Depth Variation of the Lithosphere beneath Garoua Rift Region (Cameroon Volcanic Line) Studied from Teleseismic P-Waves

Teleseismic events have been selected from a database of earthquakes with three components which were recorded between February 2005 and January 2007 by five seismic stations across the Garoua rift region which constitutes a part of the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL). The iterative time deconvolution performed by [1] applied on these teleseismic events, permitted us to obtain P-receiver functions. The latter were subsequently inverted in order to obtain S-wave velocity models with respect to depth which were then associated to the synthetic receiver functions. This made it possible to explain the behavior of the wave and the medium through which they traveled. The main results obtained indicate that: (1) The lithosphere appears to be thin in its crustal part with a mean Moho depth of 28 km and S wave velocity of 3.7 km/s. (2) In its mantle part, the lithosphere is thick in nature having a thickness that varies between 42 km and 67.2 km. The greatest depth is noticed towards the center located around Garoua while the least depth corresponds to a location around Yagoua in the North. The Low velocity zone which makes it possible to determine the depth of the lithosphere was seen to have a thickness which varies between 42 km and 118.8 km. (3) The synthetic receiver functions associated to shear velocity models reveal that, on one hand the wave has really undergone a conversion and multiple conversions such that the existing Ps phase and subsequent reverberations PpPs and PpSs have mean times of 3.7 s, 11 s and 17.6 s respectively. On the other hand, they reveal an attenuation shown by the decrease in the amplitude of the aforementioned phases along a South-North direction in the Garoua rift.

Eastward subduction of the Indian plate beneath the Indo-Myanmese arc revealed by teleseismic P-wave tomography

The deep structure of the eastward-subducting Indian plate can provide new information on the dynamics of the India-Eurasia collision.We collected and processed waveform data from temporary seismic arrays(networks)on the eastern Tibetan Plateau,seismic arrays in Northeast India and Myanmar,and permanent stations of the China Digital Seismic Network in Tibet,Gansu,Qinghai,Yunnan,and Sichuan.We combined these data with phase reports from observation stations of the International Seismological Center on the Indian plate and selected 124,808 high-quality P-wave relative travel-time residuals.Next,we used these data to invert the 3-D P-wave velocity structure of the upper mantle to a depth of 800 km beneath the eastern segment of the arcuate Himalayan orogen,at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.The results reveal a high-angle,easterly dipping subducting plate extending more than 200 km beneath the Indo-Myanmese arc.The plate breaks off at roughly 96°E;its fragments have passed through the 410-km discontinuity(D410)into the mantle transition zone(MTZ).The MTZ beneath the Tengchong volcanic area contains a high-velocity anomaly,which does not exceed the Red River fault to the east.No other large-scale continuous subducted plates were observed in the MTZ.However,a horizontally spreading high-velocity anomaly was identified on the D410 in some regions.The anomaly may represent the negatively buoyant 90°E Ridge plate or a thickened and delaminated lithospheric block experiencing collision and compression at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.The Tengchong volcano may originate from the mantle upwelling through the slab window formed by the break-off of the subducting Indian continental plate and oceanic plate in the upper mantle.Low-velocity upper mantle materials on the west side of the Indo-Myanmese arc may have supplemented materials to the Tengchong volcano.

Rapid source inversions of the 2023 SE Türkiye earthquakes with teleseismic and strong-motion data

We conducted rapid inversions of rupture process for the 2023 earthquake doublet occurred in SE Türkiye,the first with a magnitude of M_(W)7.8 and the second with a magnitude of M_(W)7.6,using teleseismic and strong-motion data.The teleseismic rupture models of the both events were obtained approximately 88 and 55 minutes after their occurrences,respectively.The rupture models indicated that the first event was an asymmetric bilateral event with ruptures mainly propagating to the northeast,while the second one was a unilateral event with ruptures propagating to the west.This information could be useful in locating the meizoseismal areas.Compared with teleseismic models,the strong-motion models showed relatively higher resolution.A noticeable difference was found for the M_(W)7.6 earthquake,for which the strong-motion models shows a bilateral event,rather than a unilateral event,but the dominant rupture direction is still westward.Nevertheless,all strong-motion models are consistent with the teleseismic models in terms of magnitudes,durations,and dominant rupture directions.This suggests that both teleseismic and strong-motion data can be used for fast determination of major source characteristics.In contrast,the strong-motion data would be preferable in future emergency responses since they are recorded earlier and have a better resolution ability on the source ruptures.

