Investigation of Lateral Variation in the Seismic Velocity Structure of the Shallow Crust Beneath Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire.

Abstract

This is one of five scientific reports describing specific research projects conducted at Weston Observatory under Contract No. F19628-90-K-0035. The research conducted under this contract covers a range of topics related to seismology in general and to nuclear test monitoring in particular. This report describes a study in which group velocity dispersion was determined for short- period Rayleigh waves recorded from blasts detonated at the San-Vel quarry in Littleton, MA. Field data were recorded to complement network data in order to create a denser distribution of stations than was possible in past experiments. Group velocity dispersion was estimated for each path. The resulting dispersion curves were analyzed to investigate the relationship between group velocities and shallow crystal structure beneath eastern MA and southern NH. Our results suggest that the quarry lies in a 'trough' of low group velocities, where the group velocities systematically increase toward the E and W-NW directions. This creates a 'valley' of group velocities where the primary trend of the valley trough is N, and a secondary feature is a trough that trends in a NE direction. This NE trending feature is of particular interest because of a possible correlation with the trend of the Clinton-Newbury fault zone. Shallow crystal structure, Rg Wave dispersion, Quarry blasts, Chemical explosions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1993
Accession Number
ADA278137

Entities

People

  • A. L. Kafka
  • S. E. D'annolfo

Organizations

  • Boston College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Earth Sciences
  • Geography
  • Geology
  • Geophysics
  • Group Velocity
  • Igneous Rocks
  • Massachusetts
  • New England
  • New Hampshire
  • Observatories
  • Planetary Sciences
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Rayleigh Waves
  • Seismic Velocity
  • Seismology
  • Surface Waves
  • United States

Readers

  • Academic Conference Management
  • Seismology