Ambient noise interferometry and surface-wave array tomography in southeastern Tibet

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2009.Includes bibliographical references.The primary goal of my doctoral research is to understand the crustal and upper mantle structure and deformation in southeastern Tibet. To improve the resolution in the crust, we developed a new approach for surface-wave array tomography by combining inter-station phase velocity dispersion measurements from empirical Green's functions (EGFs) recovered from ambient noise interferometry and from traditional teleseismic surface-wave two-station (TS) analysis. The non-stationarity (e.g., seasonal changes) and non-uniform distribution of ambient noise sources may obstruct full reconstruction of the surface-wave Green's functions, which may, in turn, degrade the accuracy of the tomographic models. Under the assumption of plane-wave propagation, we developed an iterative method to estimate ambient noise energy distribution, phase velocity bias primarily due to uneven noise energy distribution, and azimuthally anisotropic phase velocity maps. With phase velocity dispersion measurements at periods 10 - 150 s from 1 year data of 75 broad band stations in SE Tibet, we performed inversion for wavespeed variations and azimuthal anisotropy. The tomographic images revealed widespread crustal low-velocity zones (LVZs) at middle/lower crustal depth beneath SE Tibet. There is substantial lateral and vertical variability of these zones and some may be truncated by large faults.(cont.) The pattern of azimuthal anisotropy in the upper crust is consistent with clockwise rotation around the eastern Himalaya syntaxis and a predominance of simple shear and strike-slip faulting in SE Tibet. Comparison of splitting from SKS observations and from our 3D anisotropic model suggests that the contribution to splitting from the crust is at least as important as from the upper mantle in the region west of Sichuan Basin and north of 26°N. However, beneath Yunnan, splitting signal originates mainly from the upper mantle. The radial changes in deformation pattern argue against vertically coherent lithospheric deformation in Tibet. Combined with the widespread crustal LVZs, this supports models of ductile crustal flow beneath SE Tibet. However, the spatial variation in strength and depth of crustal LVZs and in pattern of azimuthal anisotropy suggests that the 3-D geometry of crustal weak layers is complex and that unhindered crustal flow over large regions may not occur.by Huajian Yao.Ph.D

Exploring the Earth’s subsurface with virtual seismic sources and receivers

Traditional methods of imaging the Earth’s subsurface using seismic waves require an identifiable, impulsive source of seismic energy, for example an earthquake or explosive source. Naturally occurring, ambient seismic waves form an ever-present source of energy that is conventionally regarded as unusable since it is not impulsive. As such it is generally removed from seismic data and subsequent analysis. A new method known as seismic interferometry can be used to extract useful information about the Earth’s subsurface from the ambient noise wavefield. Consequently, seismic interferometry is an important new tool for exploring areas which are otherwise seismically quiet, such as the British Isles in which there are relatively few strong earthquakes. One of the possible applications of seismic interferometry is the ambient noise tomography method (ANT). ANT is a way of using interferometry to image subsurface seismic velocity variations using seismic (surface) waves extracted from the background ambient vibrations of the Earth. To date, ANT has been used to successfully image the Earth’s crust and upper-mantle on regional and continental scales in many locations and has the power to resolve major geological features such as sedimentary basins and igneous and metamorphic cores. In this thesis I provide a review of seismic interferometry and ANT and apply these methods to image the subsurface of north-west Scotland and the British Isles. I show that the seismic interferometry method works well within the British Isles and illustrate the usefulness of the method in seismically quiet areas by presenting the first surface wave group velocity maps of the Scottish Highlands and across the British Isles using only ambient seismic noise. In the Scottish Highlands, these maps show low velocity anomalies in sedimentary basins such as the Moray Firth and high velocity anomalies in igneous and metamorphic centres such as the Lewisian complex. They also suggest that the Moho shallows from south to north across Scotland, which agrees with previous geophysical studies in the region. Rayleigh wave velocity maps from ambient seismic noise across the British Isles for the upper and mid-crust show low velocities in sedimentary basins such as the Midland Valley, the Irish Sea and the Wessex Basin. High velocity anomalies occur predominantly in areas of igneous and metamorphic rock such as the Scottish Highlands, the Southern Uplands, North-West Wales and Cornwall. In the lower crust/upper mantle, the Rayleigh wave maps show higher velocities in the west and lower velocities in the east, suggesting that the Moho shallows generally from east to west across Britain. The extent of the region of higher velocity correlates well with the locations of British earthquakes, agreeing with previous studies that suggest British seismicity might be influenced by a mantle upwelling beneath the west of the British Isles. Until the work described in Chapter 6 of this thesis was undertaken in 2009, seismic interferometry was concerned with cross-correlating recordings at two receivers due to a surrounding boundary of sources, then stacking the cross-correlations to construct the inter-receiver Green’s function. A key element of seismic wave propagation is that of source-receiver reciprocity i.e. the same wavefield will be recorded if its source and receiver locations and component orientations are reversed. By taking the reciprocal of its usual form, in this thesis I show that the impulsive-source form of interferometry can also be used in the opposite sense: to turn any energy source into a virtual sensor. This new method is demonstrated by turning earthquakes in Alaska and south-west USA into virtual seismometers located beneath the Earth’s surface

