Evolving uses of passive seismic arrays from continental to local scales

Abstract:

Portable passive seismic surveys are generally used to sample scales and locations that are not practical with long-term observatories, but are fundamental to studying Earth systems. The breadth of uses and designs of portable passive surveys is expanding rapidly as result of advances in instrumentation and analysis. Examples from recent passive surveys will be used illustrate how they are bringing new constraint to systems spanning continental to local scales. At continental scale EarthScope’s USArray is providing a view of the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle that facilitates integration of seismology, geodynamics, and mineral physics. Recently recognized correlations between mantle flow and abrupt velocity decreases in the top of the lower mantle are consistent with laboratory constraints on the consequences of volatile cycling in the deep Earth. Arrays with similar numbers of seismometers (~10³) are also being used in a passive mode on much smaller scales. The Long Beach 3D survey conducted by NodalSeismic in 2011 covered only 7x10 km in southern California with about 5,000 seismometers. The instruments were optimized for recording high frequencies (>10 Hz), but they also successfully recorded local and teleseismic earthquakes. Delay time and amplitude maps for earthquake body-waves revealed coherent structural variations at scales as small as about 400 m. Such dense sampling of teleseismic earthquake wave fields yielded new constraint on localized deep crustal deformation underlying the tectonic boundary between mainland California and the rifted Inner Continental Borderland. The utility of passive data from the Long Beach 3D survey partly motivated a recent deployment of more than 900 exploration industry seismometers to record continuously for 2 weeks at Mt. St. Helens volcano in Washington in 2014. New observations of the >50 local earthquakes recorded within the Mt. St. Helens array will also be presented.