Interpretation of three-dimensional seismic refraction data from western Hecate Strait, British Columbia: structure of the crust

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1440-1452 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hole ◽  
R. M. Clowes ◽  
R. M. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Velocity Structure ◽  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Surface Expression ◽  
Wide Angle ◽  
Lateral Velocity ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Velocity Anomaly ◽  
Air Gun ◽  
Refraction Data

As part of a multidisciplinary investigation of the structure and tectonics of the Queen Charlotte Basin and underlying crust, deep multichannel seismic reflection and coincident crustal refraction data were collected in 1988. Energy from the reflection air-gun array source was recorded at land sites at offsets appropriate to record crustal refraction and wide-angle reflection data. Refraction data recorded in a broadside geometry provide good three-dimensional coverage of western Hecate Strait. These data are modelled using tomographic inversion techniques to determine the three-dimensional velocity structure of the crust in this region. The one-dimensional average velocity increases rapidly with depth to 6.5 km/s at 7 km depth. Velocities from 7 to at least 12 km depth remain approximately constant and are associated with rocks of the Wrangellia terrane. Significant lateral velocity variations, including large differences in near-surface velocities attributable to surface features, relatively low velocities representing interbedded Tertiary sediments and volcanics, and a deep high-velocity anomaly that may represent the root of an igneous intrusion, are mapped. Wide-angle reflections from the Moho are used to determine the thickness of the crust. The Moho is at 29 km depth beneath the east coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. This is deeper than the Moho observed below Queen Charlotte Sound and as deep as, or deeper than, that below Hecate Strait. Crustal thinning during Tertiary extension was thus greatest beneath the surface expression of the Queen Charlotte Basin, leaving the crust under the islands considerably thicker than under the basin. In an alternate or additional explanation, compression at the continental margin during the last 4 Ma may have been taken up by thickening or underplating of the continental crust beneath the islands. If the Pacific plate is subducting beneath the islands, the Moho observations constrain the slab to dip greater than 20–26°.

Crustal velocity structure in the southern Coast Belt, British Columbia

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 2389-2403 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. O'Leary ◽  
R. M. Clowes ◽  
R. M. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Velocity Structure ◽  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Crust And Upper Mantle ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Collision Zone ◽  
Refraction Data

We applied an iterative combination of two-dimensional traveltime inversion and amplitude forward modelling to seismic refraction data along a 350 km along-strike profile in the Coast Belt of the southern Canadian Cordillera to determine crust and upper mantle P-wave velocity structure. The crustal model features a thin (0.5–3.0 km) near-surface layer with an average velocity of 4.4 km/s, and upper-, middle-, and lower-crustal strata which are each approximately 10 km thick and have velocities ranging from 6.2 to 6.7 km/s. The Moho appears as a 2 km thick transitional layer with an average depth of 35 km and overlies an upper mantle with a poorly constrained velocity of over 8 km/s. Other interpretations indicate that this profile lies within a collision zone between the Insular superterrane and the ancient North American margin and propose two collision-zone models: (i) crustal delamination, whereby the Insular superterrane was displaced along east-vergent faults over the terranes below; and (ii) crustal wedging, in which interfingering of Insular rocks occurs throughout the crust. The latter model involves thick layers of Insular material beneath the Coast Belt profile, but crustal velocities indicate predominantly non-Insular material, thereby favoring the crustal delamination model. Comparisons of the velocity model with data from the proximate reflection lines show that the top of the Moho transition zone corresponds with the reflection Moho. Comparisons with other studies suggest that likely sources for intracrustal wide-angle reflections observed in the refraction data are structural features, lithological contrasts, and transition zones surrounding a region of layered porosity in the crust.

scholarly journals Critical Zone Structure Under a Granite Ridge Inferred From Drilling and Three-Dimensional Seismic Refraction Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (6) ◽  
pp. 1317-1343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brady A. Flinchum ◽  
W. Steven Holbrook ◽  
Daniella Rempe ◽  
Seulgi Moon ◽  
Clifford S. Riebe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Critical Zone ◽  
Zone Structure ◽  
Seismic Refraction Data ◽  
Refraction Data

scholarly journals A long-offset seismic reflection and refraction study of the Gippsland and Bass Basins from onshore recording of a marine air-gun source

1989 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
C.D.N. Collins ◽  
J.P. Cull ◽  
J.B. Willcox ◽  
J.B. Colwell
Keyword(s):  
Deep Structure ◽  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
Reflection And Refraction ◽  
Air Gun ◽  
Long Offset ◽  
Deep Crustal Structure ◽  
Basin Formation ◽  
Seismic Refraction Data ◽  
Marine Air ◽  
Refraction Data

Seismic refraction data were obtained for the Bass and Gippsland Basins during the 1988 cruise of the BMR research vessell "Rig Seismic". Seismic recorders were deployed on land by BMR and Monash University to record long-offset wide-angle reflection and refraction data using the ship's air-guns as the energy source. Preliminary results have now been obtained from these data providing information on deep crustal structure related to the basin formation. Two crustal layers have been detected with velocities of 4.5 km/s increasing to 7.4 km/s (unreversed) at depths exceeding 20 km. Additional data have now been obtained over a traverse length of 170 km to provide constraints on the deep structure of Bass Strait and the Lachlan Fold Belt in Victoria and Tasmania.

Geostatistical simulation for geophysical applications—Part II: Geophysical modeling

Geophysics ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (11) ◽  
pp. 1441-1446 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Shive ◽  
T. Lowry ◽  
D. H. Easley ◽  
L. E. Borgman
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
Seismic Refraction ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
Geostatistical Simulation ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Geophysical Modeling ◽  
Karst Environment ◽  
Geophysical Surveys

A companion paper (this issue) describes a method for producing three‐dimensional simulations of physical properties for different geologic situations. Here we create a simulation for a particular case, which is a near‐surface (<80 ft deep) description of a karst environment. We simulate seismic velocity, density, resistivity, and the dielectric constant for this situation. We then conduct (in the computer) hypothetical geophysical surveys at the surface of the model. These surveys are seismic refraction, microgravity, dc resistivity, and ground‐probing radar. Physical properties appropriate for cavities are then entered in the model. Repeating the geophysical surveys over the model with cavities provides a convenient method of evaluating their potential for cavity detection. Anomalies produced by normal variations in physical properties may simulate or obscure anomalies from target features. More data about the correlation of physical properties, particularly in the horizontal directions, will be required to evaluate this problem properly.

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