Deep non-volcanic tremor is a newly discovered seismic phenomenon with low amplitude, long duration, and no clear P- and S-waves as compared with regular earthquake. Tremor has been observed at many major plate-boundary faults, providing new information about fault slip behaviors below the seismogenic zone. While tremor mostly occurs spontaneously (ambient tremor) or during episodic slow- slip events (SSEs), sometimes tremor can also be triggered during teleseismic waves of distance earthquakes, which is known as "triggered tremor". The primary focus of my Ph.D. work is to understand the physical mechanisms and necessary conditions of triggered tremor by systematic investigations in different tectonic regions. These include Taiwan, California, southwest Japan, Alaska and the Aleutian Arc, Cascadia, and New Zealand. In the first chapter of my dissertation, I conduct a systematic survey of triggered tremor beneath the Central Range (CR) in Taiwan for 45 teleseismic earthquakes from 1998 to 2009 with Mw ≥ 7.5. Triggered tremors are visually identified as bursts of high-frequency (2-8 Hz), non-impulsive, and long-duration seismic energy that are coherent among many seismic stations and modulated by the teleseismic surface waves. A total of 9 teleseismic earthquakes has triggered clear tremor in Taiwan. The peak ground velocity (PGV) of teleseismic surface waves is the most important factor in determining tremor triggering potential, with an apparent threshold of ~0.1 cm/s, or 7-8 kPa. However, such threshold is partially controlled by the background noise level, preventing triggered tremor with weaker amplitude from being observed. In addition, I find a positive correlation between the PGV and the triggered tremor amplitude, which is consistent with the prediction of the 'clock-advance' model. This suggests that triggered tremor can be considered as a sped-up occurrence of ambient tremor under fast loading from the passing surface waves. Finally, the incident angles of surface waves also play an important rule in controlling the tremor triggering potential. The next chapter focuses on a systematic comparison of triggered tremor around the Calaveras Fault (CF) in northern California (NC), the Parkfield-Cholame section of the San Andreas Fault (SAF) in central California (CC), and the San Jacinto Fault (SJF) in southern California (SC). Out of 42 large (Mw ≥7.5) earthquakes between 2001 and 2010, only the 2002 Mw 7.9 Denali fault earthquake triggered clear tremor in NC and SC. In comparison, abundant triggered and ambient tremor has been observed in CC. Further analysis reveal that the lack of triggered tremor observations in SC and NC is not simply a consequence of their different background noise levels as compared to CC, but rather reflects different background tremor rates in these regions. In the final chapter, I systematically search for triggered tremor following the 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake in the regions where ambient or triggered tremor has been found before. The main purpose is to check whether triggered tremor is observed in regions when certain conditions (e.g., surface wave amplitudes) are met. Triggered tremor is observed in southwest Japan, Taiwan, the Aleutian Arc, south-central Alaska, northern Vancouver Island, the Parkfield-Cholame section of the SAF in CC and the SJF in SC, and the North Island of New Zealand. Such a widespread triggering of tremor is not too surprising because of the large amplitude surface waves (minimum peak value of ~0.1 cm/s) and the associated dynamic stresses (at least ~7-8 kPa), which is one of the most important factors in controlling the triggering threshold. The triggered tremor in different region is located close to or nearby the ambient tremor active area. In addition, the amplitudes of triggered tremor have positive correlations with the amplitudes of teleseismic surface waves among many regions. Moreover, both Love and Rayleigh waves participate in triggering tremor in different regions, and their triggering potential is somewhat controlled by the incident angles. In summary, systematically surveys of triggered tremor in different tectonic regions reveal that triggered tremor shares similar physical mechanism (shear failure on the fault interface) as ambient tremor but with different loading conditions. The amplitude of the teleseismic surface wave is one of the most important factors in controlling the tremor triggering threshold. In addition, the frequency contents and incident angles of the triggering waves, and local fault geometry and ambient conditions also play certain roles in determining the triggering potential. On the other hand, the background noise level and seismic network coverage and station quality also could affect the apparent triggering threshold. Because triggered tremor occurs almost instantaneously during the teleseismic surface waves, and the tremor amplitude is somewhat controlled by the amplitude of the triggering waves, the occurrence time and the size of the triggered tremor could be somewhat predictable, so long as we know the amplitude and period of surface waves and associated time-varying dynamic stresses. Hence, further analysis of triggered tremor may provide important new clues on the nucleation and predictability of seismic events.

