Surface Wave Ray Tracing and Ms:Yield Determination in a Laterally Heterogeneous Earth

Abstract

Pure path Rayleigh wave group velocities for 24 regional grids inside the Arctic have been obtained from 74 mixed path measurements. The vertical shear wave velocity structures under these 24 grids were then determined according to their pure path group velocity dispersion data. This result indicates that the crustal shear wave velocity in the Arctic region is generally lower than the world-wide average. In addition, a typical mid-ocean ridge structure was clearly shown under the Nansen Ridge. We also found an abnormally high upper mantle shear wave velocity under the Alpha Ridge and Makarov Basin, and low velocity beneath the Canadian Arctic Islands. In general, our inversion result agrees with the known tectonics in the Arctic region. To further check the validity of our result, we computed synthetic Rayleigh waves; a comparison with our observations shows very good agreement. Keywords: Seismic wave velocity; Ocean bottom topography; Tectonics; Rayleigh wave dispersion; Ocean basins; Earthquake seismic data; Earth crust thickness; Upper mantle; Structural geology; Surface waves; Ray tracing; Earth models.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA210241

Entities

People

  • Keiiti Aki
  • Ta-liang Teng
  • Yuehua Zeng

Organizations

  • University of Southern California

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Earth Models
  • Earth Sciences
  • Earthquakes
  • Ecology
  • Geography
  • Geology
  • Geophysics
  • Glaciology
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Planetary Sciences
  • Ray Tracing
  • Ridges
  • Seabed
  • Topography
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Polar and Arctic Studies
  • Seismology