Deep tectonic setting of the 2008 Wenchuan M_s8.0 earthquake in southwestern China―Joint analysis of teleseismic P-wave receiver functions and Bouguer gravity anomalies

Teleseismic P-wave receiver functions at 20 broadband seismic stations in the Longmenshan fault zone (LMFZ) and its vicinity were extracted, and the crustal thickness and the P- and S-wave velocity ratio were calculated by use of the H-k stacking algorithm. With the results as constraints, the S-wave ve-locity structures beneath each station were determined by the inversion of receiver functions. The crustal structure of the Rear-range zone is similar to that of the Songpan-Garze Block, whereas the velocity structure of the Fore-range zone resembles that of Sichuan Basin, implying that the Central Principal Fault of LMFZ is the boundary between the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Yangtze Block. Lower velocity zone exists in lower crust of the Songpan-Garze Block and the central-southern seg-ment of the Rear-range zone, which facilitates the detachment of the material in upper and middle crust. Joint analysis of the receiver functions and the Bouguer gravity anomalies supports the thesis on the detachment-thrust mode of the LMFZ. A double-detachment pattern is suggested to the tectonic setting in the Songpan-Garze Block. The upper detachment occurs at the depth of 10-15 km, and represents a high-temperature ductile shear zone. There is a lower detachment at the depth of about 30 km, below which the lower crust flow exists in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Interpretation of the Bouguer gravity anomalies indicates that the Sichuan Basin is of higher density in upper and middle crust in compari-son with that of the Songpan-Garze Block. The LMFZ with higher density is the result from the thrusting of the Songpan-Garze Block over the Sichuan Basin. In the lower crust, higher P velocity and higher density in the Sichuan Basin are related to more rigid material, while lower S velocity and lower density in the Songpan-Garze Block are related to the softened and weakened material. The higher density block beneath the Sichuan Basin obstructs the eastward flow of lower crustal material from the Tibetan Plateau, which is driven by the compression of northward movement of Indian Plate. The eastward movement of upper and middle crustal material is also obstructed by the rigid Yangtze Block, resulting in the stress concentrated and accumulated along the LMFZ. When the stress releases sharply, the Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake occurs.

Velocity structure and radial anisotropy beneath the northeastern Tibetan Plateau revealed by eikonal equation-based teleseismic P-wave traveltime tomography

The northeastern Tibetan Plateau serves as the frontier for the northeastward expansion of the plateau.In this area,the Tibetan Plateau interacts with the surrounding blocks,such as the Alxa Block,the Ordos Block,the Kunlun-West Qinling belt and the Sichuan Basin.Because of this expansion and interaction,this area suffers from intense deformation.At present,the evolution and deformation mechanisms of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau remain controversial.To provide new insights into these mechanisms,in this study,we conduct tomography of the P-wave velocity and radial anisotropy structures beneath the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.We choose a total of 667 teleseismic earthquakes from August 2006 to October 2020.Waveforms of these earthquakes were recorded by 921 broadband seismic stations in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas.We first perform cross-correlation on waveforms of each station pair and obtain 770,749 P-wave traveltime differences.Then,we invert the differential traveltime data by applying eikonal equation-based teleseismic tomography.Finally,the P-wave velocity and radial anisotropy structures at depths from 30 to 800 km below the northeastern Tibetan Plateau are obtained.Our tomographic model shows clear low-velocity anomalies and positive radial anisotropy in the lower crust under the northeastern Qilian orogen,the northeastern Songpan-Ganzi belt and the western Qinling fold zone.These features are integrated to demonstrate the existence of lower crustal flow in the study area.Prominent low-velocity anomalies and positive radial anisotropy are found in the uppermost mantle beneath the Qilian orogen,the northeastern Songpan-Ganzi belt and western Qinling fold zone.These characteristics are combined to infer a weak lithosphere and horizontal asthenospheric flow under these tectonic units.Both the Ordos Block and the Sichuan Basin exhibit clear high-velocity anomalies and negative radial anisotropy in the uppermost mantle,thereby reflecting the high mechanical strength of the lithosphere beneath these blocks.High-velocity anomalies are also present in the upper mantle under the northern Chuandian block,potentially implying the northward subduction of the Indian plate.Furthermore,the front of the subducted Indian plate is imaged close to the Xianshuihe fault rather than the Kunlun fault.

