Deep troughs and ridges of the Arctic Basin are some of the least known features of the Earth's crust. Some of the ridges, eg. Chukchi and Nordwind, are connected directly to the continental shelves and are certainly submarine promontories of the latter. The character of the Lomonosov Ridge as a narrow slice of continental crust that separated from the Eurasian margin in the early Cenozoic (by opening of the Eurasian Basin), is not in doubt. Recent drilling (ACEX) and piston coring have confirmed this interpretation. However there are many other ridges and some of the troughs that are of uncertain origin. Seismic research in combination with potential field data over the East-Siberian margin, Podvodnikov and Makarov basins and the Mendeleev Ridge, presented here, provides a framework for understanding this enigmatic part of the Earth. The constrained models of the crust illustrate their structure. The crust beneath the East Siberian margin is up to 40 km thick; it thins to about 20 km towards to the Podvodnikov Basin. The models over the Arlis Gap, in the middle of the Podvodnikov Basin, and the Mendeleev Ridge have shown that the crust beneath both these features is anomalously thick (up to 28–32 km) and has a velocity structure that suggests the presence of highly attenuated continental crust. The crustal thickness over the Makarov Basin varies from 8 km to 15 km. Reflection profiles provide evidence of the character and thickness of the sedimentary cover (mostly Cenozoic and late Mesozoic), both on the ridges and beneath the troughs. Presented here is evidence that some of the ridges (eg. Marvin Spur) appear to be fragments of continental crust rifted off the Lomonosov Ridge (with a similar, unconformable Cenozoic cover); however, they gently plunge into and beneath troughs (eg. Makarov Basin). Reflection seismic data collected by the HOTRAX expedition in 2005 over the central part of the Lomonosov Ridge illustrate the sedimentary structure on the top of the Ridge and in an internal basin. The main sedimentary units can be interpreted by correlation with the ACEX results. The major fault separating the surrounding ridges from the internal basin appears to have a roll over anticline in the hanging wall, suggesting that the basin was created by a growth fault. The seismic lines provide evidence of gently folded basement beneath the Lomonosov Ridge with intra basement reflections are usually parallel to the upper surfaces; in combination with velocities (c. 4–5 km/s), these suggest the presence of old well-consolidated sediments.

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Landslides have occurred throughout the Holocene geologic epoch and they continue to occur in the Peace River Lowlands of Alberta and British Columbia. This study was conducted to provide an understanding of the processes and extents of one such landslide situated on a major slope at the Town of Peace River, Alberta by means of geophysical techniques with the aim of reducing the geohazard risk to lives and infrastructures. The geophysical characterization involved the acquisition, processing, and joint interpretation of seismic reflection, seismic refraction tomography, vertical seismic profile, and electrical resistivity tomography datasets, thereby providing important information about the subsurface geometry of the landslide, insights into the material properties of the unstable mass in contrast to that of the stable rock, and possible causes of the landslide. This contribution shows that putting considerable efforts into the acquisition and processing of geophysical datasets can yield valuable functional details. / Geophysics

Cratonic basins cover more than 10% of Earth's continental surface area, yet their origin remains enigmatic. In this thesis a suite of new and legacy geophysical and geological data are integrated to constrain the origin of the Parnaíba basin, a cratonic basin in Northeast Brazil. These data include a 1400 km long, deep (20 s two-way travel time) seismic reflection profile, five +/- 110 km offset wide-angle split-spread receiver gathers, gravity anomaly, and well data. In the centre of the basin, the depth to pre-Paleozoic basement is ~ 3.3 km, a zone of midcrustal reflectivity (MCR) can be traced laterally for ~ 250 km at depths between 17-25 km and Moho depth is ~ 42 +/- 2 km. Gravity and P-wave modelling suggests that the MCR represents the upper surface of a high density (2985 kg m³) and V_p (6.7 - 7.0 km s^-1) lower crustal body, likely of magmatic origin. Backstripping of well data shows a concave up decreasing tectonic subsidence, similar in form to that commonly observed in rift-type basins. It is shown, however, that the seismic and gravity data are inconsistent with an extensional origin. It is shown that an intrusive body in the lower crust that has loaded and flexed the surface of the crust, combined with sediment loading, provides a satisfactory fit to the observed gravity anomaly, sediment thickness and basin shape. A buried load model is also consistent with seismic data, which suggest that the Moho is as deep or deeper beneath the basin centre than its flanks and accounts for at least part of the tectonic subsidence through a viscoelastic stress relaxation that occurs in the lithosphere following load emplacement. Comparative analysis of the Michigan and Congo basins shows gravity data from these basins is also consistent with a lower crustal mass excess, while subsidence analysis shows viscoelastic stress relaxation may also contribute to their early subsidence histories. However, unlike Parnaíba, both of these basins appear to have been subjected to secondary tectonic processes that obscure the primary 'cratonic basin' subsidence signals. Parnaíba basin, therefore, offers an excellent record for the investigation of cratonic basin formation.