Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geophysics and Seismology
On the use of rock physics models for studying the critical zone
Published: 2020-11-12
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
How effective are rock physics models for relating seismic velocities to the physical properties of sediments, fluids, and cement within the critical zone, and what factors most substantially influence the models’ accuracies? We answer these questions by testing and analyzing the accuracies of seven rock physics models (Hertz-Mindlin, Walton, Jenkins, Digby, stiff sand, soft sand, and contact [...]
The effects of 180 years of aging on the physical and seismic properties of partially saturated sands
Published: 2020-11-12
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Constraining how the physical properties and seismic responses of recently deposited sands change with time is important for understanding earthquake site response, subsurface fluid flow, and early stages lithification. Currently, however, there is no detailed (cm-scale) assessment of how sand physical properties and associated seismic velocities evolve over the first two centuries after [...]
Utilizing Distributed Acoustic Sensing and Ocean Bottom Fiber Optic Cables for Submarine Structural Characterization
Published: 2020-11-09
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Oceanography
The sparsity of permanent seismic instrumentation in marine environments often limits the availability of subsea information on geohazards, including active fault systems, in both time and space. One sensing resource that may provide observational access to the seafloor environment are existing networks of ocean bottom fiber optic cables; these cables, coupled to modern distributed acoustic [...]
An attempt at improving atmospheric corrections in InSAR using cycle-consistent adversarial networks
Published: 2020-11-09
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
Interferometry from satellite radar has thrived as a major asset to study surface deformations from earthquakes, volcanoes, aquifers, glaciers, landslides, etc. Most signals recorded in an interferogram have precise enough models to remove them almost completely. Yet, current models still fail to capture the full range and scales of variations of atmospheric perturbations. This work explores the [...]
Surface slip distributions and geometric complexity of intraplate reverse-faulting earthquakes
Published: 2020-11-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Earthquake ground surface ruptures provide insights into faulting mechanics and inform seismic hazard analyses. Surface ruptures for eleven historical (1968 to 2018) moment magnitude (Mw) 4.7 to 6.6 reverse earthquakes in Australia are analyzed using statistical techniques and compared to magnetic, gravity, and stress trajectory datasets. Of the total combined (summative) length of all surface [...]
Thickness of the Saudi Arabian Crust
Published: 2020-11-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
We analyzed P-wave receiver functions from seismic stations covering most of Saudi Arabia to map the thickness of the crust across the Arabian plate. We present an update of crustal-thickness estimates and fill in data gaps for the western shield and the rifted margin at the Red Sea, as well as the eastern Arabian platform. Our application of a conventional H-k stacking algorithm included [...]
Influence of ductile substrates and layer thickness on the spacing and topology of layer bound fault systems
Published: 2020-11-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Sedimentology, Tectonics and Structure
Polygonal fault systems are extraordinary features of many fine grained sedimentary succession and have been described from a significant number of deepwater sedimentary basins over the last two decades. Their formation represents an important mechanism by which fine grained sediments compact often resulting in a variety of complex patterns for which several controlling factors have been [...]
Rayleigh wave H/V ratio measurement from ambient noise cross-correlations, and its sensitivity to Vp: a numerical study
Published: 2020-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
The promise of passive seismology has increasingly been realized in recent years. Given the expense in installing and maintaining seismic station networks, it is important to extract as much information from the measurements as possible. In this context, the ellipticity or H/V amplitude ratio of Rayleigh waves can prove to be a valuable observable in ambient noise seismology due to its [...]
High-frequency global wavefields for local 3D structures by wavefield injection and extrapolation
Published: 2020-10-28
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Earth structure is multiscale, and seismology remains the primary means of deciphering signatures from small structures over large distances. To enable this at the highest resolution, we present a flexible injection and extrapolation type hybrid framework that couples wavefields from a precomputed global database of accurate Green’s functions with a local three dimensional (3-D) method of [...]
Mapping and classifying large deformation from digital imagery: application to analogue models of lithosphere deformation
Published: 2020-10-24
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), an image cross-correlation technique, is widely used for obtaining velocity fields from series of images of deforming objects. Rather than instantaneous velocities, we are interested in reconstructing cumulative deformation, and use PIV-derived incremental displacements for this purpose. Our focus is on analogue models of tectonic processes, which can accumulate [...]
Characterizing seismic scattering in 3D heterogeneous Earth by a single parameter
Published: 2020-10-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We derive a theoretical parameter for three seismic scattering regimes where seismic wavelengths are either much shorter, similar, or much longer than the correlation length of small-scale Earth heterogeneities. We focus our analysis on the power spectral density of the von Karman autocorrelation function, used to characterize the spatial heterogeneity of small-scale variations of elastic rock [...]
DeepPhasePick: A method for Detecting and Picking Seismic Phases from Local Earthquakes based on highly optimized Convolutional and Recurrent Deep Neural Networks
Published: 2020-10-22
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Seismic phase detection, identification and first-onset picking are basic but essential routines to analyse earthquake data. As both the number of seismic stations, globally and regionally, and the number of experiments greatly increase due to ever greater availability of instrumentation, automated data processing becomes more and more essential. E.g., for modern seismic experiments involving [...]
Linking elastic and electrical properties of rocks using cross-property DEM
Published: 2020-10-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering Science and Materials, Geophysics and Seismology, Materials Science and Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Joint electrical-elastic rock physics modelling can be instrumental in lowering uncertainty in subsurface reservoir characterisation. Typical electrical-elastic cross-property models, however, are empirical or require an intermediate step of porosity estimation to link a rock's electrical and elastic moduli, which can be error-prone away from well controls. Another outstanding issue in [...]
Seismic energy radiation and along-strike heterogeneities of shallow tectonic tremors at the Nankai Trough and Japan Trench
Published: 2020-10-21
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Shallow slow earthquakes have been documented along shallow plate interfaces near trenches. Recent geophysical observation networks located offshore of Japan enable us to analyze shallow tremors in the Nankai Trough and the Japan Trench. Onshore seismic stations are also important for detecting shallow very low frequency earthquakes (VLFEs) and for evaluating their seismicity prior to the [...]
High-Pressure Deformation of Iron–Nickel–Silicon Alloys and Implications for Earth’s Inner Core
Published: 2020-10-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Earth’s inner core exhibits strong seismic anisotropy, often attributed to the alignment of hexagonal close-packed iron (hcp-Fe) alloy crystallites with the Earth’s poles. How this alignment developed depends on material properties of the alloy and is important to our understanding of the core’s crystallization history and active geodynamical forcing. Previous studies suggested that hcp-Fe is [...]