A review of the influencing factors on teleseismic traveltime tomography

Teleseismic traveltime tomography is an important tool for investigating the crust and mantle structure of the Earth.The imaging quality of teleseismic traveltime tomography is affected by many factors,such as mantle heterogeneities,source uncertainties and random noise.Many previous studies have investigated these factors separately.An integral study of these factors is absent.To provide some guidelines for teleseismic traveltime tomography,we discussed four main influencing factors:the method for measuring relative traveltime differences,the presence of mantle heterogeneities outside the imaging domain,station spacing and uncertainties in teleseismic event hypocenters.Four conclusions can be drawn based on our analysis.(1)Comparing two methods,i.e.,measuring the traveltime difference between two adjacent stations(M1)and subtracting the average traveltime of all stations from the traveltime of one station(M2),reveals that both M1 and M2 can well image the main structures;while M1 is able to achieve a slightly higher resolution than M2;M2 has the advantage of imaging long wavelength structures.In practical teleseismic traveltime tomography,better tomography results can be achieved by a two-step inversion method.(2)Global mantle heterogeneities can cause large traveltime residuals(up to about 0.55 s),which leads to evident imaging artifacts.(3)The tomographic accuracy and resolution of M1 decrease with increasing station spacing when measuring the relative traveltime difference between two adjacent stations.(4)The traveltime anomalies caused by the source uncertainties are generally less than 0.2 s,and the impact of source uncertainties is negligible.

P-wave velocity structure in the crust and the uppermost mantle of Chao Lake region of the Tan-Lu Fault inferred from teleseismic arrival time tomography

Chao Lake is a Geoheritage site on the active Tan-Lu Fault between the Yangtze craton,the North China craton,and the Dabie orogenic belt in the southeast.This segment of the fault is not well constrained at depth partly due to the overprinting of the fault zone by intrusive materials and its relatively low seismic activity and sparse seismic station coverage.This study took advantage of a dense seismic array deployed around Chao Lake to delineate the P-wave velocity variations in the crust and uppermost mantle using teleseismic earthquake arrival time tomography.The station-pair double-difference with waveform crosscorrelation technique was employed.We used a multiscale resolution 3-D initial model derived from the combination of highresolution 3-D v S models within the region of interest to account for the lateral heterogeneity in the upper crust.The results revealed that the velocity of the upper crust is segmented with structures trending in the direction of the strike of the fault.Sedimentary basins are delineated on both sides of the fault with slow velocities,while the fault zone is characterized by high velocity in the crust and uppermost mantle.The high-velocity structure in the fault zone shows characteristics of magma intrusion that may be connected to the Mesozoic magmatism in and around the Middle and Lower Yangtze River Metallogenic Belt(MLYMB),implying that the Tan-Lu fault might have formed a channel for magma intrusion.Magmatic material in Chao Lake is likely connected to the partial melting,assimilation,storage,and homogenization of the uppermost mantle and the lower crustal rocks.The intrusions,however,seem to have suffered severe regional extension along the Tan-Lu fault driven by the eastward Paleo-Pacific plate subduction,thereby losing its deep trail due to extensional erosion.

Effect of the mixing of s-wave and chiral p-wave pairings on electrical shot noise properties of normal metal/superconductor tunnel junctions

We study theoretically the electrical shot noise properties of tunnel junctions between a normal metal and a superconductor with the mixture of singlet s-wave and chiral triplet p-wave pairing due to broken inversion symmetry. We investigate how the shot noise properties vary as the relative amplitude between the two parity components in the pairing potential is changed. It is demonstrated that some characteristics of the electrical shot noise properties of such tunnel junctions may depend sensitively on the relative amplitude between the two parity components in the pairing potential, and some significant changes may occur in the electrical shot noise properties when the relative amplitude between the two parity components is varied from the singlet s-wave pairing dominated regime to the chiral triplet p-wave pairing dominated regime. In the chiral triplet p-wave pairing dominated regime, the ratio of noise power to electric current is close to 2e both in the in-gap and in the out-gap region. In the singlet s-wave pairing dominated regime, the value of this ratio is close to 4e in the inner gap region but may reduce to about 2e in the outer gap region as the relative amplitude of the chiral triplet pairing component is increased. The variations of the differential shot noise with the bias voltage also exhibit some significantly different features in different regimes. Such different features can serve as useful diagnostic tools for the determination of the relative magnitude of the two parity components in the pairing potential.

Rupture process of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake from the joint inversion of teleseismic and GPS data

Teleseismic and GPS data were jointly inverted for the rupture process of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. The inversion results show that it is a bilateral rupture event with an average rupture velocity less than 2.0 km/s along the fault strike direction. The source rupture process consists of three sub-events, the first oc- curred near the hypocenter and the rest two ruptured along the up-dip direction and broke the sea bed, causing a maximum slip of about 30 m. The large-scale sea bed breakage may account for the tremendous tsunami disaster which resulted in most of the death and missing in this mega earthquake.

Source complexity of the 2016 M_W7.8 Kaikoura (New Zealand) earthquake revealed from teleseismic and InSAR data

On November 13, 2016, an MW7.8 earthquake struck Kaikoura in South Island of New Zealand. By means of back-projection of array recordings, ASTFs-analysis of global seismic recordings, and joint inversion of global seismic data and co-seismic In SAR data, we investigated complexity of the earthquake source. The result shows that the 2016 MW7.8 Kaikoura earthquake ruptured about 100 s unilaterally from south to northeast(~N28°–33°E), producing a rupture area about 160 km long and about 50 km wide and releasing scalar moment 1.01×1021 Nm. In particular, the rupture area consisted of two slip asperities, with one close to the initial rupture point having a maximal slip value ~6.9 m while the other far away in the northeast having a maximal slip value ~9.3 m. The first asperity slipped for about 65 s and the second one started 40 s after the first one had initiated. The two slipped simultaneously for about 25 s.Furthermore, the first had a nearly thrust slip while the second had both thrust and strike slip. It is interesting that the rupture velocity was not constant, and the whole process may be divided into 5 stages in which the velocities were estimated to be 1.4 km/s, 0 km/s, 2.1 km/s, 0 km/s and 1.1 km/s, respectively. The high-frequency sources distributed nearly along the lower edge of the rupture area, the highfrequency radiating mainly occurred at launching of the asperities, and it seemed that no high-frequency energy was radiated when the rupturing was going to stop.

Joint Inversion of the 3D P Wave Velocity Structure of the Crust and Upper Mantle under the Southeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau Using Regional Earthquake and Teleseismic Data

The special seismic tectonic environment and frequent seismicity in the southeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau show that this area is an ideal location to study the present tectonic movement and background of strong earthquakes in China's Mainland and to predict future strong earthquake risk zones. Studies of the structural environment and physical characteristics of the deep structure in this area are helpful to explore deep dynamic effects and deformation field characteristics, to strengthen our understanding of the roles of anisotropy and tectonic deformation and to study the deep tectonic background of the seismic origin of the block＇s interior. In this paper, the three-dimensional （3D） P-wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle under the southeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is obtained via observational data from 224 permanent seismic stations in the regional digital seismic network of Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces and from 356 mobile China seismic arrays in the southern section of the north-south seismic belt using a joint inversion method of the regional earthquake and teleseismic data. The results indicate that the spatial distribution of the P-wave velocity anomalies in the shallow upper crust is closely related to the surface geological structure, terrain and lithology. Baoxing and Kangding, with their basic volcanic rocks and volcanic clastic rocks, present obvious high-velocity anomalies. The Chengdu Basin shows low-velocity anomalies associated with the Quaternary sediments. The Xichang Mesozoic Basin and the Butuo Basin are characterised by low- velocity anomalies related to very thick sedimentary layers. The upper and middle crust beneath the Chuan-Dian and Songpan-Ganzi Blocks has apparent lateral heterogeneities, including low-velocity zones of different sizes. There is a large range of low-velocity layers in the Songpan-Ganzi Block and the sub-block northwest of Sichuan Province, showing that the middle and lower crust is relatively weak. The Sichuan Basin, which is located in the western margin of the Yangtze platform, shows high-velocity characteristics. The results also reveal that there are continuous low-velocity layer distributions in the middle and lower crust of the Daliangshan Block and that the distribution direction of the low-velocity anomaly is nearly SN, which is consistent with the trend of the Daliangshan fault. The existence of the low-velocity layer in the crust also provides a deep source for the deep dynamic deformation and seismic activity of the Daliangshan Block and its boundary faults. The results of the 3D P-wave velocity structure show that an anomalous distribution of high-density, strong-magnetic and high-wave velocity exists inside the crust in the Panxi region. This is likely related to late Paleozoic mantle plume activity that led to a large number of mafic and ultra-mafic intrusions into the crust. In the crustal doming process, the massive intrusion of mantle-derived material enhanced the mechanical strength of the crustal medium. The P-wave velocity structure also revealed that the upper mantle contains a low-velocity layer at a depth of 80-120 km in the Panxi region. The existence of deep faults in the Panxi region, which provide conditions for transporting mantle thermal material into the crust, is the deep tectonic background for the area＇s strong earthquake activity.

Thickness Variations in the Lithospheric Mantle and the Low Velocity Zone of the Adamawa Plateau (Cameroon) from Teleseismic Receiver Functions

Teleseismic events recorded by stations located in the Adamawa Plateau have been treated using the inversion method of receiver functions. These six stations are part of a network of 32 large strip seismic stations installed in Cameroon between 2005 and 2007. This method allowed us to investigate the lithospheric mantle in that region. The results obtained from the velocity model have been compared to some existing results in this region. These results show the existence of a thick crust having an average thickness of about 35.2 km and a corresponding S wave velocity of 3.7 km/s. For an average S wave velocity of 4.4 km/s the lithospheric mantle appears to be thin in nature and has a thickness that varies from 39 km and 49.6 km. Beyond the lower lithospheric mantle, there exists a low velocity zone, whose thickness varies between 20 km and 43.9 km. The variation of the low velocity zone leads to variation of the lower boundary of the lithospheric mantle boundary at the depths ranging from 73.8 km and 85 km.

Estimation of the 2010 Mentawai tsunami earthquake rupture process from joint inversion of teleseismic and strong ground motion data

Joint inversion of teleseismic body-wave data and strong ground motion waveforms was applied to determine the rupture process of the 2010 Mentawai earthquake. To obtain stable solutions, smoothing and non-negative constraints were introduced. A total of 33 teleseismic stations and 5 strong ground motion stations supplied data. The teleseismic and strong ground motion data were separately windowed for 150 s and 250 s and bandpass filtered with frequencies of 0.001e1.0 Hz and 0.005e0.5 Hz, respectively. The finitefault model was established with length and width of 190 km and 70 km, and the initial seismic source parameters were set by referring to centroid moment tensor(CMT) solutions. Joint inversion results indicate that the focal mechanism of this earthquake is thrust fault type, and the strike, dip, and rake angles are generally in accordance with CMT results. The seismic moment was determined as 5.814 1020Nm(Mw7.8) and source duration was about 102 s, which is greater than those of other earthquakes of similar magnitude. The rupture nucleated near the hypocenter and then propagated along the strike direction to the northwest, with a maximum slip of 3.9 m. Large uncertainties regarding the amount of slip retrieved using different inversion methods still exist; however, the conclusion that the majority of slip occurred far from the islands at very shallow depths was found to be robust. The 2010 Mentawai earthquake was categorized as a tsunami earthquake because of the long rupture duration and the generation of a tsunami much larger than was expected for an earthquake of its magnitude.

Application of teleseismic tomography to the study of shallow structure beneath Shizigou in the western Qaidam basin

Teleseismic body wave traveltime tomography is used to inverse the three-dimensional seismic velocity structure beneath Shizigou in the western Qaidam basin. The travel time are picked from the continuous observation data on a small seismic array of stations deployed during 2004-2007. The tomographic results obtained indicate that a NW-trending low velocity anomaly just beneath the target region insert northeastwards with a high dip angle. In the north, northeast and east of the low velocity anomaly, some high-velocity anomalies distribute with the same strike and coverage as those of Shizigou anticline.

Estimation of azimuth and slowness of teleseismic signals recorded by a local seismic network

A new method that is applicable to local seismic networks to estimate the azimuth and slowness of teleseismic signals is introduced in the paper. The method is based on the correlation between the arrival times and station positions. The analyzed results indicate that the azimuth and slowness of teleseismic signals can be accurately estimated by the method. Average errors for azimuth and slowness measurements obtained by this method using data of Xian Digital Telemetry Seismic Network are 2.0?and 0.34 s/(?, respectively. The conclusions drawn from this study indicate that this method may be very useful to interpret teleseismic records of local seismic networks.

Evaluation of Long-Period Detectability of Teleseismic Events at Syowa Station, Antarctica

Phase identification procedures for teleseismic events at Syowa Station (69.0°S, 39.6°E;SYO), East Antarctica have been carried out since 1967 after the International Geophysical Year (IGY;1957-1958). Since the development of INTELSAT telecommunication link, digital waveform data have been transmitted to the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) for the utilization of phase identification. Arrival times of teleseismic phases, P, PKP, PP, S, SKS have been detected manually and reported to the International Seismological Centre (ISC), and published by “JARE Data Reports” from NIPR. In this paper, hypocentral distribution and time variations for detected earthquakes are demonstrated over the last four decades in 1967-2010. Characteristics of detected events, magnitude dependency, spatial distributions, seasonal variations, together with classification by focal depth are investigated. Besides the natural increase in the occurrence of teleseismic events on the globe, a technical advance in the observing system and station infrastructure, as well as the improvement of procedures for reading seismic phases, could all combine to produce the increase in detection of events in last few decades. Variations in teleseismic detectability for longer terms may be possible by association with the meteorological environment and seaice spreading area around the Antarctic continent. Recorded teleseismic and local seismic signals have sufficient quality for many analyses on dynamics and structure of the Earth as viewed from Antarctica. The continuously recorded data are applied not only to lithospheric studies but also to the Earth’s deep interiors, as a significant contribution to the Federation of Digital Seismological Networks (FDSN) from high southern latitude.

Spreading-rate dependence of hydroacoustic and teleseismic seismicity of ridge-transform systems:East Pacific Rise,Galapagos Ridge,and Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Seismicity in ocean ridge-transform systems reveals fundamental processes of mid-ocean ridges,while comparisons of seismicity in different oceans remain rare due to a lack of detection of small events.From 1996 to 2003,the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA/PMEL)deployed several hydrophones in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the northern Atlantic Ocean.These hydrophones recorded earthquakes with small magnitudes,providing us with opportunities to study the seismic characteristics of ridge-transform systems at different spreading rates and make further comparisons of their differences.This study comparatively analyzed hydroacoustic and teleseismic data recorded on the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise(EPR,10°S to 12°N),intermediate-spreading Galapagos Ridge(103°W to 80°W),and slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge(MAR,15°N to 37°N).We present a systematic study of the spatial and temporal distribution of events,aftershock seismicity,and possible triggering mechanisms of aftershock sequences.Our analysis yields the following conclusions.(1)From the hydroacoustic data,the EPR transform faults had the highest average seismicity rate among the three regions.(2)Along-ridge event distributions show that a high number of earthquakes were concentrated on the EPR,while they became dispersed on the GR and fewer and more scattered on the MAR,reflecting that the different tectonic origins were closely correlated with the spreading rate.(3)Analysis from mainshock-aftershock sequences shows no significant differences in the aftershock decay rate among the three regions.(4)Multiple types of aftershock triggering models were inferred from Coulomb stress changes:strike-slip mainshocks triggered strike-slip aftershocks and normal faulting aftershocks,and normal faulting mainshocks triggered normal faulting aftershocks.Although these results are case studies,they may be applicable to other ocean ridge-transform systems in future investigations.Our results provide important new insights into the seismicity of global ocean ridge-transform systems.

