The largest earthquakes occur along the subduction thrust interface known as the seismogenic zone. Until recently, erosive margins like Tonga and Honshu have been thought to be unable to support earthquakes with magnitudes higher than 8.5. However, Mw 9, 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake in Honshu requires a reevaluation of this notion. The seismic potential of Tonga is likely affected by the vertical spatial extent of the up-dip and down-dip limits, which confines the seismogenic zone. The larger the area of the seismogenic zone, the higher the potential for larger earthquakes. Some models suggest that down-dip limit coincides with the fore-arc Moho while others suggest that they are coincident with thermally controlled mineralogical phase changes during slab descent. Tonga is an ideal place to discriminate between these possibilities, as the incoming Pacific plate is cold and thick with rapid convergence, extending cool isotherms deep into the system. In contrast, the fore-arc Moho is only ~16 km deep. This study tests the hypothesis that the down-dip limit of the Tonga seismogenic zone coincides with the fore-arc Moho and thus ceases the seismicity by initiating a stable sliding between the mantle and the subducting crust. We determine the depth of the down-dip limit in Tonga by mapping the distribution of earthquakes recorded for a six-month period from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010 by a deployment of ocean bottom seismographs above the Tonga subduction zone. The earthquakes are located by a combination of grid-search method and least-square inversion of the observed arrival times. We identified a down-dip limit at a minimum depth of about 40 km below the sea level suggesting that the hypothesis is failed. Therefore, the commonly held idea that down-dip limit is coincides with the fore-arc Moho is not true in the Tonga case. It is likely controlled by the degree of serpentinization in the mantle wedge controlling the transition from stick-slip to stable sliding.

The problem of fitting a material property of the earth to a certain model by analysing a returned seismic signal is investigated here. Analysis proceeds with methods taken from the theory of inverse problems. Seismic wave inversion is tack- led by minimisation of the objective function with respect to the model parameters. Absorbing boundary conditions are implemented using an exponentially decaying ansatz. / Physics / Ph. D. (Physics)

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Orientadores: Joerg Schleicher, Amelia Novais / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matematica, Estatistica e Computação Cientifica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T21:47:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_MariaGabrielaMelo_M.pdf: 824279 bytes, checksum: 86fc870083d29ff7d1c834bea8c9f983 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Em meios homogêneos, o operador diferencial da equação da onda cheia pode ser substituído pelo produto de dois operadores diferenciais. Cada um destes operadores gera uma equação da onda de sentido único. As soluções destas equações descrevem a propagação de uma onda para baixo e uma para cima, respectivamente. Estas soluções possuem os mesmos tempos de trânsito e amplitudes que a onda cheia, uma vez que satisfazem as mesmas equações iconal e de transporte. No entanto, em meios heterogêneos, estas ondas de sentido único satisfazem somente a mesma equação iconal que a onda cheia. Zhang et al. (2003) mostraram como obter equações da onda de sentido único de amplitude verdadeira de modo que estas possuam tanto os mesmos tempos de trânsito como as mesmas amplitudes da onda cheia. Com base nestas equações, desenvolveram uma migração da equação da onda de amplitude verdadeira para seções de fonte comum. Nosso objetivo neste trabalho é modificar a migração de Gazdag (1980), de tal maneira que esta passe a utilizar as equações da onda de sentido único de amplitude verdadeira ao invés das equações de sentido único padrão, para realizar uma migração da equação da onda em amplitude verdadeira para seções de afastamento nulo / Abstract: In homogeneous media, the two-way wave operator can be substituted by the product of two one-way wave operators each of which generates a one-way wave equation. One of these equations has a downgoing wave and the other has an upgoing wave as a solution. Those oneway waves have the same travei time and amplitudes as the full wave since they satisfy the same eikonal and transport equation. However, in heterogeneous media, the standard one-way waves satisfy only the same eikonal equation as the full wave. Thus, in this case, the amplitudes of the migrated section obtained through a migration method based on the standard wave equations are incorrect. Zhang et al. (2003) described how to modify the standard one-way waves in order to produce the true amplitude one-way waves, which not only have the same travei times but also the same amplitudes as the full wave. They use these true amplitudes one-way wave equations to preserve the amplitudes in common-shot wave-equation migration. Our goal is to modify Gazdag migration (Gazdag, 1980) in such a way that it uses the true amplitude one-way wave equations instead of the standard ones, in order to realize a true amplitude wave equation migration for zero-offset data / Mestrado / Geofisica / Mestre em Matemática Aplicada

