scholarly journals Crustal structures beneath the Eastern and Southern Alps from ambient noise tomography

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Qorbani ◽  
Dimitri Zigone ◽  
Mark R. Handy ◽  
Götz Bokelmann ◽  

Abstract. We study the crustal structure under the Eastern and Southern Alps using ambient noise tomography. We use cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise between pairs of 71 permanent stations and 19 stations of the EASI profile to derive new high-resolution 3-D shear-velocity models for the crust. Continuous records from 2014 and 2015 are cross-correlated to estimate Green's functions of Rayleigh and Love waves propagating between the station pairs. Group velocities extracted from the cross-correlations are inverted to obtain isotropic 3-D Rayleigh and Love-wave shear-wave velocity models. Our high resolution models image several velocity anomalies and contrasts and reveal details of the crustal structure. Velocity variations at short periods correlate very closely with the lithologies of tectonic units at the surface and projected to depth. Low-velocity zones, associated with the Po and Molasse sedimentary basins, are imaged well to the south and north of the Alps, respectively. We find large high-velocity zones associated with the crystalline basement that forms the core of the Tauern Window. Small-scale velocity anomalies are also aligned with geological units such as the Ötztal and the Gurktal nappes of the Austroalpine nappes. Clear velocity contrasts in the Tauern Window along vertical cross-sections of the velocity model show the depth extent of the tectonic units and their bounding faults. A mid-crustal velocity contrast is interpreted as a manifestation of intracrustal decoupling in the Eastern Alps and decoupling between the Southern and Eastern Alps.

Solid Earth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1947-1968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Qorbani ◽  
Dimitri Zigone ◽  
Mark R. Handy ◽  
Götz Bokelmann ◽  

Abstract. We study the crustal structure under the Eastern and Southern Alps using ambient noise tomography. We use cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise between pairs of 71 permanent stations and 19 stations of the Eastern Alpine Seismic Investigation (EASI) profile to derive new 3D shear velocity models for the crust. Continuous records from 2014 and 2015 are cross-correlated to estimate Green's functions of Rayleigh and Love waves propagating between the station pairs. Group velocities extracted from the cross-correlations are inverted to obtain isotropic 3D Rayleigh- and Love-wave shear-wave velocity models. Our models image several velocity anomalies and contrasts and reveal details of the crustal structure. Velocity variations at short periods correlate very closely with the lithologies of tectonic units at the surface and projected to depth. Low-velocity zones, associated with the Po and Molasse sedimentary basins, are imaged well to the south and north of the Alps, respectively. We find large high-velocity zones associated with the crystalline basement that forms the core of the Tauern Window. Small-scale velocity anomalies are also aligned with geological units of the Austroalpine nappes. Clear velocity contrasts in the Tauern Window along vertical cross sections of the velocity model show the depth extent of the tectonic units and their bounding faults. A mid-crustal velocity contrast is interpreted as a manifestation of intracrustal decoupling in the Eastern Alps that accommodated eastward escape of the Alcapa block.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Qorbani ◽  
Irene Bianchi ◽  
Petr Kolínský ◽  
Dimitri Zigone ◽  
Götz Bokelmann

<p>In this study, we show results from ambient noise tomography at the KTB drilling site, Germany. The Continental Deep Drilling Project, or ‘Kontinentales Tiefbohrprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’ (KTB) is at the northwestern edge of the Bohemian Massif and is located on the Variscan belt of Europe. During the KTB project crustal rocks have been drilled down to 9 km depth and several active seismic studies have been performed in the surrounding. The KTB area therefore presents an ideal test area for testing and verifying the potential resolution of passive seismic techniques. The aim of this study is to present a new shear-wave velocity model of the area while comparing the results to the previous velocity models and hints for anisotropy depicted by former passive and active seismological studies. We use a unique data set composed of two years of continuous data recorded at nine 3-component temporary stations installed from July 2012 to July 2014 located on top and vicinity of the drilling site. Moreover, we included a number of permanent stations in the region in order to improve the path coverage and density. Cross correlations of ambient noise are computed between the station pairs using all possible combination of three-component data. Dispersion curves of surface waves are extracted and are then inverted to obtain group velocity maps. We present here a new velocity model of the upper crust of the area, which shows velocity variations at short scales that correlate well with geology in the region.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Granados Chavarria ◽  
Marco Calò ◽  
Ángel Figueroa Soto ◽  
Philippe Jousset

<p>In the framework of the international collaboration between Mexico and Europe for the development of geothermal energy (GEMex consortium), a seismic network of 45 seismic stations (25 broad-band and 20 short-period) was installed around the super-hot geothermal system of Los Humeros (Mexico) for more than one year. Los Humeros power plant is nested inside a quaternary caldera located in the eastern part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt that crosses the whole country from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico.</p><p>Among the several targets of the data collected by this network, an important task is to produce a seismic image of the caldera and of the geothermal reservoir. Here we present the 3D anisotropic shear wave velocity models retrieved by the seismic ambient noise tomography.</p><p>Thanks to the severe pre-processing of the whole seismic database we were able to obtain reliable and highly resolved models.</p><p>To carry out the model we applied a rigorous data quality assessment consisting in: 1) correction of the orientation of the sensors using the polarization of surface waves associated with tele-seismic and regional earthquakes, 2) assessment of the synchronization of the stations and correction of the times using daily cross-correlations functions, 3) finally to asses the quality of the stacked cross-correlations, knowed as Green’s functions (GF), we analyzed the noise sources directivity, inter-station distance and level of emergence of surface waves depending on the type of sensor used.</p><p>The processing allowed to pick clearly about 600 dispersion curves per velocity type (group and phase of R and L waves), using the NDCP code (Noisy Dispersion Curve Picking), that allows to display and select dispersion patterns both in time and frequency domain, for both causal and anti-causal part of the GF.</p><p>2D tomography maps were calculated from 0.5 to 9 s for each type of velocity. Depth inversion for the whole velocities types was carried out using surf96, allowing reconstructing the 3D anisotropic structure of the caldera for the first time.</p><p>The resulting models provides a larger view of the caldera and its anisotropic patterns down to 10 km depth. In these models, we were able to define the depth of the caldera rim, some important features of the internal part of the caldera and a low velocity body that could be associated with the hot sources feeding the reservoir. Our model are in strong agreement with those retrieved applying other geophysical methodologies (e.g. magnetotelluric, passive travel-time tomography, gravimetric, etc.).</p><p>This work is performed in the framework of the Mexican European consortium GeMex (Cooperation in Geothermal energy research Europe-Mexico, PT5.2 N: 267084 funded by CONACyT-SENER : S0019, 2015-04, and Horizon 2020, grant agreement No. 727550).</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 298 ◽  
pp. 136-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Matos ◽  
Graça Silveira ◽  
Luís Matias ◽  
Rita Caldeira ◽  
M. Luísa Ribeiro ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Francesco Civilini

<p>We present three projects that use different bandwidths of the ambient noise spectrum to solve geophysical problems. Specifically, we use signals within the noise field to determine surface and shear wave velocities, image the shallow and deep crust, and monitor time-dependent deformation resulting from geothermal fluid injection and extraction.  Harrat Al-Madinah, a Cenozoic bimodal alkaline volcanic field in west-central Saudi Arabia, is imaged using shear-velocities obtained from natural ambient seismic noise. To our knowledge, this project is the first analysis of Saudi Arabia structure using ambient noise methods. Surface wave arrivals are extracted from a year's worth of station-pair cross-correlations, which are approximations of the empirical Green's function of the interstation path. We determine group and phase velocity surface wave dispersion maps with a 0.1 decimal degree resolution and resolve a zone of slow surface wave velocity south-east of the city of Medina, which is spatially correlated with the most recent historical eruption (the 1256 CE Medina eruption). Dispersion curves are calculated at each grid-point of the surface-wave velocity maps and inverted to obtain measurements of shear-velocity with depth. The 1D velocity models are then used to produce average shear-velocity models for the volcanic field. A shear-velocity increase ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 km/s, suggesting a layer interface, is detected at approximately 20 km depth and compared to P-wave measurement from a previous refraction study. We compute cross-section profiles by interpolating the inversions into a pseudo-3D model and resolve a zone of slow shear-velocity below the 1256 CE eruption location. These areas are also spatially correlated with low values of Bouguer gravity. We hypothesize that the low shear-velocity and gravity measurements are caused by fluids and fractures created from prior volcanic eruptions.   We use the coda of cross-correlations extracted from ambient noise to determine shear-velocity changes at Rotokawa and Ngatamariki, two electricity producing geothermal fields located in the North Island of New Zealand. Stacks of cross correlations between stations prior to the onset of production are compared to cross correlations of moving stacks in time periods of well stimulation and the onset of electricity production using the Moving Window Cross Spectral technique. An increase between 0.05% to 0.1% of shear-velocity is detected at Rotokawa coinciding with an increase of injection. The shear-velocity subsequently decreases by approximately 0.1% when the rate of production surpasses the rate of injection. A similar amplitude shear-velocity increase is detected at Ngatamariki during the beginning of injection. After the initial increase, the shear-velocity at Ngatamariki fluctuates in response to differences in injection and production rates. A straight-ray pseudo-tomography analysis is conducted at the geothermal fields, which reveals that localized positive velocity changes are co-located with injection wells.  Lastly, we use ambient noise and active sources at the Ngatamariki geothermal field to determine the structure of the top 200 meters using the Refraction Microtremor technique. We deployed a linear 72-channel array of vertical geophones with ten meter spacing at two locations of the geothermal field and determine average 1D and 2D shear-velocity profiles. We were able to image depths between 57 to 93 meters for 2D profiles and up to 165 meters for 1D profiles. A shear-velocity anomaly was detected across one of the lines that coincided with the inferred location of a fault determined from nearby well logs. This suggests that the method can be used to cheaply and quickly constrain near-surface geology at geothermal fields, where ambient noise is abundant and typical reflection and refraction surveys require large inputs of energy and are hindered by attenuation and scattering in near-surface layers.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 220 (3) ◽  
pp. 1555-1568 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Movaghari ◽  
G Javan Doloei

SUMMARY More accurate crustal structure models will help us to better understand the tectonic convergence between Arabian and Eurasian plates in the Iran plateau. In this study, the crustal and uppermost mantle velocity structure of the Iran plateau is investigated using ambient noise tomography. Three years of continuous data are correlated to retrieve Rayleigh wave empirical Green's functions, and phase velocity dispersion curves are extracted using the spectral method. High-resolution Rayleigh wave phase velocity maps are presented at periods of 8–60 s. The tomographic maps show a clear consistency with geological structures such as sedimentary basins and seismotectonic zones, especially at short periods. A quasi-3-D shear wave velocity model is determined from the surface down to 100 km beneath the Iran plateau. A transect of the shear wave velocity model has been considered along with a profile extending across the southern Zagros, the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone (SSZ), the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc (UDMA) and Central Iran and Kopeh-Dagh (KD). Obvious crustal thinning and thickening are observable along the transect of the shear wave velocity model beneath Central Iran and the SSZ, respectively. The observed shear wave velocities beneath the Iran plateau, specifically Central Iran, support the slab break-off idea in which low density asthenospheric materials drive towards the upper layers, replacing materials in the subcrustal lithosphere.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustya Adi Martha ◽  
Phil Cummins ◽  
Erdinc Saygin ◽  
Sri Widiyantoro ◽  
Masturyono

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