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Thesis (M.Sc.) -- Department of Physics, University of Adelaide, 1979.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002.

Geophysical investigation of the subsurface through seismic refraction and reflection methods provides an efficient and non-invasive means towards addressing geologic problems across multiple scales. Both seismic techniques, in an active-source exploration setting, involve inducing acoustic waves into the subsurface and measuring their propagation velocities and amplitudes. These measurements have physically-based relationships with the properties of the underlying strata, thus allowing changes in the seismic measurements to be interpreted with respect to changes in the subsurface geology. Two applications of the seismic method are presented in this dissertation: (1) shallow seismic refraction acquisition and processing applied to the near-surface investigations of soil and regolith, which constitute the Critical Zone (CZ), beneath the upland hillslopes of the Valles Caldera, New Mexico; (2) interpretation of 2-D and 3-D marine seismic reflection data that image the upper 10-km of the crust beneath the Southern Guinea Plateau, offshore Guinea, West Africa. In both cases, the seismic data provide necessary constraints for the generation of accurate subsurface models that permit further geophysical modeling. The near-surface results, presented in Appendix A, provided a rich dataset of weathered thicknesses across hillslopes that supported an investigation of potential relationships between CZ geologic architecture and topographic attributes. Quantified relationships suggest that calibrated predictions based on the topography can provide first-order estimates of regolith thickness across upland landscapes. These results add to the ongoing CZ-science endeavor to understand proposed links between subsurface weathering processes and their surface expressions. In Appendix B, interpretations of high-resolution 3-D seismic data have illuminated deformational structures associated with Mesozoic rifting of the Southern Guinea Plateau. The interpretations were expanded onto regional 2-D seismic profiles, permitting a regional synthesis of the southern margin’s structural evolution. Additional tectonic subsidence and forward-gravity modeling highlight the influence of Jurassic rifting on the Southern Guinea Plateau prior to Early-Cretaceous rifting and separation, as well as crustal thickness estimates from the continental shelf out towards oceanic crust. Lastly, the Guinea-Demerara conjugate plateaus, and their associated deformations, were restored to 100 Ma, revealing an apparent upper-crustal asymmetry between the two margins. Appendix C presents two seismic-exploration methodologies based on 3-D seismic reflection data: (1) the calculation and interpretation of two co-rendered volumetric seismic attributes – most-positive curvature and semblance; (2) numerically modeling the tectonic subsidence of an entire 3-D seismic survey. Both techniques are used to address the inherent difficulty in interpreting the extent to which Jurassic rifting affected the Southern Guinea Plateau. Furthermore, the numerical model of subsidence provides a new exploration technique towards qualitatively and quantitatively assisting in the assessment of potential hydrocarbon-bearing basins.

In March of 1987, the Geologic Survey of Canada conducted a major seismic refraction experiment in the Mackenzie Delta-Southern Beaufort Sea-Northern Yukon area. This study involves the analysis of a portion of the resulting data set. A 2D velocity profile through the Richardson Mountains of the northern Yukon has been constructed using raytracing to model the travel-times and amplitudes. The line is approximately 320 km long, running from a shotpointon the Eagle Plains in the south to one 50 km offshore in Mackenzie Bay to the north, with an average receiver spacing of 3.5 km. An additional shotpoint is located at Shingle Point, on the shore of Mackenzie Bay. A series of four sedimentary basins separated by major structural highs produces a complex basement structure. Two distinct upper crustal layers were modelled, a 5.95 km/s layer overlying a 6.3 km/s layer, as well as a lower crustal layer with a velocity of 7.25 km/s. Crustal velocity gradients are low (≤ 0.005 s⁻¹). The 6.3 km/s layer pinches out beneath the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin in the north, accompanied by a thinning of the lower crust from a thickness of 20 km in the south to less than 10 km beneath MB. This results in the crust as a whole thinning from a thickness of 50 km under the Richardson Mountains to only 40 km under the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin. The velocity of the upper mantle is 7.95 km/s. The modelling of shear wave arrivals indicate Poisson's ratios of 0.23 ±0.02 in the upper crust and 0.25 + 0.02 in the lower crust. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

The Main Ethiopian Rift is a part of the East African Rift, from where the African plate is being teared apart and separated from the Indian and the Arabian plate. Even though earthquakes in this area are relatively less frequent, the subsurface structure is a subject of big research interest, since information about the subsurface layers has considerable relevance when it comes to site amplication related to earthquakes. The aim of this project is to map and compare the subsurface structures of two sites located in the Ethiopian Rift, using seismic refraction technique. By looking at the first arrivals of artificial seismic waves on a designated site, the velocities as well as the thicknessof the subsurface layers can be obtained. The result showed that the both sites contained a low velocity structure which contained weathered material.

Reflectivity images of the lower crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Illinois basin have been derived from reprocessing of several hundred kilometers of industry seismic reflection data using extended vibroseis recorrelation. The recorrelation was based on extending an originally 4-s correlated record, acquired with a 16-s sweep from 14 to 126 Hz, to the absolute limit of the full 20 s (~70 km) listening travel time. The reconstructed bandwidth includes frequency components suitable for imaging structures from signals received from both sedimentary basin reflectors and those received from reflectors in the deep crust and upper mantle. Mantle and sub-Moho reflectors are imaged down to 18 s two-way travel time (~62 km) and are observed on intersecting profiles generally dipping to the southwest and striking northwest-southeast. Occasional Moho reflections are also observed across the profiles (~12 s or ~38 km) while reflectivity in the lower crust is generally marked by intermittent horizontal packages and short, gently dipping reflections and diffraction segments. The presence of newly observed mantle reflectivity beneath the Illinois basin indicates significant upper mantle heterogeneity, relative to other parts of the USA studied using reflection methods. The relatively isolated occurrence of mantle reflections beneath the basin makes it difficult to uniquely infer their origin. However, available geologic and geophysical constraints, especially from geochemical and geochronological studies of drilled basement rocks, effectively limit the possibilities to: (1) remnants or "scars" of sub-crustal processes associated with lithospheric extension or delamination related to the melting of the Proterozoic crust that led to the emplacement of the granite--rhyolite province that underlies much of USA Midcontinent; or (2) deformation caused by plate subduction associated with the hypothetical accretion of a juvenile arc to the pre-1.6 Ga southern margin of the Laurentian continent.

The Chesapeake Bay impact structure is one of the largest and most well preserved impact structures on Earth. It has a unique morphology composed of an inner crater penetrating crystalline basement surrounded by a wider crater in the overlying sediments. In 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a seismic survey with the goals of constraining crater structure and in support of the drilling of a borehole into the deepest part of the crater. Travel-time and waveform inversion were applied to the data to produce a high-resolution velocity model of the crater. Low-fold reflection processing was also applied. Northeast of the crystalline crater, undeformed, eastward-sloping crystalline basement is ~1.5 km deep. The edge of the inner crater is at ~ 15 km radius and slopes gradually down to a depth of 1.5 - 1.8 km. A central peak of 4-5 km radius rises to a depth of ~0.8 km. Basement velocity in the crystalline crater is much lower than undeformed basement, which suggests ~10% fracturing of the crater floor, and up to 20% fracturing of the central uplift. A basement uplift and lateral change of velocity, interpreted as the edge of the transient crater, occurs at a radius of ~ 11 km. Assuming a 22 km diameter transient crater, scaling laws predict a ~30 km diameter crater and central peak diameter of 8-10 km. This indicates that post-impact collapse processes that created the ~ 30 km diameter crystalline crater were unaffected by the much weaker rheology of the overlying sediments. / Master of Science