On Lateral Viscosity Contrast in the Mantle and the Rheology of Low Frequency Geodynamics
Recent developments in global seismic tomography provide three-dimensional views of S-wave structure throughout the mantle.
mantle↗
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Seismic Q and velocity at depth
Measurements of the p-wave and s-wave internal friction quality factors (Q) and velocities of samples of a moderately outgassed terrestrial analog of lunar basalt exposed simultaneously to temperatures and hydrostatic confining pressures in accordance with the best available estimates of the lunar selenotherm are presented. Q values and velocities are found to increase with simulated depth, and an extrapolation of the Q value to a thoroughly outgassed states provides a Q value in reasonable agreement with those derived from lunar seismic data, suggesting a very dry lunar crust. Results also imply that similar seismic determinations for Mars would be able to distinguish between a dry crust and a crust containing water trapped beneath a layer of ice. Results of thermal cracking tests which demonstrate that high degrees of cracking associated with thermal cycling, as during the lunar day, are not inconsistent with high Q in a dry environment are presented, and it is shown that volatiles with diple moments comparable to H2O can greatly affect Q. Possible attenuation mechanisms are then considered, and velocity measurements on a synthetic anorthosite are presented.
Tittmann, B. R.↗
Illuminating the North Korean nuclear explosion test in 2017 using remote infrasound observations
North Korea conducted its sixth underground nuclear explosion test (mb 6.3) on 2017 September 3. The underground explosion produced substantial low-frequency atmospheric waves, which were detected by infrasound arrays located up to a distance of 566 km. These infrasound waves are formed by the conversion of seismic energy to acoustic energy across the lithosphere–atmosphere interface. While infrasound records at regional distances produce estimates of ground motion amplitude over spatially extended regions covering about 26 500 km 2 , 3-D full seismo-acoustic simulations within the lithosphere and atmosphere provide quantitative information about seismo-acoustic energy partitioning. Our results demonstrate the capability of remote infrasound observations combined with 3-D propagation modelling to further develop discrimination methods for underground sources. These results contribute to enhance the confidence of source identification and characterization in nuclear test monitoring research, which is essential for the enforcement of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Crust and Upper Mantle Structure Beneath the Eastern United States
Abstract The Eastern United States (EUS) has a complex geological history and hosts several seismic active regions. We investigate the subsurface structure beneath the broader EUS. To produce reliable images of the subsurface, we simultaneously invert smoothed P‐wave receiver functions, Rayleigh‐wave phase and group velocity measurements, and Bouguer gravity observations for the 3D shear‐wave speed. Using surface‐wave observations (3–250 s) and spatially smoothed receiver functions, our velocity models are robust, reliable, and rich in detail. The shear‐wave velocity models fit all three types of observations well. The resulting velocity model for the eastern U.S. shows thinner crust beneath New England, the east coast, and the Mississippi Embayment (ME). A relatively thicker crust was found beneath the stable North America craton. A relatively slower upper mantle was imaged beneath New England, the east coast, and western ME. A comparison of crust thickness derived from our model against four recent published models shows first‐order consistency. A relatively small upper mantle low‐speed region correlates with a published P‐wave analysis that has associated the anomaly with a 75 Ma kimberlite volcanic site in Kentucky. We also explored the relationship between the subsurface structure and seismicity in the eastern U.S. We found that earthquakes often locate near regions with seismic velocity variations, but not universally. Not all regions of significant subsurface wave speed changes are loci of seismicity. A weak correlation between upper mantle shear velocity and earthquake focal mechanism has been observed.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Utah FORGE: Seismic DAS and Geophone Borehole Data Processing and 3D Imaging of Vp/Vs Ratio in the 2024 Stimulated Reservoir
This dataset includes a final report and a 3D velocity model derived from seismic DAS and geophone borehole data collected during the April 2024 stimulation of the reservoir at Utah FORGE. The report details the processing of over 50,000 P- and S-wave travel times used in a tomographic inversion to estimate the Vp/Vs ratio, revealing anomalies adjacent to wells 16A and 16B that may be associated with injected fracturing fluids. Additionally, Wadati analysis of more than 27,000 pairs of differential P- and S-wave travel times supports this interpretation with a high Vp/Vs estimate of 1.86, averaged over the dimensions of the earthquake cluster. The accompanying data file provides a 3D model of P- and S-wave velocities and Vp/Vs ratios, structured with spatial coordinates and velocity values.