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Regional-scale complete Bouguer gravity anomalies underlying the Lassen and Shasta -Medicine Lake regions in northern California and southern Oregon are associated with subduction of the Gorda plate beneath North America. These generally negative anomalies reflect where underplating has deepened to form the mantle wedge, and where subduction has given rise to a series of Quaternary volcanoes comprising the southernmost end of the Cascade range. Multiple conductive bodies were identified by Park and Ostos (2013) in their magnetotelluric (MT) study of the broader Lassen volcanic region. Their broadband and long period measurements were conducted along a 250 km profile spanning from the California-Nevada border, to just west of the Great Valley in California. Utilizing their MT conductor geometries as a starting point, a forward gravity model was generated along the same profile, and agrees well with what they interpret to be the locations and depths of mid-crustal magma bodies in the Lassen and surrounding regions. The excess mass and volume of modeled anomaly (a) - most closely attributed to underlying Lassen Peak - were estimated at -2 x 1014 kg and 7 x 1011 m3, respectively.

A multi-prong approach was taken in this dissertation to understand volcanic processes from both a long-term and more immediate hazard perspective. In the long-term, magma sources within the crust may produce measurable surficial response and long-wavelength gravity anomalies that provide information about the extent and depth of this magma. Long-term volcanic hazard forecasting is also improved by developing as complete a record as possible of past events. In the short-term, a long-standing question has been on the casting of precursory volcanic activity in terms of future volcanic hazards. Three studies are presented in this dissertation to address these issues. Inversion of high-resolution ground magnetic data in Amargosa Valley, NV indicates that anomaly B could be generated by a buried shield volcano. This new information changes the event count in this region which in turn affects the overall volcanic hazard estimation. Through the use of Finite Element Models (FEM) an in-depth characterization of the surficial response to magma underplating is provided for the Tohoku Volcanic Arc, Japan. These models indicate that surficial uplift was dominantly driven by mid-crustal intrusions and the magnitude and wavelength of this uplift was mainly controlled by the elastic layer thickness. In Dominica, seismic data were used as weights in spatial intensity maps to generate dynamic volcanic hazard maps influenced by changes in seismicity. These maps show an increasing trend in the north that may be indicative of an increase in earthquake and volcanic hazards.

In this thesis, we investigate and develop the optimal data processing procedures necessary to recover Green’s functions for body waves propagating among a network of borehole seismometers near Parkfield, CA. Applying these procedures, we detect P-waves propagating among these stations, which allows us to produce a first-order crustal velocity model for the San Andreas Fault in the Parkfield region. We also discuss under what conditions body wave phenomena such as reflections and mode conversions (P to S) may be observed, as further observing these would provide a dramatic improvement in our ability to characterize seismic velocity structures. Finally, we discuss the potential of seismic interferometry to produce time-lapse body wave characterizations of the San Andreas Fault, in which properties of the fault can be seen to change in time.

