Time-domain Pure-state Polarization Analysis of Surface Waves Traversing California

-- A time-domain pure-state polarization analysis method is used to characterize surface waves traversing California parallel to the plate boundary. The method is applied to data recorded at four broadband stations in California from twenty-six large, shallow earthquakes which occurred since 1988, yielding polarization parameters such as the ellipticity, Euler angles, instantaneous periods, and wave incident azimuths. The earthquakes are located along the circum-Pacific margin and the ray paths cluster into two groups, with great-circle paths connecting stations MHC and PAS or CMB and GSC. The first path (MHC-PAS) is in the vicinity of the San Andreas Fault System (SAFS), and the second (CMB-GSC) traverses the Sierra Nevada Batholith parallel to and east of the SAFS. Both Rayleigh and Love wave data show refractions due to lateral velocity heterogeneities under the path, indicating that accurate phase velocity and attenuation analysis requires array measurements. T he Rayleigh waves are strongly affected by low velocity anomalies beneath Central California, with ray paths bending eastward as waves travel toward the south, while Love waves are less affected, providing observables to constrain the depth extent of anomalies. Strong lateral gradients in the lithospheric structure between the continent and the ocean are the likely cause of the path deflections.     

Crustal thickness,VP/VS ratio,and shear wave velocity structures beneath Myanmar and their tectonic implications

The crustal structure in Myanmar can provide valuable information for the eastern margin of the ongoing Indo-Eurasian collision system. We successively performed H–k stacking of the receiver function and joint inversion of the receiver function and surface wave dispersion to invert the crustal thickness (H), shear wave velocity (V_S), and the V_P/V_S ratio (k) beneath nine permanent seismic stations in Myanmar. H was found to increase from 26 ?km in the south and east of the study area to 51 ?km in the north and west, and the V_P/V_S ratio was complex and high. Striking differences in the crust were observed for different tectonic areas. In the Indo-Burma Range, the thick crust (H ?～ ?51 ?km) and lower velocities may be related to the accretionary wedge from the Indian Plate. In the Central Myanmar Basin, the thin crust (H ?= ?26.9–35.5 ?km) and complex V_P/V_S ratio and V_S suggest extensional tectonics. In the Eastern Shan Plateau, the relatively thick crust and normal V_P/V_S ratio are consistent with its location along the western edge of the rigid Sunda Block.     

A submillimetre survey for protostellar accretion discs using the JCMT–CSO interferometer

We present a submillimetre continuum survey for accretion discs around seven embedded protostars in the Perseus and Serpens molecular clouds. Observations were made at frequencies between 339 and 357 GHz using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope–Caltech Submillimeter Observatory single-baseline interferometer on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. All the objects in our survey show compact dust emission on scales ≲1 arcsec, assumed to arise in a circumstellar accretion disc. We compare the properties of this compact component with evolutionary indicators, such as the ratio of compact to extended emission, and bolometric temperature. We find that discs of mass ∼0.01 M_⊙ have formed by the Class 0 stage, and that similar mass discs are observed in Class I and Class II sources. A trend is observed whereby the ratio of compact to extended emission in our sources increases from Class 0 to Class II sources. For three of the objects in the survey, NGC 1333 IRAS2:CR1 and SVS13 in Perseus, and FIRS1 in Serpens, the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficient to allow us to model the brightness distributions with elliptical Gaussian and power-law disc models. The Gaussian fits give semimajor half-power radii of approximately 90 to 140 au, at the assumed distance of 350 pc to the Perseus and Serpens clouds.     

Comparison of Depth Dependent Fault Zone Properties in the Japan Trench and Middle America Trench

—Spatial variations in mechanical properties of the interplate thrust faults along the Japan and Middle America subduction zones are examined using teleseismic broadband earthquake recordings. Moment-normalized source duration is used to probe rigidity variations along the interface. We invert body waves to estimate source depth and source duration for 40 events in the Japan subduction zone and 38 events in the Middle America subduction zone. For both areas, there is a systematic decrease in source duration with increasing depth along the subduction zone interface. This is most likely a result of variation in properties of sediments on the plate contact. Variations in source duration are greatly reduced at depths greater than 18 km in both regions. Enhanced spatial heterogeneity at shallow depth may reflect variations in plate roughness, sediment distribution, permeability of the fault zone, and stress.     

Mapping urban fingerprints of odonyms automatically extracted from French novels

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we propose and discuss a methodology to map the spatial fingerprints of novels and authors based on all of the named urban roads (i.e., odonyms) extracted from novels. We present several ways to explore Parisian space and fictional landscapes by interactively and simultaneously browsing geographical space and literary text. Our project involves building a platform capable of retrieving, mapping and analyzing the occurrences of named urban roads in novels in which the action occurs wholly or partly in Paris. This platform will be used in several areas, such as cultural tourism, urban research, and literary analysis. The paper focuses on extracting named urban roads and mapping the results for a sample of 31 novels published between 1800 and 1914. Two approaches to the annotation of odonyms are compared. First, we describe a proof of concept using queries made via the TXM textual analysis platform. Then, we describe an automatic process using a natural language processing (NLP) method. Additionally, we mention how the geosemantic information annotated from the text (e.g., a structure combining verbs, spatial relations, named entities, adjectives and adverbs) can be used to automatically characterize the semantic content associated with named urban roads.     

A lower mantle S-wave triplication and the shear velocity structure of D"

Summary. A lower mantle S-wave triplication detected with short- and long-period WWSSN and CSN recordings indicates a substantial shear velocity discontinuity near 280 km above the core–mantle boundary. The triplication can be observed in rotated SH seismograms from intermediate and deep focus events throughout the distance range from 70° to 95°. Three distinct source region–receiver array combinations that have been investigated in detail demonstrate consistent travel time and relative amplitude behaviour of the triplication, with slight systematic shifts in the triplication indicating up to 40 km variations in the depth of the discontinuity. Modelling of the observations with synthetic seismograms produced with the Cagniard de Hoop and reflectivity methods constrains the shear velocity increase to be 235 ± 0.25 per cent, comparable to upper mantle discontinuities. Short-period observations indicate that the velocity increase may be a sharp first-order discontinuity, or may extend over a transition zone no more than 50 km thick. The shear velocity gradient below the discontinuity, within the D" layer, is not well-constrained by the SH data, but slightly positive or near zero velocity gradients are consistent with the long-period amplitude ratios of ScSH/SH .