This paper presents results of a seismic tomography experiment carried out at the Bullseye cold vent site offshore Vancouver Island. In the experiment, a seismic air gun survey was recorded on an array of five ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) deployed around the vent. The locations of the shots and the OBSs were determined to high accuracy by an inversion based on the shot travel times. A three-dimensional tomographic inversion was then carried out to determine the velocity structure around the vent, using the localized source and receiver positions. The inversion indicates a relatively uniform velocity field around and inside the vent. The velocities are close to the values expected for sediments containing no hydrate, which supports previous claims that the bulk concentrations of gas hydrates are low at the site. However, the largest resolved velocity anomalies of + 25 m/s are spatially within the limits of the acoustic blank zone seen in multichannel seismic data near the Bullseye vent. The velocity inversion is consistent with zones of high concentration (15-20 % of the pore space) in the top 50-100 m of sediment.

Traditional stock assessment methods do not incorporate remotely sensed ecosystem variables such as seafloor type, relief, and complexity. Incorporation of these and other ecosystem variables allows for targeting of species' optimal habitat during surveys. Recently, acoustic remote sensing methods have allowed us to gain insight into groundfish habitat. In June 2002, a geophysical survey was performed in selected fishing areas of Hecate Strait. While underway, single beam acoustic data were collected along survey lines utilizing a 50 kHz echosounder coupled with Quester-Tangent's QTC VIEW 5; a Huntec seismic system, and a dual frequency sidescan sonar system. Surficial sediment distribution and seabed features were mapped through examination of seismic, sidescan, and bottom grab data and compiled into a GIS. The surficial sediment classes were compared to bottom type classifications obtained from QTC single beam, with results showing the Gravel and Sand class from the surficial sediment data being classified best by the single beam system. Catch data from the groundfish bottom trawl fishery for the areas of interest were made available by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). The distribution of groundfish aggregates and individual fish species were compared to surficial sediment classes using correspondence analysis to investigate habitat associations. Results show that the Rock Sole aggregate had a habitat preference of gravel and sand mixture and the Dover Sole and Arrowtooth Flounder aggregates had a habitat preference of sandy mud. Correspondence analysis allows for a 2-dimensional view of multivariate categorical data which are the norm for habitat-based biological studies. Results suggest that the procedures developed in this work can improve stock assessment methodology and indicate that using various acoustic remote sensing techniques can be effective in characterizing seafloor habitats and ecological connections between groundfish species and seafloor types.

This thesis documents hydrothermal alteration patterns exposed along major fault scarps at Pito Deep, a tectonic window into the upper ocean crust formed at the very fast-spreading (>140 mm/yr) East Pacific Rise. Two main study areas were examined, each covering at least five lateral kms across the sheeted dike complex, exposing > four km of relief. and revealing >70,000 years of spreading history. Hydrothermal alteration patterns reveal vertical and lateral variation in the degree of alteration, dominant secondary mineral assemblages, peak temperatures of alteration, and metal depletion on the scale of 10s to 100s of meters. Amphibole and chlorite are the most common secondary minerals and replace clinopyroxene, interstitial zones, and plagioclase. Mineral assemblages indicate alteration temperatures of 250-450°C were common throughout most of the sheeted dike complex. Geothermometry indicates a range in alteration temperatures from 902-505°C and 350-60°C for amphibole-plagioclase and chlorite thermometry respectively. The highest temperatures are recorded in both deformed and undeformed dikes indicating that deformation was not always synchronous with peak alteration temperatures.

This study applies Bayesian inversion to receiver functions (RF) to estimate local shear wave velocity (Vs) structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath two ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) offshore, and two land-based seismometers onshore Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We use passive seismic data recorded on NC89, a permanent NEPTUNE (North-east Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments) OBS located on the continental slope, and on a temporary autonomous KECK foundation OBS, KEBB, located at the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge (JdFR). The two land based seismometers (OZB and PGC) are located on Vancouver Island and are part of the Canadian National Seismograph Network (CNSN). The introduction of NEPTUNE has helped to fill a gap in offshore seismic monitoring, however; due to high noise levels and a relatively short deployment time, few useful events have been recorded (to date) for RF analysis. In this study, we utilize three-component, broadband recordings of large (M6+), distant (30 -100 degrees) earthquakes to compute RFs due to locally generated P (compressional) to S (shear) converted waves. RFs are then inverted using a non-linear Bayesian approach which yields optimal profiles of Vs, Vp (compressional wave velocity), and strike and dip angles, as well as rigorous uncertainty estimates for these parameters. Near the JdFR a thin sediment layer (<1 km) is resolved overlying a 2 km thick oceanic crust. The crust contains a large velocity contrast at the depth of an expected axial magma chamber. The oceanic crust thickens to 10 km at the continental slope where it is overlain by 5 km of sediments. At the coastal station (OZB) a low velocity zone is imaged at 16 km depth dipping approximately 12 degrees NE. Evidence for this low velocity zone is also seen beneath southern Vancouver Island (PGC) at a depth consistent with previous studies. Determining such models at a number of locations (from the spreading ridge to the coast) provides new information regarding local structure and can aid in seismic hazard analysis. / Graduate