The method of magnetotellurics (MT) uses surface measurements of naturally-occurring electromagnetic fields to investigate the conductivity distribution within the Earth. In many interpretations it is adequate to represent the conductivity structure by a one-dimensional (1-D) model. Inferring information about this model from surface field measurements is a non-linear inverse problem. In this thesis, linearized construction and appraisal algorithms are developed for the 1-D MT inverse problem. To formulate a linearized approach, the forward operator is expanded in a generalized Taylor series and second-order terms are neglected. The resulting linear problem may be solved using techniques of linear inverse theory. Since higher-order terms are neglected, the linear problem is only approximate, and this process is repeated iteratively until an acceptable model is achieved. Linearized methods have the advantage that, with an appropriate transformation, a solution may be found which minimizes a particular functional of the model known as a model norm. By explicitly minimizing the model norm at each iteration, it is hypothesized that the final constructed model represents the global minimum of this functional; however, in practice, it is difficult to verify that a global (rather than local) minimum has been found. The linearization of the MT problem is considered in detail in this thesis by deriving complete expansions in terms of Fréchet differential series for several choices of response functional, and verifying that the responses are indeed Fréchet differentiable. The relative linearity of these responses is quantified by examining the ratio of non-linear to linear terms in order to determine the best choice for a linearized approach. In addition, the similitude equation for MT is considered as an alternative formulation to linearization and found to be inadequate in that it implicitly neglects first-order terms. Appropriate choices of the model norm allow linearized inversion algorithms to be formulated which minimize a measure of the model structure or of the deviation from a (known) base model. These inversions construct the minimum-structure and smallest-deviatoric model, respectively. In addition, minimizing I₂ model norms lead to smooth solutions which represent structure in terms of continuous gradients, whereas minimizing I₁ norms yield layered conductivity models with structural variations occurring discontinuously. These two formulations offer complementary representations of the Earth, and in practice, a complete interpretation should consider both. The algorithms developed here consider the model to be either conductivity or log conductivity, include an arbitrary weighting function in the model norm, and fit the data to a specified level of misfit: this provides considerable flexibility in constructing 1-D models from MT responses. Linearized inversions may also be formulated to construct extremal models which minimize or maximize localized conductivity averages of the model. These extremal models provide bounds for the average conductivity over the region of interest, and thus may be used to appraise model features. An efficient, robust appraisal algorithm has been developed using linear programming to extremize the conductivity averages. For optimal results, the extremal models must be geophysically reasonable, and bounding the total variation in order to limit unrealistic structure is an important constraint. Since the extremal models are constructed via linearized inversion, the possibility always exists that the computed bounds represent local rather than global extrema. In order to corroborate the results, extremal models are also computed using simulated annealing optimization. Simulated annealing makes no approximations and is well known for its inherent ability to avoid unfavourable local minima. Although the method is considerably slower than linearized analysis, it represents a general and interesting new appraisal technique. The construction and appraisal methods developed here are illustrated using synthetic test cases and MT field data collected as part of the LITHOPROBE project. In addition, the model construction techniques are used to analyze MT responses measured at a number of sites on Vancouver Island, Canada, to investigate the monitoring of local changes in conductivity as a precursor for earthquakes. MT responses measured at the same site over a period of four years are analyzed and indicate no significant changes in the conductivity (no earthquakes of magnitude greater than 3.0 occurred in this period). Conductivity profiles at a number of sites are also considered in an attempt to infer the regional structure. Finally, a method of correcting linearized inversions is developed. The corrections consist of successively approximating an analytic expression for the linearization error. The method would seem to represent a novel and practical approach that can significantly reduce the number of linearized iterations. In addition, a correspondence between the correction steps and iterations of the modified Newton's method for operators is established. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

The development of improved models of seismic diffraction is assisted by the availability of accurate scattering data. An acoustic scatter-mapping system was developed for the purpose of providing such data rapidly and at low cost. This system uses a source-receiver pair suspended on a trolley over the structure to be mapped. Signal generation, acquisition, processing, and plotting are performed on an AT-compatible microcomputer and a laser printer. The entire process can be performed in an automated manner within five hours, generating scatter-mapping plots in a format familiar to the geophysical industry. The system hardware was similar to those of Hilterman [1] and others referenced by him, but used a controlled source transducer. The available processing power of a microcomputer allowed the use of a 1 to 15 KHz swept-frequency source signal, similar to that used in Vibroseis and Chirp Radar, which is later crosscorrelated with received signal to provide precise scatter-mapping data for the target structure. Several examples of theoretical and experimental acoustic scatter-mappings are provided for comparison. The novelty of this system lies in its use of a swept frequency source signal. While common in the fields of seismology and radar, swept frequency source signals are new to the area of acoustic scatter mapping. When compared to a similar system using a pulsed source signal, this system produces a better controlled source signal of greater energy, resulting in a more useful resultant signal and better mapping characteristics. The system was able to map scattering from features in the target structure smaller than one percent of the crosscorrelated source signal's 37 mm dominant wavelength. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate