Constraints on the composition of the crust and uppermost mantle in northwestern Canada: Vp/Vs variations along Lithoprobe's SNorCLE transect

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1205-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Fernández-Viejo ◽  
Ron M Clowes ◽  
J Kim Welford

Shear-wave seismic data recorded along four profiles during the SNoRE 97 (1997 Slave – Northern Cordillera Refraction Experiment) refraction – wide-angle reflection experiment in northwestern Canada are analyzed to provide S-wave velocity (Vs) models. These are combined with previous P-wave velocity (Vp) models to produce cross sections of the ratio Vp/Vs for the crust and upper mantle. The Vp/Vs values are related to rock types through comparisons with published laboratory data. The Slave craton has low Vp/Vs values of 1.68–1.72, indicating a predominantly silicic crustal composition. Higher values (1.78) for the Great Bear and eastern Hottah domains of the Wopmay orogen imply a more mafic than average crustal composition. In the western Hottah and Fort Simpson arc, values of Vp/Vs drop to ∼1.69. These low values continue westward for 700 km into the Foreland and Omineca belts of the Cordillera, providing support for the interpretation from coincident seismic reflection studies that much of the crust from east of the Cordilleran deformation front to the Stikinia terrane of the Intermontane Belt consists of quartzose metasedimentary rocks. Stikinia shows values of 1.78–1.73, consistent with its derivation as a volcanic arc terrane. Upper mantle velocity and ratio values beneath the Slave craton indicate an ultramafic peridotitic composition. In the Wopmay orogen, the presence of low Vp/Vs ratios beneath the Hottah – Fort Simpson transition indicates the presence of pyroxenite in the upper mantle. Across the northern Cordillera, low Vp values and a moderate-to-high ratio in the uppermost mantle are consistent with the region's high heat flow and the possible presence of partial melt.

1973 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 819-825
Author(s):  
L. Chuaqui

abstract A simplified model of the crust and upper mantle of central Chile is developed with P- and S-wave arrival times and is compared with previous gravimetric work on the area. The following structural parameters were determined: crustal P-wave velocity, upper mantle P-wave velocity, crustal thickness and orientation of the plane separating crust and upper mantle. The model obtained here agrees well with those calculated in the gravimetric study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Awali Priyono ◽  
Andri Dian Nugraha ◽  
Muzli Muzli ◽  
Ardianto Ardianto ◽  
Atin Nur Aulia ◽  
...  

Local earthquake data was used to determine a three-dimensional (3D) seismic attenuation structure around the aftershock source region of the 2018 Lombok earthquake in Indonesia. The aftershocks were recorded by 13 seismic stations from August 4 to September 9, 2018. The selected data consist of 6,281 P-wave t∗ values from 914 events, which had good t∗ quality in at least four stations. Our results show that the two aftershock clusters northwest and northeast of Lombok Island have different attenuation characteristics. A low P-wave quality factor (low-Qp), low P-wave velocity (Vp), and high ratio of P-wave velocity and S-wave velocity (Vp/Vs), which coincide with a shallower earthquake (<20 km) northwest of Lombok Island, might be associated with a brittle area of basal and imbricated faults influenced by high fluid content. At the same time, the high-Qp, low Vp, and low Vp/Vs, which coincide with a deeper earthquake (>20 km) northeast of Lombok Island, might be associated with an area that lacks fluid content. The difference in fluid content between the northwest and northeast regions might be the cause of the early generation of aftershocks in the northwest area. The significant earthquake that happened on August 5, 2018, took place in a region with moderate Qp, close to the contrast of high and low-Qp and high Vp, which suggests that the earthquake started in a strong material before triggering the shallower aftershocks occurring in an area affected by fluid content. We also identified an old intrusive body on the northeast flank of the Rinjani volcano, which was characterized by a high-Qp, high-velocity, and a high Bouguer anomaly.


Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-50
Author(s):  
Kamal Moravej ◽  
Alison Malcolm

Pore geometry is an important parameter in reservoir characterization that affects the permeability of reservoirs and can also be a controlling factor on the impact of pressure and saturation on reservoirs elastic properties. We use SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) 3D printing technology to build physical models to experimentally investigate the impacts of pore aspect ratio on P-, and S- wave velocities and amplitude variation with offset (AVO). We printed six models to study the effects of the pore aspect ratio of prolate and oblate pore structures on elastic properties and AVO signatures. We find that the P-wave velocity is reduced by decreasing the pore aspect ratio (flatter pore structure), whereas the shear wave velocity is less sensitive to the pore aspect ratio. This effect is reduced when the samples are water saturated. We present new experimental and processing techniques to extract realistic AVO signatures from our experimental data and show that the pore aspect ratio has similar effects on AVO as fluid compressibility. This shows that not considering the pore aspect ratio in AVO analysis can lead to misleading interpretations. We further show that these effects are reduced in water-saturated samples.


2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiu-Hui CHEN ◽  
Qi-Yuan LIU ◽  
Shun-Cheng LI ◽  
Biao GUO ◽  
Yuan-Gen LAI

1967 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 961-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. G. Barr

Long-range seismic observations at the standard Canadian seismic stations, from chemical explosions in Hudson Bay and Lake Superior, are used to derive a P-wave velocity structure for the upper mantle. The coordinates of observed cusps are used to define the structural discontinuities. These discontinuities are at depths of 126 and 366 km, which agree closely with the depths of the S-wave velocity discontinuities deduced from surface-wave observations. The observations do not require a low velocity layer in the upper mantle.


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