Wave-formed rippled sediment beds are extremely important to the processes that act on or across the sediment-water interface. Ripples increase the exchange of materials between the sediment and the water column, enhance sediment transport rates, and act to increase the dissipation of waves by increasing the hydraulic roughness of the seafloor. Previous research has, however, failed to take into account the substantial spatial and temporal variation rippled beds display when formed under real sea conditions. Based on a set of laboratory experiments a spectral method to predict and model rippled beds has been developed. Through the use of the rippled surface's spectral density function the spatial and temporal variability of the rippled surface can be taken into account with greater efficiency. A prediction method for the equilibrium ripple spectrum was developed based on a nondimensional spectral form, which utilised the peak orbital excursion diameter and the 50th percentile grain size diameter of the sediment bed. The method provided an effective technique to predict ripple parameters with the same degree of accuracy achievable at small scale as more accepted ripple prediction methods. A new method was derived to model the changes a rippled bed undergoes as it actively evolves between two given equilibrium states due to a change in surface wave conditions. The evolution of a rippled bed can be described mathematically in exactly the same way as a rippled bed growing from a flat bed condition. The method allows any bed to be modelled through time if the flow conditions and sediment properties are known. There is little advantage in using the spectral method to predict rippled beds when they are in equilibrium with the flow conditions. The main benefit of the spectral method comes when attempting to model rippled beds evolving under changed flow conditions. In the same way as the parameterisation of surface waves in terms of their spectral density function has increased the ability to model wind generated wave fields, studies of rippled beds would benefit from the increased detail and ease the spectral method brings. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2005.

Univ., Diss.--Sydney. / Literaturverz. S. [237] - 268.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-85). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 137-147. Also available online.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Restricted until October 1994. Bibliography: l. 118-123. Also available online.

The Endeavour Ridge is a segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, an active spreading centre which lies off western North America between the Pacific and Juan de Fuca plates. This segment is a bathymetric high and a site of hydrothermal activity—both characteristics suggest an underlying heat source such as an axial magma chamber which is associated with crustal generation. To investigate the creation and evolution of oceanic crust, a detailed refraction survey was carried out over the Endeavour Ridge in the fall of 1985. As a component of this survey, a diamond-shaped array consisting of eight OBS along a 20-km line across the ridge and two OBS placed along it at distances of 10 km on either side of the cross-ridge line was deployed to define the shallow crustal structure near and beneath the ridge, especially the possible existence of an axial magma chamber. Airgun shots at 0.2 km intervals along ~300 km of profiles provide conventional reversed and unreversed refraction lines as well as multiple full azimuthal coverage of the region. Travel-time and amplitude data from fifteen in-line airgun profiles recorded on the inner array were forward modelled using an algorithm based on asymptotic ray theory with a starting model obtained from a concurrent study. Two-dimensional models were constructed and then combined to obtain the three-dimensional structure of the region. These models consist of four layers, with the average model correlating well to the classic model of oceanic crust. Layer 2A averages 0.40 km in thickness and has velocities of 2.6 km/s and 2.8 km/s at the top and bottom of the layer, respectively. To achieve such a low velocity, Layer 2A must consist of highly fractured vesicular basalts. A sharp velocity increase to 4.8 km/s marks the transition to Layer 2B. This velocity discontinuity is also visible as a reflector on a. multichannel reflection line obtained through the centre of the study region and is caused by an abrupt decrease in porosity. Layer 2B averages 0.67 km in thickness, has a velocity of 5.4 km/s at its base and consists of less fractured pillow basalts and sheet flows. The Layer 2B-Layer 2C interface is a velocity increase to 5.8 km/s and is the pillow basalt-sheeted dike contact. A small velocity increase from 6.3 to 6.5 km/s delineates the base of the 0.95 km-thick Layer 2C which is the boundary between the sheeted dikes and cumulate gabbros in Layer 3. Layer 3 has the lowest velocity gradient (0.30 s⁻¹) and a velocity of 7.3 km/s at 4.65 km below the seafloor, the maximum depth constrained by the modelling. Lateral heterogeneities on the scale of 2-3 km are superimposed on this basic velocity structure. These heterogeneities are effects of porosity changes, differential pressure changes, and alteration caused by hydrothermal circulation. Layer 2A thins and increases in velocity away from the ridge; ridge-parallel cracks create a velocity anisotropy of ~10-25%, the faster direction parallel to the ridge. Velocities within Layers 2B and 2C also increase by 0.1 km/s away from the axis of the ridge. Layer 3 velocities decrease by 0.1 km/s for arrivals travelling under the ridge. Increased Layer 2 velocities at the ridge crest reveal high lateral velocity constrasts in very young crust, but within 0.03 Ma the oceanic crust at the ridge has matured to the off-ridge structure. No firm evidence exists for a large magma chamber under Endeavour Ridge. Although the bathymetric high and high-temperature hydrothermal discharges are evidence for a magma chamber, the lack of recent sheet flows at the ridge crest and the presence of a rift along the crest indicate the magma chamber is waning and must be of a size (<1 km in width) not resolvable by seismic refraction data. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate