This study investigates evidence for linkages and fault interactions centred on the Cust Anticline in Northwest Canterbury between Starvation Hill to the southwest and the Ashley and Loburn faults to the northeast. An integrated programme of geologic, geomorphic, paleo-seismic and geophysical analyses was undertaken owing to a lack of surface exposures and difficulty in distinguishing active tectonic features from fluvial and/or aeolian features across the low-relief Canterbury Plains. LiDAR analysis identified surface expression of several previously unrecognised active fault traces across the low-relief aggradation surfaces of the Canterbury Plains. Their presence is consistent with predictions of a fault relay exploiting the structural mesh across the region. This is characterised by interactions of northeast-striking contractional faults and a series of re-activating inherited Late Cretaceous normal faults, the latter now functioning as E–W-striking dextral transpressive faults. LiDAR also allowed for detailed analysis of the surface expression of individual faults and folds across the Cust Anticline contractional restraining bend, which is evolving as a pop-up structure within the newly established dextral shear system that is exploiting the inherited, now re-activated, basement fault zone. Paleo-seismic trenches were located on the crest of the western arm of the Cust Anticline and across a previously unrecognised E–W-striking fault trace, immediately southwest of the steeply plunging Cust Anticline termination. These studies confirmed the location and structural style of north-northeast-striking faults and an E–W-striking fault associated with the development of this structural culmination. A review of available industry seismic reflection lines emphasised the presence of a series of common structural styles having the same underlying structural drivers but with varying degrees of development and expression, both in the seismic profiles and in surface elevations across the study area. Based on LiDAR surface mapping and preliminary re-analysis of industry seismic reflection data, four fault zones are identified across the restraining bend structural culminations, which together form the proposed Oxford–Cust–Ashley Fault System. The 2010–2012 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence showed many similarities to the structural pattern established across the Oxford–Cust–Ashley Fault System, emphasising the importance of identification and characterization of presently hidden fault sources, and the understanding of fault network linkages, in order to improve constraints on earthquake source potential. Improved understanding of potentially-interactive fault sources in Northwest Canterbury, with the potential for combined initial fault rupture and spatial and temporal rupture propagation across this fault system, can be used in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for the region, which is essential for the suitability and sustainability of future social and economic development.

The Guinea Plateau is a shallow-marine, flat-lying bathymetric province situated along the equatorial West African margin, offshore Republic of Guinea. The Guinea Plateau and the conjugate Demerara Plateau hold particular geologic significance, as they represent the final point of separation between the African and South American continents during Gondwana break-up. Recent interpretation of both 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys along the Guinean margin have illuminated subsurface features related to Early Cretaceous crustal extension. Seismic structural investigations on these datasets suggest that the majority of extension is accommodated along large-scale listric normal faults located on a relatively narrow (<50 km) continental slope (up to ~39% extension). Minimal faulting reveals that little upper-crustal extension has occurred on the Guinea Plateau. Additionally, multiple 2-D seismic profiles image the transition from continental crust on the plateau and slope, to oceanic crust in the deeper marine basin. This continent-ocean boundary is the most representative boundary when testing the accuracy of plate reconstructions. Mapping of both the continent-ocean boundary and fracture zones across the equatorial Atlantic suggests that the Demerara Plateau and the South American plate are too far south in previous pre-rift reconstructions. A revised model introduces 20 km of Early Cretaceous NNW-oriented contraction across the Amazon Basin; an area of relative weakness where both geologic and geophysical data support such accommodation. Sea-surface flow models, which used this revised reconstruction and interpreted paleo-bathymetric data, predict upwelling throughout the newly formed equatorial seaway, and later along the West African margin during periods of regional organic-rich black shale deposition. With reduced decomposition of organic matter strongly correlated to upwelling, being able to predict these zones is of particular significance to petroleum companies, who have recently started exploring both the equatorial South American and West African coastlines.

No description available.

Impact-induced seismic vibrations have long been suspected of being an important surface modification process on small satellites and asteroids. In this study, I use a series of linked seismic and geomorphic models to investigate the process in detail. I begin by developing a basic theory for the propagation of seismic energy in a highly fractured asteroid, and I use this theory to model the global vibrations experienced on the surface of an asteroid following an impact. These synthetic seismograms are then applied to a model of regolith resting on a slope, and the resulting downslope motion is computed for a full range of impactor sizes. Next, this computed downslope regolith flow is used in a morphological model of impact crater degradation and erasure, showing how topographic erosion accumulates as a function of time and the number of impacts. Finally, these results are applied in a stochastic cratering model for the surface of an Eros-like body (same volume and surface area as the asteroid), with craters formed by impacts and then erased by the effects of superposing craters, ejecta coverage, and seismic shakedown. This simulation shows good agreement with the observed 433 Eros cratering record at a Main Belt exposure age of $400 \pm 200$ Myr, including the observed paucity of small craters. The lowered equilibrium numbers (loss rate = production rate) for craters less than $\sim 100$ m in diameter is a direct result of seismic erasure, which requires less than a meter of mobilized regolith to reproduce the NEAR observations.This study also points to an upper limit on asteroid size for experiencing global, surface-modifying, seismic effects from individual impacts of about 70-100 km (depending upon asteroid seismic properties). Larger asteroids will experience only local seismic effects from individual impacts.In addition to the study of global seismic effects on asteroids, a chapter is also included which details the impact ejecta plume modeling I have done for the Deep Impact mission to the comet Tempel I. This work will also have direct application to impacts on asteroids, and will be used in the future to refine the cratering history modeling performed thus far.