Investigation of Ambient Seismic Noise using seismic interferometry in the Midwestern United States

The portion of the North American craton occupied by the Midwestern United States is a cratonic platform, where a veneer of Phanerozoic sedimentary strata buries the Precambrian basement up to 7 km. Due to the sediment cover and low topographic relief, the at depth structure of the region remains poorly understood. This region is of particular interest because over the past half-billion years tectonic forces have resulted in the formation of epeirogenic provinces in a stable cratonic interior. Using the OIINK flexible seismic array and the Earthscope Transportable Array, Ambient Seismic Noise Tomography was applied to investigate the crustal structure and produce high-resolution structural models of the region. For our analysis we used the vertical component of seismograms recorded between January 2011 and December 2014, where spurious events were filtered out to establish the background seismic noise of the region. Seismic observations based on the cross-correlations of seismic noise from 46,665 station pairs were used to obtain phase velocities at periods from 4 to 40 s. From these measurements a high resolution model was formed, improving the our understanding of the complex basement geology of the Midwestern United States

Surface wave interferometry

This thesis concerns the application of seismic interferometry to surface waves. Seismic interferometry is the process by which the wavefield between two recording locations is estimated, resulting in new recordings at one location as if a source had been placed at the other. Thus, in surface-wave interferometry, surface waves propagating between two receiver locations are estimated as if one receiver had recorded the response due to a source of surface-wave energy at the other receiver. In global and engineering seismology new surface-wave responses can allow for imaging of the subsurface, and in exploration seismology it has been proposed that these new surface-wave responses can allow for the prediction and removal of socalled ground-roll (surface waves that are treated as noise). This thesis presents a detailed analysis of surface-wave interferometry: using a combination of modelling studies, real-data studies, and theoretical analyses the processes involved in the application of interferometry to complex (both multi-mode and scattered) surface waves are revealed. These analyses identify why surface waves are often dominant in the application of interferometry, where errors may be introduced in the application of surface-wave interferometry, and how interferometry may be processed in such a way as to minimise those (and other) errors. This allows for the proposal of new data-processing strategies in the application of seismic interferometry to surface waves, potentially resulting in improved surface-wave estimates. Much of the work in this thesis focuses on the use of seismic interferometry to predict and subtract surface waves in land-seismic exploration surveys. Using insights from the presented analyses it is shown that seismic surface waves can be successfully predicted and removed from land-seismic data using an interferometric approach. However, the work in this thesis is not only limited to applications in exploration seismology. In addition to the ground-roll removal method, improved estimates of higher-mode and scattered surfaces waves may allow for more advanced imaging algorithms to be used in conjunction with seismic interferometry. Also, as a consequence of the analysis presented a Generalized Optical Theorem for Surface Waves is derived. This highlights a link between seismic interferometry and the optical theorem and may allow for further application of optical theorems in seismology

