The Investigation of the Alaskan Interior Using Ambient Seismic Noise

Date: 4/26/2019

Time: 06:00 PM

Room: Grand Ballroom

In 2018, a surge in large magnitude earthquakes within the Alaskan interior has prompted an in-depth investigation of the region’s crustal structure, revealing a scale of complexity and heterogeneity not previously recognized. The techniques of ambient seismic noise were used on a combination of seis- mic stations from the EarthScope FlexArray experiment and various arrays within British Colombia to extract group and phase velocities for both the vertical and transverse components of the resultant cross-correlated wave forms. The inversion of the dispersion curves provide clear distinctions be- tween the basin and mountain ranges, highlighting the complex geological history of the region. In addition, the regional seismic velocities vary longi- tudinally from the northern extent of the Rocky Mountains to the coast of the Arctic Sea, which is exhibited by the greater North American continent albeit on a much larger scale. The radical differences of the seismic profile along with the recent increase in earthquake activity and high resolution of this study provides a valuable insight into a region with a relatively high seismic hazard, that until now has not been fully investigated .

Presenting Author: Joshua Boschelli

Authors