This thesis discusses the results from the first multi-source and multi-streamer three-dimensional multichannel seismic experiment conducted over a mid-ocean ridge environment. Prestack time migration was applied to the dataset resulting in the most detailed reflection images of a spreading center and its flanks to date. The key products from this work are maps of crustal velocities, crustal thickness, and Moho transition zone (MTZ) reflection character for a section of the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR) from 9°37.5’N to 9°57’N, excluding the area from 9°40’N to 9°42’N where no data were collected. Moho reflections were imaged within ~92% of the study area. The derived average crustal thickness and average crustal velocity for the investigated ~880 km2 area are 5920±320 m and 6320±290 m/s, respectively. The average crustal thickness varies little from Pacific to Cocos plate suggesting mostly uniform crustal production in the last ~180 Ka. Detailed analysis of the crustal thickness and MTZ reflection character shows that the third-order segmentation is governed by melt extraction processes within the uppermost mantle while the fourth-order ridge segmentation arises from mid- to upper-crustal processes. This analysis also suggests that both the mechanism of lower-crustal accretion and the volume of melt delivered to the crust vary along the investigated section of the EPR. More efficient mantle melt extraction is inferred at latitudes from 9°42’N to 9°51.5’N, with greater proportion of the lower crust accreted from the AML than for the rest of the study area. Larger volume of melt is delivered to the crust from 9°37.5’N to 9°40’N than to the investigated crust further north. At some locations, the Moho reflections are for the first time unambiguously imaged below the AML away from any ridge discontinuity suggesting that the Moho is formed at zero age at least at some sections of the spreading centers. The first study of the melt content of mid-crustal off-axis magma lenses (OAML), done using amplitude variation with offset technique calibrated for a magmatic plumbing system, shows that these magma bodies contain 0 to 20% melt. This suggests that OAMLs likely contribute little to the overall crustal formation.

Der Bericht dokumentiert Ort, Datum, Magnitude und Tiefe der Erdbeben in Sachsen über einen Zeitraum von drei Jahren. Bei der Auswertung der Registrierungen werden zusätzlich zu den Online-Stationen des seismologischen Sachsennetzes auch die Stationen der Nachbarländer einbezogen, deren Standorte in der Veröffentlichung dargestellt sind. Ein besonderes Ereignis stellt dabei der Erdbebenschwarm von Oktober bis Dezember 2008 dar. Das Kapitel »Induzierte Seismizität« befasst sich mit den Untersuchungen zur bergbauinduzierten Seismizität der Uranerzgrube Schlema-Alberoda und zur Böschungsbewegung des ehemaligen Braunkohletagebaues Nachterstedt.

Topography effects, the modification of seismic motion by topographic features, have been long recognized to play a key role in elevating seismic risk. Site response, the modification of ground motion by near surface soft soils, has been also shown to strongly affect the amplitude, frequency and duration of seismic motion. Both topography effects and 1-D site response have been extensively studied through field observations, small-scale and field experiments, analytical models and numerical simulations, but each one has been studied independently of the other: studies on topography effects are based on the assumption of a homogeneous elastic halfspace, while 1-D site response studies are almost exclusively formulated for flat earth surface conditions. This thesis investigates the interaction between topographic and soil amplification, focusing on strong ground motions that frequently trigger nonlinear soil response. Recently, a series of centrifuge experiments tested the seismic response of single slopes of various inclination angles at the NEES@UCDavis facility, to investigate the effects of nonlinear soil response on topographic amplification. As part of this collaborative effort, we extended the search space of these experiments using finite element simulations. We first used simulations to determine whether the centrifuge experimental results were representative of free-field conditions. We specifically investigated whether wave reflections caused by the laminar box interfered with mode conversion and wave scattering that govern topographic amplification; and whether this interference was significant enough to qualitatively alter the observed amplification compared to free-field conditions. We found that the laminar box boundaries caused spurious reflections that affected the response near the boundaries; however its effect to the crest-to-free field spectral ratio was found to be insignificant. Most importantly though, we found that the baseplate was instrumental in trapping and amplifying waves scattered and diffracted by the slope, and that in absence of those reflections, topographic amplification would have been negligible. We then used box- and baseplate-free numerical models to study the coupling between topography effects and soil amplification in free-field conditions. Our results showed that the complex wavefield that characterizes the response of topographic features with non-homogeneous soil cannot be predicted by the superposition of topography effects and site response, as is the widespread assumption of engineering and seismological models. We also found that the coupling of soil and topographic amplification occurs both for weak and strong motions, and for pressure-dependent media (Nevada sand), nonlinear soil response further aggravates topographic amplification; we attributed this phenomenon to the reduction of apparent velocity that the low velocity layers suffer during strong ground motion, which intensifies the impedance contrast and accentuates the energy trapping and reverberations in the low strength surficial layers. We finally highlighted the catalytic effects that soil stratigraphy can have in topographic amplification through a case study from the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. Results presented in this thesis imply that topography effects vary significantly with soil stratigraphy, and the two phenomena should be accounted for as a coupled process in seismic code provisions and seismological ground motion predictive models.