Measuring PmP travel times using teleseismic S-wave waveform data

Joint inversion for crustal velocity structure using only surface wave dispersion and receiver function data often suffers the non-unique solution problem due to lack of P wave velocity constraint in the data.Here we developed a method for measuring PmP travel time using teleseismic S wave waveform.The major improvement by this method over the previous one-layer-crust search method is its use of a more realistic multi-layer-crust(MLC)velocity model in the study region based on available information.Numerical tests show that compared with the previous search method the MLC search method is faster and more reliable and accurate.One limit of the MLC search method is the requirement of a multi-layer background model,thus this method might not be applicable in regions where the velocity structure is unknown.Nevertheless,our numerical tests show that the MLC search method is robust in the sense that small deviations of the background model from the true velocity model do not influence the results severely.We applied the MLC search method to data from a temporary linear array across the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone in the central USA.We obtained 157 PmP travel-time measurements that show lateral crustal structure variation in the region.The measurements provide additional constraints in joint inversion for crustal velocity structure in this seismically active region.

Impacts of anisotropy coefficient and porosity on the thermal conductivity and P-wave velocity of calcarenites used as building materials of historical monuments in Morocco

It is essential to study the porosity,thermal conductivity,and P-wave velocity of calcarenites,as well as the anisotropy coefficients of the thermal conductivity and P-wave velocity,for civil engineering,and conservation and restoration of historical monuments.This study focuses on measuring the thermal conductivity using the thermal conductivity scanning(TCS)technique and measuring the P-wave ve-locity using portable equipment.This was applied for some dry and saturated calcarenite samples in the horizontal and vertical directions(parallel and perpendicular to the bedding plane,respectively).The calcarenites were selected from some historical monuments in Morocco.These physical properties were measured in the laboratory to find a reliable relationship between all of these properties.As a result of the statistical analysis of the obtained data,excellent linear relationships were observed between the porosity and both the thermal conductivity and porosity.These relationships are characterized by relatively high coefficients of determination for the horizontal and vertical samples.Based on the thermal conductivity and P-wave velocity values in these two directions,the anisotropy coefficients of these two properties were calculated.The internal structure and the pore fabric of the calcarenite samples were delineated using scanning electron microscopy(SEM),while their chemical and mineral compositions were studied using the energy dispersive X-ray analysis(EDXA)and X-ray diffraction(XRD)techniques.

P-wave velocity structure beneath reservoirs and surrounding areas in the lower Jinsha River

The lower reaches of the Jinsha River are rich in hydropower resources because of the high mountains,deep valleys,and swift currents in this area.This region also features complex tectonic structures and frequent earthquakes.After the impoundment of the reservoirs,seismic activity increased significantly.Therefore,it is necessary to study the P-wave velocity structure and earthquake locations in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River and surrounds,thus providing seismological support for subsequent earthquake prevention and disaster reduction work in reservoir areas.In this study,we selected the data of 7.670 seismic events recorded by the seismic networks in Sichuan.Yunnan,and Chongqing and the temporary seismic arrays deployed nearby.We then applied the double-difference tomography method to this data,to obtain the P-wave velocity structure and earthquake locations in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River and surrounds.The results showed that the Jinsha River basin has a complex lateral P-wave velocity structure.Seismic events are mainly distributed in the transition zones between high-and low-velocity anomalies,and seismic events are particularly intense in the Xiluodu and Baihetan reservoir areas.Vertical cross-sections through the Xiangjiaba and Xiluodu reservoir areas revealed an apparent high-velocity anomaly at approximately 6 km depth:this high-velocity anomaly plays a role in stress accumulation,with few earthquakes distributed inside the high-velocity body.After the impoundment of the Baihetan reservoir,the number of earthquakes in the reservoir area increased significantly.The seismic events in the reservoir area north of 27°N were related to the enhanced activity of nearby faults after impoundment:the earthquakes in the reservoir area south of 27°N were probably induced by additional loads(or regional stress changes),and the multiple microseismic events may have been caused by rock rupture near the main faults under high pore pressure.