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Imaging the Oceanic Crust in Remote Areas Using Existing Datasets

Description: 

Imaging of the crust in offshore environments presents challenges that limit our ability to evaluate large-scale crustal deformation. Seismic reflection imaging has proven to be an effective tool for imaging the crust, but it is expensive and relatively slow to acquire, limiting its use in remote areas, where care must be taken to target surveys effectively and efficiently. These limitations may make it cost prohibitive or difficult to acquire regional images of the crust.

In this study we use a combination of satellite-derived gravity data and global density models to estimate the elevation of the top of the Pacific Plate on a continental scale along the Queen Charlotte Fault, which sits west of British Columbia and southeast Alaska. Within this area there are extensive seismic reflection data which image the crust and are used to validate our estimated surface. Furthermore, we use the magnetic anomaly dataset to identify faulting within the crust, allowing us to build a regional model of the crustal surface. This method represents a valuable tool for crustal imaging that can be used in remote and data-poor regions that are seismically active using existing datasets, allowing us to build first-order models of the oceanic crust, which can be used to effectively target higher-resolution imaging in locations where access acquisition costs are prohibitive.

Session: Crustal Imaging of High Seismic Hazard Regions [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/20/2023

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Robert Perrin

Student Presenter: Yes

Invited Presentation: 

Authors