2-D crustal Poisson's ratio from seismic travel time inversion in Changbaishan Tianchi volcanic region

Based on the inversion method of 2D velocity structure and interface, the crustal velocity structures of P-wave and S-wave along the profile L1 are determined simultaneously with deep seismic sounding data in Changbaishan Tianchi volcanic region, and then its Poisson's ratio is obtained. Calculated results show that this technique overcomes some defects of traditional forward calculation method, and it is also very effective to determine Poisson's ratio distribution of deep seismic sounding profile, especially useful for study on volcanic magma and crustal fault zone. Study result indicates that there is an abnormally high Poisson's ratio body that is about 30 km wide and 12 km high in the low velocity region under Tianchi crater. Its value of Poisson's ratio is 8% higher than that of surrounding medium and it should be the magma chamber formed from melted rock with high temperature. There is a high Poisson's ratio zone ranging from magma chamber to the top of crust, which may be the uprise passage of hot substance. The lower part with high Poisson's ratio, which stretches downward to Moho, is possibly the extrusion way of hot substance from the uppermost mantle. The conclusions above are consistent with the study results of both tomographic determination of 3D crustal structure and magnetotelluric survey in this region.     

The gravity field and GGOS

The gravity field of the earth is a natural element of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS). Gravity field quantities are like spatial geodetic observations of potential very high accuracy, with measurements, currently at part-per-billion (ppb) accuracy, but gravity field quantities are also unique as they can be globally represented by harmonic functions (long-wavelength geopotential model primarily from satellite gravity field missions), or based on point sampling (airborne and in situ absolute and superconducting gravimetry). From a GGOS global perspective, one of the main challenges is to ensure the consistency of the global and regional geopotential and geoid models, and the temporal changes of the gravity field at large spatial scales. The International Gravity Field Service, an umbrella “level-2” IAG service (incorporating the International Gravity Bureau, International Geoid Service, International Center for Earth Tides, International Center for Global Earth models, and other future new services for, e.g., digital terrain models), would be a natural key element contributing to GGOS. Major parts of the work of the services would, however, remain complementary to the GGOS contributions, which focus on the long-wavelength components of the geopotential and its temporal variations, the consistent procedures for regional data processing in a unified vertical datum and Terrestrial Reference Frame, and the ensuring validations of long-wavelength gravity field data products.     

A detailed receiver function image of the sedimentary structure in the Bohai Bay Basin

If the site at which receiver functions are constructed is filled by sediments, then the waveforms from these receiver functions are dominantly controlled by the sedimentary structures within the first few seconds after the direct P arrival. Based on this observation, waveform data collected at 44 temporary seismic stations have been used to image the sedimentary structure of the Bohai Bay Basin, a major continental petroliferous basin in Eastern China. An adapted hybrid global waveform inversion method was applied to the receiver functions to extract structural information beneath each of the stations. The derived S-velocity structure provides for the first time, a basin-scale seismic image of detailed sedimentary stratification. The sedimentary cover of the basin is about 2-12 km thick, consisting of Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic strata from top to bottom. The structural features presented in the S-velocity image coincide quite well with the depression-uplift type of tectonic system in the Bohai Bay Basin. The reconstructed morphology of the sedimentary layers provides seismological evidence for the two-stage evolution of the intracontinental basin that were caused by an intensive tectonic regime transition in late Mesozoic immediately following the lithospheric reforming of the Eastern China continent.     

Magnetotelluric data inversion with seismic data constraint

Introduction The research on the structure and physical property of ancient hidden hill, igneous rocks and basement is relatively difficult by using seismic data only. If we combine seismic data, magneto-telluric (MT) data and geophysical data together, better results can be obtained for the above problem. A number of geophysicists at home and abroad, such as CHEN and WANG (1990), Siri-punvarapor and Egbert (2000) have tried many methods to solve the problem by the inversion of seismic da…     

Inversions for MT data in 2D symmetrical anisotropic media

Introduction Ready and Renkin (1971) were the first to make the research on anisotropy problems in magnetotellurics (MT). The progress in the research is not evident because it is more complex and difficult than isotropic problems. Now, the one-dimensional (1D) anisotropy problems in MT have been well solved, while for the two-dimensional (2D) cases, the numerical solutions have only been obtained for some particular conditions (Ready and Renkin, 1975). As to the three-dimensional (3D) ani…     

2-D crustal Poisson’s ratio from seismic travel time inversion in Changbaishan Tianchi volcanic region

Based on the inversion method of 2D velocity structure and interface, the crustal velocity structures of P-wave and S-wave along the profile L ₁ are determined simultaneously with deep seismic sounding data in Changbaishan Tianchi volcanic region, and then its Poisson’s ratio is obtained. Calculated results show that this technique overcomes some defects of traditional forward calculation method, and it is also very effective to determine Poisson’s ratio distribution of deep seismic sounding profile, especially useful for study on volcanic magma and crustal fault zone. Study result indicates that there is an abnormally high Poisson’s ratio body that is about 30 km wide and 12 km high in the low velocity region under Tianchi crater. Its value of Poisson’s ratio is 8% higher than that of surrounding medium and it should be the magma chamber formed from melted rock with high temperature. There is a high Poisson’s ratio zone ranging from magma chamber to the top of crust, which may be the uprise passage of hot substance. The lower part with high Poisson’s ratio, which stretches downward to Moho, is possibly the extrusion way of hot substance from the uppermost mantle. The conclusions above are consistent with the study results of both tomographic determination of 3D crustal structure and magnetotelluric survey in this region. Foundation item: Key Project from China Earthquake Administration and the Project (95-11-02-01) from Ministry of Science and Technology (2001DIA10003). Contribution No. RCEG200401, Geophysical Exploration Center, China Earthquake Administration.