic systems for mining, mineral exploration and environmental purposes

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    A research project was carried out to develop and test a prototype seismic tomographic system suitable for use in the exploration, mining and civil engineering industries. Tomographic techniques are attractive because they can provide information from the unknown areas between drill-holes and are nondestructive, which is particularly important for civil engineering and radioactive waste disposal projects. The starting point was the SEAMEX-Compact seismic system, developed in 1991 for use in the coal industry, which had limited capabilities. Prototype development involved the redesign of existing seismic systems, development and assembly of compact units and production of new acquisition and control software. Emphasis was placed on high dynamic range and control mechanisms. The prototype system was named SUMMIT-Compact and the final version is much advanced from the SEAMEX system

    Local and regional minimum 1D models for earthquake location and data quality assessment in complex tectonic regions: application to Switzerland

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    One-dimensional (1D) velocity models are still widely used for computing earthquake locations at seismological centers or in regions where three-dimensional (3D) velocity models are not available due to the lack of data of sufficiently high quality. The concept of the minimum 1D model with appropriate station corrections provides a framework to compute initial hypocenter locations and seismic velocities for local earthquake tomography. Since a minimum 1D model represents a solution to the coupled hypocenter-velocity problem it also represents a suitable velocity model for earthquake location and data quality assessment, such as evaluating the consistency in assigning pre-defined weighting classes and average picking error. Nevertheless, the use of a simple 1D velocity structure in combination with station delays raises the question of how appropriate the minimum 1D model concept is when applied to complex tectonic regions with significant three-dimensional (3D) variations in seismic velocities. In this study we compute one regional minimum 1D model and three local minimum 1D models for selected subregions of the Swiss Alpine region, which exhibits a strongly varying Moho topography. We compare the regional and local minimum 1D models in terms of earthquake locations and data quality assessment to measure their performance. Our results show that the local minimum 1D models provide more realistic hypocenter locations and better data fits than a single model for the Alpine region. We attribute this to the fact that in a local minimum 1D model local and regional effects of the velocity structure can be better separated. Consequently, in tectonically complex regions, minimum 1D models should be computed in sub-regions defined by similar structure, if they are used for earthquake location and data quality assessmen

    Mapping of Velocity Variations to Investigate Seismicity in the Upper Crust of the Central Virginia Seismic Zone, Virginia, USA

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    Local earthquake tomography is used to investigate three dimensional velocity structure in the aftershock zone of the 2011 Mineral, VA, mainshock. A total of 5125 arrival times for 324 aftershocks recorded by 12 stations were used in the inversion. The inversion volume is small (22 x 20 x 16 km) with a block size of 1 x 1 x 1 km. Most of the aftershocks located at or below 2 km are associated with an NE trending, SE dipping anomalous velocity region with negative P-wave velocity (Vp) anomalies, positive S-wave velocity (Vs) anomalies, and Vp/Vs ratios as low as 1.54. We interpret the anomalous region as a highly quartz-rich sandstone or quartzite that accumulated in Paleozoic time along the passive margin of Laurentia and subsequently incorporated into the Piedmont Chopawamsic terrane during the Taconic orogeny. Two negative Vp and Vs anomalies are interpreted as metagraywacke and typical Chopawamsic rocks
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