Using ambient noise tomography to image the Eastern Cape-Karoo and Karoo regions, South Africa

The primary aim of this thesis was to explore the use of ambient seismic noise as a tool to map the subsurface of the Cape-Karoo and Karoo region of South Africa. The Karoo is an ideal laboratory to use ambient seismic signal to map the shallow subsurface, as it is a quiet and pristine environment with a relatively well known geology. Ambient seismic signals were continuously recorded at three independent networks (ArrayA, ArrayB and ArrayC). ArrayA and ArrayB comprised 17 temporary stand-alone seismic stations each and recorded ambient noise wavefields for a ten week period between August and October 2015. ArrayC comprised 19 temporary stand-alone seismic stations, recording ambient seismic noise for a period of six weeks between June and July 2016. ArrayA and ArrayB were installed in the south-eastern Cape-Karoo region, near the town of Jansenville and ArrayC was installed near the Cradock-Tarkastad region of South Africa. This thesis is made up of two separate studies. Firstly, the retrieval and coherency of Rayleigh surface waves extracted from the vertical component recordings. For the first time in the south-eastern Cape-Karoo and Karoo area, estimates of Green’s function from cross-correlating ambient noise data between stations pairs were reconstructed and shown, which can be successfully used to image the subsurface. The stacked cross-correlations between all station pairs show clear arrivals of the Rayleigh surface waves. The group velocities of the Rayleigh waves in the 2 to 7 seconds period range were picked and inverted to compute the 2-D group velocity maps. For ArrayA and ArrayB, the resulting 2-D group velocity maps at different periods resulted in a group velocity model from approximately 2 to 7 km depth, which generally show a high velocity anomaly in the north of the study area, most likely imaging the denser, thick sedimentary basin of the Karoo (Carboniferous-Permian). To the south, the low velocity anomaly likely corresponds to the overlying Jurassic- Cretaceous sequences of the younger Algoa Basin (Uitenhage Group). For ArrayC, the group velocity maps showed high velocity regions, which is consistent with the dolerite sill intrusions in the Karoo and the low velocity structures, which was interpreted as the Karoo sediments. Secondly, the study comprised of characterizing the ambient seismic noise source. The first order analysis of the symmetry of the cross-correlation function showed that, although the ambient noise sources are relatively homogeneously distributed in the study area, most (energetic) of the ambient seismic noise propagates from the coast of South Africa. This was verified by analyzing the azimuthal distribution of the ambient seismic noise

Estimating body and surface waves using virtual sources and receivers

This research is focused on the application of both new and established seismic interferometry techniques to a single area: the Altiplano in the Andes region. This area has already been widely studied in terms of its geological evolution. Nevertheless, a single accepted theory has not yet been developed to explain why the topography of the Andes incorporates such a large area of low relief at this altitude. The Altiplano is therefore an interesting zone to study. This research introduces and analyses new concepts and methodologies, such as retrieving surface and body waves between earthquakes by using interferometry. Nevertheless, several factors, such as the quality of recordings, the separation between sources, and the velocity gradient of the medium, had to be taken into account for body and surface wave retrieval. This research also analysed the retrieval of body waves by means of seismic interferometry applied to coda wave arrivals. Results show that due to the attenuation of S waves produced by the zone of partial molten material, when using S coda waves, seismic interferometry does not achieve the objective of wave retrieval. On the other hand, P coda waves gave good results. Also, the combined methodology of interferometry by cross-correlation and convolution was shown to account for the behaviour of the retrieved waves and provided an indication of how the distribution of sources affects the Green’s functions estimates for body waves in this area. Another point covered by this research was the analysis of passive recordings in order to retrieve surface and body waves. Results indicate that surface and body waves could be retrieved. However, in order to retrieve body waves, special circumstances are required, such as lateral continuity of the Moho, a relative strong Moho impedance contrast, and simplicity of the geologic structure because these factors will contribute to a strong signal like that obtained in critical reflections making interferometry results more successful

Fast acoustic tomography of costal, tidally-driven temperature and current fields

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Ocean Engineering, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-169).by Pierre Elisseeff.Ph.D

地下構造モニタリングのための地震波干渉法の高度化 - 2011年東北地方太平洋沖地震への適用 -

Tohoku University岡田知己課

A Dynamic Model of Stability and Change in Mississippian Agricultural Systems

An argument in support of applying Stability Theory concepts to southeastern Mississippian agricultural systems is presented. By redefining such a system in terms of a finite set of variables, a characteristic definition can be developed that predicts system response to varying conditions. In particular, an attempt is made to determine periods of instability during the development of Mississippian Culture in the Little Tennessee River Valley of East Tennessee and correlate these periods with the timing of phase transitions. The system is divided into sets of (a) control (climatic and ecological) and (x) behavioral (technological and social) variables. The rules that define the behavioral limits form a potential function, V(a,x). For an agricultural system this function represents the total non-depleted, arable land reservoir. Stability is defined when dV/dx = 0. An extensive examination of the ethnohistoric record was used to produce a behavioral model of precontact aboriginal agriculture. Fields were cleared using fire. Plant densities were on the order of 10,000 plants per acre. No recognized method of soil fertilization was practiced. Cultivation was limited to two hoeings. Harvesting was divided between the green corn (milky stage) harvest in midsummer and one final harvest in the fall. Historical estimates of yield range between 10 and 20 bu/acre (6.3 to 12.6 quintals/ha). Field sizes varied between 0.3 and 1.5 acres/person (0.12 to 0.6 ha/person). Using region specific agricultural, pedological, and archaeological data; system parameters of yield potential, population growth, and minimum consumption are defined as functions of time. Predicted times of system failure are produced for a range of input parameters. Periods of instability are delimited based on the generalized, best case response curve for the total remaining land reservoir. The results suggest that Mississippian I (Martin Farm - A.D. 900-1000) and middle Mississippian III (Dallas - A.D. 1300-1400) were unstable phases. Mississippian II (Hiwassee Island - A.D. 1000-1200) and late or post Mississippian III (Mouse Creek or Cherokee - after A.D. 1400) represent stable adjustments. This result is in agreement with the archaeological and palynological record, demonstrating the applicability of this approach to anthropological research

Suivi de substitution de fluides dans les roches par corrélation de bruit : Expériences ultrasonores au laboratoire et surveillance continue en cours d’exploitation du sous-sol