Our understanding of tephra depositional processes is significantly improved by high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data collected at Cerro Negro volcano, Nicaragua. The data reveal three depositional regimes: (1) a near-vent region on the cone itself, where 10 GPR radargrams collected on the western flank show quantifiable differences between facies formed from low energy normal Strombolian and higher energy violent Strombolian processes, indicating imaging of scoria cone deposits may be useful in distinguishing eruptive style in older cones where the proximal to distal tephra blanket has eroded away; (2) a proximal zone in which horizons identified in crosswind profiles collected at distances of 700 and 1,000 m from the vent exhibit Gaussian distributions with a high degree of statistical confidence, with tephra thickness decreasing exponentially downwind from the cone base (350 m) to ~ 1,200 m from the vent, and where particles fall from a height of less than ~2 km; and (3) a medial zone, in which particles fall from ~4 to 7 km and the deposit is thicker than expected based on thinning trends observed in the proximal zone of the deposit, indicating a transition from sedimentation dominated by fallout from plume margins to that dominated by fallout from the buoyant eruption cloud. Horizons identified in a crosswind profile at 1600 m from vent exhibit Gaussian distributions, again with high degrees of statistical confidence. True diffusion coefficients are calculated from Gaussian fits of crosswind profiles and do not show any statistical variation between zones (2) and (3). Data display thinning trends that agree with the morphology predicted by the advection-diffusion equation to a high degree of statistical confidence, validating the use of this class of models in tephra forecasting. One such model, the Tephra2 model, is reformulated for student use. A strategy is presented for utilizing this research-caliber model to introduce university undergraduates to key concepts in model literacy, encouraging students to develop a deeper understanding of the applicability and limitations of hazard models generally. For this purpose, the Tephra2 numerical model is implemented on the VHub.org website, a venture in cyberinfrastructure that brings together volcanological models and educational materials, and provides students with the ability to explore and execute sophisticated numerical models like Tephra2.

Abstract Sinkholes and sinkhole-related features in West-Central Florida (WCF) are commonly identified using geotechnical investigations such as standard penetration test (SPT) borings and geophysical methods such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Geophysical investigation results can be used to locate drilling and field testing sites while geotechnical investigation can be used to ground truth geophysical results. Both methods can yield complementary information. Geotechnical investigations give important information about the type of soil, groundwater level and presence of low-density soils or voids at the test location, while geophysical investigations like GPR surveys have better spatial coverage and can resolve shallow stratigraphic indicators of subsidence. In GPR profiles collected at 103 residential sites in covered-karst terrain in WCF, sinkhole-related anomalies are identified using GPR and SPT methods. We analyze the degree to which the shallow features imaged in GPR correlate spatially with the N-values (blow counts) derived from SPTs at the 103 residential sites. GPR anomalies indicating sinkhole activity are defined as zones where subsurface layers show local downwarping, discontinuities, or sudden increases in amplitude or penetration of the GPR signal. "Low SPT values" indicating sinkhole activity are defined using an optimization code that searched for threshold SPT value showing optimum correlation between GPR and SPT for different optimal depth ranges. We also compared these criteria with other commonly used geotechnical criteria such as weight of rod and weight of hammer conditions. Geotechnical results were also used to filter the data based on site characteristics such as presence of shallow clay layers to study the effectiveness of GPR at different zones. Subsets of the dataset are further analyzed based on geotechnical results such as clay thickness, bedrock depth, groundwater conditions and other geological factors such as geomorphology, lithology, engineering soil type, soil thickness and prevalent sinkhole type. Results are used to examine (1) which SPT indicators show the strongest correlations with GPR anomalies, (2) the degree to which GPR surveys improve the placement of SPT borings, and (3) what these results indicate about the structure of sinkholes at these sites. For the entire data set, we find a statistically significant correlation between GPR anomalies and low SPT N-values with a confidence level of 90%. Logistic regression analysis shows that the strongest correlations are between GPR anomalies and SPT values measured in the depth range of 0-4.5 m. The probability of observing a GPR anomaly on a site will decrease by up to 84% as the minimum SPT value increases from 0 to 20 in the general study area. Boreholes drilled on GPR anomalies are statistically significantly more likely to show zones of anomalously low SPT values than boreholes drilled off GPR anomalies. We also find that the optimum SPT criteria result in better correlation with GPR than other simple commonly used geotechnical criteria such as weight of rod and weight of hammer. Better correlations were found when sites with poor GPR penetrations are filtered out from the dataset. The odds ratio showed similar result while the result varied with the depth range, statistics and threshold SPT value (low N- value with optimum correlation), with a maximum observed odds ratio of 3. Several statistical results suggest that raveling zones that connect voids to the surface may be inclined, so that shallow GPR anomalies are laterally offset from deeper zones of low N-values. Compared to the general study area, we found locally stronger correlation in some sub-regions. For example, the odds ratio found for tertiary hawthorn subgroup were 25 times higher than the odds ratio found for the general study area (WCF).

Concepción is the most active composite volcano in Nicaragua, and is located on Ometepe Island, within Lake Nicaragua. Moderate to small volcanic explosions with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 1-2 have been characteristic of this volcano during the last four decades. Although its current activity is not violent, its volcanic deposits reveal stages of violent activity involving Plinian and sub-Plinian eruptions that deposited vast amounts of volcanic tephra in the Atlantic Ocean. These observations, together with the 31,000 people living on the island, make Concepción volcano an important target for volcanological research. My research focuses on the investigation of the stability of the volcano edifice of Concepción, using geophysical data such as gravity, geodetic global positioning system (GPS), sulphur dioxide (SO2) flux, real-time seismic amplitude (RSAM), and satellite remotely-sensed data. The integration of these data sets provides information about the short-term behavior of Concepción, and some insights into the volcano's long-term behavior. This study has provided, for the first time, information about the shallow dynamics of Concepción on time scales of days to weeks. I furnish evidence that this volcano is not gravitationally spreading in a continuous fashion as previously thought, that its bulk average density is comparable to that of a pile of gravel, that the volcano edifice is composed of two major distinctive lithologies, that the deformation field around the volcano is recoverable in a matter of days, and that the deformation source is located in the shallow crust. This source is also degassing through the relatively open magmatic conduit. There are, however, several remaining questions. Although the volcano is not spreading continuously there is the possibility that gravitational spreading may be taking place in a stick-slip fashion. This has important implications for slope stability of the volcano, and the associated hazards. The factors influencing the long term slope stability of the volcano are still not fully resolved, but internal volcanic processes and anthropogenic disturbances appear to be the major factors.

Telica Volcano, Nicaragua, is a persistently restless volcano with high rates of seismicity that can vary from less than ten events to over a thousand events per day. Low-frequency (LF) events dominate the seismic catalogue and seismicity rates at Telica show little clear correlation with periods of eruption. As such, traditional methods of forecasting of volcanic activity based on increases in seismicity and recognition of LF activity are not applicable. A single seismic station has been operating at Telica since 1993, and in 2010 we installed a broadband seismic and continuous GPS network (TESAND network) at Telica. In this study we investigate the seismic characteristics surrounding a nine-month period of phreatic to phreatomagmatic explosions in 1999, and also from the initial three-and-a-half year deployment of the TESAND network, including a three-month phreatic vulcanian eruptive period in 2011. We demonstrate that pertinent information can be obtained from analysis of single-station data, and while large seismic networks are preferable when possible, we note that for many volcanoes this is not possible. We find unusual patterns of seismicity before both eruptive periods; rather than a precursory increase in seismicity as is observed prior to many volcanic eruptions, we observe a decrease in seismicity many months prior to eruption. We developed a new program for cross-correlation of large seismic data catalogues and analysed multiplet activity surrounding both eruptive periods. We observed that the formation of new multiplets corresponds to periods of high event rates (during inter-eruptive periods) and high percentages of daily events that belong to a multiplet. We propose a model for the seismicity patterns observed at Telica, where changes in seismicity are related to a cyclic transition between open-system degassing and closed-system degassing. Periods of open-system degassing occur during non-eruptive episodes and are characterised by high event rates, a broad range of frequency content of events and high degrees of waveform correlation. A transition to closed-system degassing could be due to sealing of fluid pathways in the magmatic and/or hydrothermal system, or due to magma withdrawal. Periods of closed-system degassing are characterised by low event rates, higher frequency contents and low degrees of waveform correlation. Eruptive periods may then represent a transition from closed-system degassing to open-system degassing, however the system must also be capable of transitioning to open-system degassing without eruption. These observations have important implications for volcano monitoring and eruption forecasting at persistently restless volcanoes. Rather than a precursory increase in seismicity as is often observed prior to eruption at other volcanoes, our observations indicate that phreatic eruptions at Telica occur after a decrease in seismicity, a corresponding change in the frequency content of events, and a decrease in waveform correlation. These changes may represent a period of closed-system degassing that could culminate in phreatic eruptions. The inclusion of real-time analysis of variations in frequency content and multiplet activity provides critical information for volcano monitoring institutions.

Ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) allow wider angle recording and therefore, they have the potential to significantly enhance imaging of deep subsurface structures. Currently, conventional OBS data analysis still uses first arrival traveltime tomography and prestack Kirchhoff depth migration method. However, using first arrival traveltimes to build a velocity model has its limitations. In the Taiwan region, subduction and collision cause very complex subsurface structures and generate extensive basalt-like anomalies. Since the velocity beneath basalt-like anomalies is lower than that of high velocity anomalies, no first-arrival refractions for the target areas occur. Thus, conventional traveltime tomography is not accurate and amplitude constrained traveltime tomography can be dangerous. Here, a new first-arrival stochastic tomography method for automatic background velocity estimation is proposed. Our method uses the local beam semblance of each common-shot or common-receiver gathers instead of first-arrival picking. Both the ray parameter and traveltime information are utilized. The use of Very Fast Simulated Annealing (VFSA) method also allows for easier implementation of the uncertainty analysis. Synthetic and real data benchmark tests demonstrate that this new method is robust, efficient, and accurate. In addition, migrated images of low-fold data or data with limited observation geometry like OBS are often corrupted by migration aliasing. Incorporation of prestack instantaneous-slowness information into the imaging condition can significantly reduce migration artifacts and noise and improve the image quality in areas of poor illumination. Here I combine slowness information with Gaussian beam depth migration and implement a new slowness driven Gaussian beam prestack depth migration. The prestack instantaneous slowness information, denoted by ray parameter gathers p(x,t), is extracted from the original OBS or shot gathers using local slant stacking and subsequent localsemblance analysis. In migration, we propagate both the seismic energy and the principal instantaneous slowness information backward. At a specific image location, the beam summation is localized in the resolution-dependent Fresnel zone where the instantaneousslowness-information-related weights are used to control the beams. The effectiveness of the new method is illustrated using two synthetic data examples: a simple model and a more realistic complicated sub-basalt model. / text

This dissertation explores the capability of dense seismic array data for imaging the rupture properties of earthquake sources using a method known as back-projection. Only within the past 10 or 15 years has implementation of the method become feasible through the development of large aperture seismic arrays such as the High Sensitivity Seismograph Network in Japan and the Transportable Array in the United States. Coincidentally, this buildup in data coverage has also been accompanied by a global cluster of giant earthquakes (Mw>8.0). Much of the material in this thesis is devoted to imaging the source complexity of these large events. In particular, evidence for rupture segmentation, dynamic triggering, and frequency dependent energy release is presented. These observations have substantial implications for evaluating the seismic and tsunami hazards of future large earthquakes. In many cases, the details of the large ruptures can only be imaged by the back-projection method through the addition of different data sets and incorporating additional processing steps that enhance low-amplitude signals. These improvements to resolution can also be utilized to study much smaller events. This approach is taken for studying two very different types of earthquakes. First, a global study of the enigmatic intermediate-depth (100-300 km) earthquakes is performed. The results show that these events commonly have sub-horizontal rupture planes and suggest dynamic triggering of multiple sub-events. From these observations, a hypothesis for the generation of intermediate-depth events is proposed. Second, the early aftershock sequences of the 2004 Mw 9.1 Sumatra-Andaman and 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku, Japan earthquakes are studied using the back-projection method. These analyses show that many events can be detected that are not in any local or global earthquake catalogues. In particular, the locations of aftershocks in the back-projection results of the 2011 Tohoku sequence fill in gaps in the aftershock distribution of the Japan Meteorological Agency catalogue. These results may change inferences of the behavior of the 2011 mainshock, as well as the nature of future seismicity in this region. In addition, the rupture areas of the largest aftershocks can be determined, and compared to the rupture area of the mainshock. For the Tohoku event, this comparison reveals that the aftershocks contribute significantly to the cumulative failure area of the subduction interface. This result implies that future megathrust events in this region can have larger magnitudes than the 2011 event. / Earth and Planetary Sciences

This is a new method of determining magnetization strength, direction, and paleopole location from magnetic anomalies across edges of the equatorial band of magnetic sources on Mars. Different assumed locations of paleopoles result in different inducing field directions in the vicinity of an edge. Thus, with different paleopoles, the resulting magnetic fields from the edges of magnetic sources are different, and correlate differently with the observed fields. Best correlating observed and computed magnetic edge effect fields yield the potential paleopoles. The total gradient (TG) of the z-component magnetic field was used to identify the edges of magnetization boundaries. Three edge segments yielded meaningful paleopoles. They are: (15°S, 285°E)/(0°, 292.5°E) across the northeast trending edge east of Tharsis; (15°N, 195°E) across the southern boundary located in the Terra Cimmeria and Terra Sirenum area; and (15°S, 165°E)/(45°S, 180°E) across the northeast edge of Hellas Planitia. The effective magnetization in these regions (assuming 40km magnetic layer thickness) is 7.02, 42.13-94.79, and 2.63-3.51 A/m, respectively. Evidence from the overlap of regions of TG and chronostratigraphy suggests that the dynamo was active during the Noachian and may have been active in the early Hesperian.

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Seismic hazard assessment is a required procedure to assist effective designing of structures located in seismically active regions. Traditionally, in a seismically active region as Greece, the seismic hazard evaluation was based primarily on the historical seismicity, and to lesser extent based on the consideration of the geological information. The importance of the geological information in seismic hazard assessment is significant, for the reason that earthquakes occur on faults. This approach also covers areas with few instrumental recordings. Mapping, analyzing and modeling are needed for faults investigation. In the present dissertation, we examined the seismic hazard for the cities of Patras, Aigion and Korinthos, considering the seismically active faults. The active faults considered in this investigation consists of 148 active faults, for which a minimum amount of information was available (i.e. length, maximum magnitude, slip rate, etc.). For some critical parameters, e.g. slip rate, if an estimate could not be found in the literature it was calculated based on empirical laws. Specifically, the slip rate for each fault was resulted from the division of total displacement with the stratigraphic age. Two different approaches (historical seismicity, length of faults) were followed for the estimation of total displacement for each fault. A distribution of slip rates was made because uncertainties are considered. The resulted slip rates were converted into seismic activity. Thus, we were able to construct a complete database for our research. Epistemic uncertainties were accounted at both seismic source models as well as at the ground motion via a logic tree framework resulted in two different calculation procedures (including or not the b value uncertainty). The seismic hazard model was implemented following the OpenQuake open standards – NRML, and the seismic hazard computation was performed for the region of interest. The seismic hazard was quantified in terms of seismic hazard maps, hazard curves and uniform hazard spectra for the region of interest. Different intensity measure types were considered, Peak Ground Acceleration, Spectral Acceleration at two fundamental periods 0.1 and 1.0 sec. Finally, the results of this thesis were compared with the Greek Seismic Code and other seismic hazard estimations for the investigation region. / Η μελέτη σεισμικής επικινδυνότητας αποτελεί μια απαραίτητη διαδικασία που αφορά τον αποτελεσματικό σχεδιασμό των κατασκευών σε σεισμικά ενεργές περιοχές. Σε μια χώρα με έντονη σεισμικότητα, όπως η Ελλάδα, η εκτίμηση της σεισμικής επικινδυνότητας βασιζόταν αρχικά στη σεισμικότητα και σε μικρότερο βαθμό στη γεωλογική πληροφορία. Η σημαντικότητα της γεωλογικής πληροφορίας στη σεισμική επικινδυνότητα είναι αξιοσημείωτη, για το λόγο οτι η σεισμοί γίνονται πάνω σε ρήγματα. Αυτή η προσέγγιση επίσης καλύπτει περιοχές με λίγες ενόργανες καταγραφές. Η χαρτγράφηση, η ανάλυση και η μοντελοποίηση είναι απαραίτητη για την έρευνα των ρηγμάτων. Στην παρούσα διατριβή, εξετάστηκε η σεισμική επικινδυνότητα για τις πόλεις της Πάτρας, του Αιγίου και της Κορίνθου, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη 148 ενεργά ρήγματα. Για κάποιες σημαντικές παραμέτρους των ενεργών ρηγμάτων που εξετάστηκαν, π.χ. ρυθμός ολίσθησης, εάν μια τιμή δεν μπορούσε να βρεθεί στη βιβλιογραφία, υπολιγίστηκε βάσει εμπειρικών σχέσεων. Ο ρυθμός ολίσθησης προέκυψε από τη διαίρεση της συνολικής μετακίνησης με τη στρωματογραφική ηλικίας του ρήγματος. Δύο διαφορετικές προσεγγίσεις(σεισμικότητα, μήκος ρήγματος) εξετάστηκαν για την εκτίμηση της συνολικής μετακίνησης για κάθε ρήγμα. Μια κατανομή τιμών για τους ρυθμούς ολίσθησης δημιουργήθηκε για το λόγο οτι υπάρχουν αβεβαιότητες. Οι ρυθμοί ολίσθησης που προέκυψαν μετατράπηκαν σε τιμές ρυθμού σεισμικότητας. Με αυτό τον τρόπο κατασκευάστηκε μια πλήρης βάση δεδομένων για την έρευνά μας. Αβεβαιότητες λήφθηκαν υπόψη και για τα δύο μοντέλα σεισμικών πηγών, όπως και στο μοντέλο εδαφικών κινήσεων με τη μορφή λογικών δέντρων για δύο διαδικασίες εκτέλεσης (με, ή χωρίς την αβεβαιότητα της b value). Η σεισμική επικινδυνότητα για την περιοχή μελέτης έγινε για τη Μέγιστη και Φασματική Εδαφική Επιτάχυνση για περιόδους 0.1 και 1.0 sec. Επειτα, τα αποτελέσματα συγρίθηκαν με τον Ελληνικό Αντισεισμικό Κώδικα, καθώς και με παλαιότερες αντίστοιχες μελέτες για την περιοχή αυτή.