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
Mineralogy, fabric and deformation domains in D" across the southwestern border of the African LLSVP
Recent advances in seismic anisotropy studies that jointly use reflections and shear wave splitting have proven to place tight constraints on the plausible anisotropic and deformation scenarios in the D" region. We apply this novel methodology to a large area of the D" region beneath the South Atlantic, in proximity to and within the African large low seismic velocity province (LLSVP). This area of the mantle is characterized by a transition from fast to slow seismic velocity anomalies and it is thought to be the location of deep-seated plumes responsible for hotspot volcanism. Attempting to probe mantle composition and deformation along the LLSVP borders may provide key information on mantle dynamics. By analysing seismic phases sampling this region, we detect a D" discontinuity over a large area beneath the South Atlantic, with inferred depth ranges ~170 to ~240 km above the core–mantle boundary. We find evidence for a D" reflector within the area of the LLSVP. Shear wave splitting observations suggest that anisotropy is present in this region of the mantle, in agreement with previous studies that partially sampled this region. We model the observations considering lattice- and shape-preferred orientation of materials expected in the D" region. A regional variation of mineralogy, phase transition boundaries, and deformation direction is required to explain the data. We infer two distinct domains of mineralogy and deformation: aligned post-perovskite outside the LLSVP and aligned bridgmanite within the LLSVP. Finally, the scenario depicted by this study agrees well with the current hypotheses for the composition of the LLSVP and with the prevalence of vertical deformation directions expected to occur along the LLSVPs borders.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
High-Temperature MEMS Based Venus Seismometer
Seismology is the method of choice for studying a planet’s interior and assessing current tectonic activity. With a single strategically placed seismometer, or preferably a network of seismometers, a variety of key aspects of a planet can be evaluated. The level and nature of seismicity observed provides a gauge of current geologic, especially tectonic, activity. Where tectonic activity is and is not occurring illuminates what regions and geologic features on the planet are currently active, thus, constraining global geodynamics. Larger distal earthquakes can be used to determine major compositional and structural boundaries within a planet’s interior, providing major constraints on planet formation and interior evolution. Seismometers have been deployed successfully on the Moon and Mars. Only small subsets of the scientific knowledge that can be gained from seismology can be obtained from alternative scientific approaches, such as global gravity solutions or repeat-pass interferometry. By virtue of its similar size to Earth, Venus is likely to be highly seismically active (Fig. 1). Even at Earth-like levels of seismology, returning meaningful data would require observation over a period that is at least 2–3 orders of magnitude longer than the 1–2 h lifetime of previous Soviet landers. Clever insulation could extend the lifetime of standard electronics in a modern lander to perhaps 24 h. While active cooling of electronics for a Venusian lander is plausible, this approach would require considerable technological advancement and will likely come at a high monetary and mass cost. The high density of the Venusian atmosphere at the surface should mean that there is good coupling of seismic energy into the atmosphere, such that seismology using infrasound from a balloon platform is currently being explored, and observations of the upper levels of the atmosphere from orbit has also been proposed [3]. Besides losing all shear wave information with these two methods, calibrating and interpreting seismic information that has been distorted by, and convolved with, atmospheric phenomena will be challenging without existing seismology data collected through surface seismometers (optimally, simultaneous surface seismological observations would be made).
silicon carbide↗
Early arrival waveform inversion using data uncertainties and matching filters with application to near-surface seismic refraction data
We develop an early arrival waveform inversion (EAWI) technique for high-resolution near-surface velocity estimation by iteratively updating the P-wave velocity model to minimize the difference between the observed and calculated seismic refraction data. Traditional EAWI uses a least-squares penalty function and an acoustic forward-modeling engine. Conventional least-squares error is sensitive to data with low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and iterations of EAWI stop at a local-minimum data misfit or at the preassigned maximum number of iterations. These stopping criteria can result in overfitting the data. In addition, fitting the elastic field data with an acoustic modeling engine can introduce artifacts in velocity estimation, especially in land data with significant elastic effects. To overcome these challenges, we develop a robust EAWI (REAWI) method by (1) incorporating the data uncertainties into the penalty function and (2) mitigating the elastic effects using a matching filter workflow. The data uncertainties are estimated from waveform reciprocal errors. When full-waveform reciprocity is not available, trace interpolation is applied. The proposed method prevents closely fitting data with low S/N, avoids overall overfitting by stopping the iterations when a normalized chi-square ([Formula: see text]) waveform misfit of one is achieved, and is less affected by elastic effects. Numerical examples and application to near-surface refraction data at a groundwater contamination site suggest that the final REAWI models are more accurate than the corresponding EAWI models, at the same level of misfit. This is the first known application of a matching filter workflow to real land data. The final REAWI models satisfy an appropriate misfit between the real data and predicted elastic P-wave data, making this approach in this respect equivalent to elastic waveform inversion. We also develop a method to analyze model constraint by examining the energy of the wavefield Fréchet derivative thereby avoiding the influence of the data residuals in traditional Fréchet kernels.
Geochemistry & Geophysics↗
The lunar interior - A summary report
The complete seismic data set collected by the Apollo network contains about 40 events which provide significant structural information on the lunar interior. The seismograms from these events yield a set of direct wave arrival times that constitutes the most reliable information on the seismic structure of the moon. Secondary data include possible reflected arrivals from crustal and mantle interfaces, an apparent shear wave shadow zone for surface events beginning at about 90 deg distance, and the shear wave amplitude decay with distance. Analysis of these data give well-constrained and stable average velocity values for the upper and lower mantle regions independent of most assumptions. The upper-lower mantle transition can begin no shallower than 400 km depth and may represent a compositional change although the effects of increased temperature cannot be ruled out.
Goins, N. R.↗
Initial Acoustoelastic Measurements in Olivine: Investigating the Effect of Stress on P- and S-Wave
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Traylor, T.K.↗
Local-Regional Surface Wave Dispersion Analysis using Ambient Noise Data of the Southern Nevada National Security Site Area
This report details seismic ambient noise analysis to improve seismic velocity estimates of the southeastern Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). We compare two different methods for estimating surface wave dispersion curves from ambient noise cross-correlations: frequency time analysis (FTAN) and Aki’s cross-spectral method (XSpec). We find that XSpec performs better for our local-regional dataset and frequency content. Using phase velocity estimates from XSpec, we build a preliminary phase velocity dispersion dataset, which contains data for 1,054 station pairs and 8,905 discrete phase velocity measurements for periods between 0.5 and 13 s. This phase velocity dataset will be incorporated into an updated local-regional P and S wave velocity model of the southeastern NNSS in the future and is expected to improve upon shallow velocity estimates.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
Survey of Deep Learning and Physics-Based Approaches in Computational Wave Imaging
Computational wave imaging (CWI) extracts hidden structure and physical properties of a volume of material by analyzing wave signals that traverse that volume. Applications include seismic exploration of the Earth’s subsurface, acoustic imaging and nondestructive testing (NDT) in material science, and ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) in medicine. Current approaches for solving CWI problems can be divided into two categories: those rooted in traditional physics and those based on deep learning. Physics-based methods stand out for their ability to provide high-resolution and quantitatively accurate estimates of acoustic properties within the medium. However, they can be computationally intensive and are susceptible to ill-posedness and nonconvexity typical of CWI problems. Machine learning (ML)-based computational methods have recently emerged, offering a different perspective to address these challenges. Diverse scientific communities have independently pursued the integration of deep learning in CWI. This review discusses how contemporary scientific ML techniques, and deep neural networks in particular, have been developed to enhance and integrate with traditional physics-based methods for solving CWI problems. We present a structured framework that consolidates existing research spanning multiple domains, including computational imaging, wave physics, and data science. This study concludes with important lessons learned from existing ML-based methods and identifies technical hurdles and emerging trends through a systematic analysis of the extensive literature on this topic.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Evaluation and developmental studies of possible active seismic experiments during the post-Apollo period
Seismic velocity studies pertinent to the lunar crust and mantle are briefly summarized. The compressional and shear wave velocities in loose aggregates are discussed along with the effects of temperature on seismic velocity in compacted powders. Abstracts of papers concerning the lunar structure are included.
Kovach, R. L.↗
Comprehensive earthquake catalogue update and spatiotemporal distribution analysis for Iraq and surrounding regions, northeastern Arabian Plate
The updated earthquake catalogue for Iraq covers the period from 1900 to the end of 2021 and includes over 37 000 recorded earthquakes. To create this comprehensive catalogue, five key steps were taken: compiling bulletins, calculating moment magnitudes, harmonizing magnitudes, establishing empirical conversion relations and evaluating the completeness of the catalogue. A notable enhancement in this update is the direct calculation of moment magnitudes for approximately 2800 earthquakes, achieved through the coda envelope technique and waveform data from the Mesopotamian Seismological Network (MPSN) in Iraq. This updated catalogue serves as a valuable resource for examining the spatiotemporal distribution of earthquakes, with respect to earthquake density, maximum moment magnitude and seismogenic depths. Additionally, the Gutenberg–Richter relationship was applied to calculate the a- and b-values specific to Iraq. The findings show that the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt has a seismogenic layer (source) that ranges from 2 to 33 km deep and experiences high seismic activity. In contrast, the Mesopotamian Foredeep has a seismogenic layer ranging from 1 to 25 km deep and has lower seismic activity. The greatest seismic activity is concentrated around the Mandili-Badra-Teeb fault, which has experienced significant ruptures over time. The Outer Arabian Platform is identified as the main area of seismic activity, while additional activity occurs on the Inner Arabian Platform. Three major tectonic boundaries define the distribution of earthquakes in the northeastern Arabian Plate. These boundaries are defined by the Main Zagros Reverse Fault, the Zagros Foredeep Fault and the Anah Graben and Abu Jir-Euphrates Fault Zone. These boundaries highlight variations in seismicity levels and the spatial distribution of deformation in the region. The updated earthquake catalogue presented in this study is expected to play a vital role in regional seismicity assessments and seismic hazard analyses for Iraq and its surrounding areas.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Age dependence of oceanic intraplate seismicity and implications for lithospheric evolution
The present investigation is concerned with the determination of the depths for 16 oceanic intraplate earthquakes using body wave modeling. It is found that oceanic intraplate earthquake depths show a clear deepening of the maximum focal depth with increasing lithospheric age. The thickness of the lithosphere in which oceanic intraplate earthquakes occur is approximately equal to or slightly greater than the flexural elastic thickness, but is much less than the seismic thickness determined from surface wave dispersion. Oceanic intraplate earthquakes are found to occur at greater depths and temperatures than has been previously observed for continental crustal events.
Wiens, D. A.↗
Monitoring Seasonal Shear Wave Velocity Changes in the Top 6 m at Garner Valley in Southern California With Borehole Data
Abstract Subsurface structures play important roles in seismic ground motion, crustal hydrology, stability of the built environment, and more. Constraining temporal changes of subsurface shear wave velocity ( V S ) can provide useful information to all these topics and the growing field of hydrological monitoring with seismic velocity. Using borehole records at Garner Valley, CA, we estimate seasonal subsurface V S variations from impulse response functions (IRFs) of earthquake data (2005–2018) along with IRFs and cross‐correlation of cross‐hole experiment data (2015–2018). The inferred V S variations are up to ∼25% in the top 6 m and ∼10% at 2–5 m in depth. The V S variations correlate strongly with the water table depth changes, suggesting that the changes are mostly due to fluctuations of pore pressure in the shallow material. The shallow velocity changes alter the near‐surface conditions, can affect seismic hazard estimation, and may be improperly attributed to deeper processes without careful analysis.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Seismic properties of the crust and uppermost mantle of North America
Seismic refraction profiles for the North American continent were compiled. The crustal models compiled data on the upper mantle seismic velocity (P sub n), the crustal thickness (H sub c) and the average seismic velocity of the crystalline crust (V sub p). Compressional wave parameters were compared with shear wave data derived from surface wave dispersion models and indicate an average value for Poisson's ratio of 0.252 for the crust and of 0.273 for the uppermost mantle. Contour maps illustrate lateral variations in crustal thickness, upper mantle velocity and average seismic velocity of the crystalline crust. The distribution of seismic parameters are compared with a smoothed free air anomaly map of North America and indicate that a complidated mechanism of isostatic compensation exists for the North American continent. Several features on the seismic contour maps also correlate with regional magnetic anomalies.
Braile, L. W.↗
Seismic codas on the earth and the moon - A comparison
The seismic codas, representing that part of the seismogram following the arrival of the surface waves or the direct S waves, characteristic of the earth and moon are compared with regard to the implications of coda characteristics for scattering and attenuation. Scattering models based on single S-S scatter theory, in which seismic energy in the coda is assumed to be S waves that have undergone only one scattering without conversion, and on diffusion theory, which assumed that energy in the coda has been scattered many times, are examined, and situations where the single-scattering and multiple-scattering theories are applicable are distinguished by the ratio of attenuation distance to the scattering mean free path. Values of the attenuation distance and the mean free path derived from coda studies for the earth and moon are compared, and it is found that for the frequency range 0.5-10 Hz, diffusion scattering is important in lunar codas, while at frequencies from 1 to 25 Hz single scattering is important in terrestrial codas. It is pointed out that attenuation acts to eliminate scattering paths much longer than the attenuation length. The observed differences between terrestrial and lunar codas are thus attributed to lesser attenuation and greater scattering on the moon.
Dainty, A. M.↗