This thesis describes a passive-source seismic mapping project in the Nechako Basin of central British Columbia (BC), Canada, with the ultimate goal of assessing the hydrocarbon and mineral potential of the region. The Nechako Basin has been the focus of limited hydrocarbon exploration since the 1930s. Twelve exploratory wells were drilled; oil stains on drill chip samples and the evidence of gas in drill stem tests attest to some hydrocarbon potential. Seismic data collected in the 1980s were of variable quality due mainly to effects of volcanic cover in this region. For the present study, an array of nine seismic stations was deployed in 2006 and 2007 to sample a wide area of the Nechako Basin and map the sediment thickness, crustal thickness, and overall geometry of the basin. This study utilizes recordings of about 40 distant earthquakes from 2006 to 2008 to calculate receiver functions, and construct S-wave velocity models for each station using the Neighbourhood Algorithm inversion. The surface sediments are found to range in thickness from about 0.8 to 2.7 km, and the volcanic layer below ranges in thickness from 2.3 to 4.7 km. Both sediments and volcanic cover are thickest in the central part of the basin. The average crustal thickness across the basin is about 30-32 km; it is thicker in the northern and western parts of the basin, and thinner in the southern and eastern parts. This study complements other research in this region, such as independent active-source seismic studies and magnetotelluric measurements, by providing site-specific images of the crustal structure down to the Moho and detailed constraints on the S-wave velocity structure.

Although much progress has been made in determining the three dimensional distribution of seismic wave velocities in the Earth, substantially less is known about the three dimensional distribution of intrinsic attenuation. In this study variations in attenuation and shear velocity of the Earth's mantle are constrained using measurements of differential travel time and attenuation. The data are broadband displacement SH seismograms filtered to have energy in the period range 8 to 20 s. Broadband data are used as they should allow a more accurate estimation of body wave attenuation to be made. The seismograms are obtained from over 600 globally distributed earthquakes of magnitude, Mw, 5.5 or greater. Two new methods for determining differential travel times and differential t* values from multiple S phases are presented. The first of these, referred to as the "waveform fitting method" is used to analyse approximately 4300 SS and S waveforms and around 1000 SSS and SS waveforms resulting in differential SS-S and SSS-SS travel times, and corresponding values of differential attenuation represented by t*. The second method, referred to as the "spectral ratio method" is used to analyse approximately 3200 SS and S and around 900 SSS and SS waveforms. The differential travel times and t* values are inverted to obtain models of the lateral variation of shear velocity and lateral variation of q(mu) where q(mu) =1/Q(mu). The models explain the data well but have limited depth resolution. The velocity models show good correlation with previous studies, in particular, low velocities are observed underlying spreading ridges and convergent margins and high velocities are observed under continental regions. The q(mu) model shows shield regions to be less attenuating than PREM, with ridges appearing as highly attenuating features. Models of shear velocity and attenuation are also obtained by combining the body wave dataset of this study with the surface wave datasets of Van Heijst (1997) and Selby (1998).

The purpose of this study is to develop probabilistic hazard maps for EskiSehir including &lsquo / Peak Ground Acceleration&rsquo / values for 10% probability of exceedance in 50-year and 100-year periods at different site classes. A seismotectonic map has been prepared in the Geographical Information Systems environment by compiling instrumental seismicity and neotectonic data for the study area. The seismic sources have been defined spatially in six areal zones, characterized by a commonly used recurrence law and a maximum magnitude value. Four attenuation relationships have been selected being one of them totaly developed from the strong-motion records of Turkey. After the implementation of a seismic hazard model by using SEISRISK software, the probabilistic seismic hazard curves and maps were developed based on the selected attenuation relationships, at &lsquo / rock&rsquo / and &lsquo / soil&rsquo / sites, with a probability of exceedance of 10% in 50-year and 100-year periods. At rock sites the highest levels of hazard were calculated based on the predictive relationship of Abrahamson and Silva (1996), whereas the lowest ones based on the one of Boore et al. (1996). On the other hand the highest hazard levels were determined at soil sites based on the attenuation relationship of Ambraseys et al. (1996), whereas the lowest ones based on the one of Boore et al. (1997). For EskiSehir, the peak ground acceleration values calculated based on attenuation relationship by Boore et al. (1997) were found to be applicable for 10% probability of exceedance in 50 and 100 years, taking into consideration the fact that a considerable portion of the city is founded over alluviums.