Seismic interferometry, like optic interferometry, studies the interferences phenomena between couples of seismic signals, with the aim of pointing at differences between those signals (Curtis et al. 2006 for instance). The data processing consists, generally, in correlating the recordings between different stations to retrieve the Green's function between these sensors (Derode et al. (2003), Wapenaar et al. (2004), Larose et al. (2006), Sanchez-Sesma et Campillo (2006)). This principle has already been successfully applied in the field of seismology (Campillo and Paul (2003)), ultrasound (Weaver et Lobkis (2001)), seismic exploration and even helioseismology (Duvall et al. (1993)). In all these cases, the analysis of the correlations leads to a detailed description of the propagation medium. Contrary to active seismic which uses artificial coherent sources (explosives, air guns…), passive seismic exploits natural coherent sources (seisms…). Since a few years, passive seismics also exploits random wave fields generated at unknown times by many unknown sources in the ground, and recorded at different stations positions. The analysis with cross-correlation of pairs of recordings, from pairs of sensors, leads to the Green's function between the two sensors (Derode et al. (2003)). This thesis has two objectives: -to check, at the lab scale, the effectiveness of monitoring of fluids substitution with noise correlation (ultrasound scale) in rocks -to apply noise correlation methods to passive seismic monitoring of a hydrocarbons field. This thesis presents, after a state of the art, the set-up of a new method to measure elastic constants of a rock sample (dry or fluid-saturated), based on ultrasound interferometry principle and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy. The method has been tested and validated (reproducibility, accuracy, precision…) on a standard material (aluminium). We show that the effects of a fluids substitution are measurable on various rock samples (dry or saturated, with water or with ethylene glycol) with this method. Plus the results are in agreement with Biot-Gassmann's theory. Besides, several weaknesses of the method were pointed, that is to say the method does not work on heterogeneous or attenuating medium. The last part of this thesis exposes speed of waves variations in a hydrocarbons field, when steam is injected simultaneously inside the reservoir (enhanced oil recovery operation).L'interférométrie sismique, tout comme l'interférométrie optique, étudie les phénomènes d'interférence entre des couples de signaux sismiques afin de mettre en évidence des différences entre ces signaux (par exemple Curtis et al. 2006). Les traitements utilisés consistent le plus souvent à corréler les enregistrements entre différents capteurs pour remonter aux fonctions de Green, (ou réponse impulsionnelle) entre ces récepteurs (par exemple, Derode et al. (2003), Wapenaar et al. (2004), Larose et al. (2006), Sanchez-Sesma et Campillo (2006)). Ce principe a déjà été appliqué avec succès dans les domaines de la sismologie (Campillo et Paul (2003)), des ultrasons (Weaver et Lobkis (2001)), de l'exploration sismique (Schuster (2001) et Wapenaar et al. (2004)), et même de l'hélio-sismologie (Duvall et al. (1993)) Dans tous ces cas, l'analyse des corrélations a conduit à une description détaillée des milieux de propagation, en l'occurrence l'intérieur de la Terre dans le cas de la sismologie. La sismique passive, par opposition à la sismique active utilisant les sources cohérentes artificielles (explosifs, canons à air, vibrateurs...), exploite les sources cohérentes naturelles (séismes...). Depuis peu la sismique passive exploite également des champs d'ondes aléatoires engendrées à des temps inconnus par une multitude de sources inconnues dans le sous-sol qui sont enregistrées à différentes positions de récepteurs. L'analyse par interférométrie sismique des enregistrements à deux capteurs permet de remonter aux fonctions de Green, ou réponse impulsionnelle, entre ces deux récepteurs (Derode et al. (2003)). Cette thèse, à vocations à la fois expérimentale et applicative, a deux buts : - vérifier au laboratoire, sur des expériences ultrasonores et avec différents types de roches, l'efficacité du monitoring de substitution de fluides par l'analyse interférométrique ultrasonore - appliquer sur le terrain les méthodes d'interférométrie sismique passive à des expériences ponctuelles de surveillance sismique passive d'exploitation du sous-sol. Ce manuscrit présente, après une synthèse bibliographique, la mise au point d'une nouvelle méthode de mesure des constantes élastiques d'un échantillon de roche (sèche ou saturée de fluide) basée sur les principes de l'interférométrie ultrasonore et de la spectroscopie par résonance ultrasonore. La méthode a été testée et validée (reproductibilité, fidélité, fiabilité…) sur un matériau standard de propriétés connues (aluminium). On expose que les effets de substitution fluide sont tout-à-fait mesurables avec la méthode sur divers échantillons de roches sèches puis saturées (en eau ou en éthylène glycol) et les résultats sont en accord raisonnable avec la théorie poroélastique de Biot-Gassmann. En outre, un certain nombre de faiblesses de la méthode ont été mises en évidence, à savoir la limitation à des roches assez homogènes et peu atténuantes. La dernière partie de ce manuscrit met en évidence des variations de vitesse des ondes dans un champ d'hydrocarbures (informations relatives à ce champ confidentielles) concomitantes avec le début de l'injection de vapeur dans celui-ci (pour récupération assistée de l'huile)