Structure of the Crust - Geology 555
Steve Sheriff
Grading: Based on exams, problem sets, lab work, term paper, participation

This page simply provides some links, problems sets, associated data - it will evolve as the course proceeds.

1/29/2003: Syllabus and general organization: Brief overview of refraction, reflection and associated geometry and terminology - to be continued.

Assignment:

• Pick and read a paper that uses or concerns crustal-scale reflection seismology relevant to an area or problem you find interesting. Give the rest of us the reference by tuesday the 5th and give us a short synopsis of the paper (problem, experiment, results, in 4-8 minutes) on tuesday the 12th - we'll use these presentations, and parts/techniques you didn't understand, to develop a discussion.

2/5/2003: Further development of the reflection method and synthetic seismograms.

2/12/2003:

• Hawman et al., 2000, Shallow Seismic Reflection Profiling Over the Brevard Zone, South Carolina, Geophysics, v. 65, #5, as center of discussion on reflection method. Discussion on reflection method: common midpoint, geophone groups, reflection coefficient, Fourier analysis, and frequency filtering.

2/19/03:

• Clowes, et al., 1987, LITHOPROBE - Southern Vancouver Island: Cenozoic subduction complex imaged by deep seismic reflections, C.J.E.S. v 24, p. 31 - 51. Discussion on reflection methods, migration, expectations given reflection coefficient.
  

2/26/32: Review free air anomalies, Bouguer anomalies, Airy & Pratt isostacy - implications for crustal roots and flexural rigidity.

• Cook, F.A., 1995, The reflection Moho beneath the southern Canadian Cordillera, C.J.E.S. v 32, p. 1520-1530.
• Gerdom, M., A. Trehu, E. Flueh, D. Klaeschen, 2000, The continental margin off Oregon from seismic investigations, Tectonophysics, v 329, p. 79 -96.
• A moveout problem for next week.
• Divide and conquer (one each): find a paper on reflection seismology and continental magma chambers, and another on the Wind River Fault - both were classic results of the COCORP project starting in ~1975. Look for the classic technique/result paper.

3/5/03: A little history, stacking and correlograms

• Smithson, Brewer, Kaufman, Oliver, and Hurich, 1979, Structure of the Laramide Wind River Uplift, Wyoming, form COCORP reflection data and from gravity data, J. Geophys. Res., v. 84, #B11, p. 5955-5972.
• Brown, Chapin, Sanford, Kaufman, and Oliver, Deep structure of the Rio Grande Rift from seismic reflection profiling, J. Geophys. Res., v. 85, #B9, p. 4773-
• Take this spreadsheet, stack the twelve records, produce a correlogram from the given input wavelet - investigate.

3/12/03: Seismic reflection investigation of batholiths, MathCad example of convolution/correlation

• Lynn, H. B., L. D. Hale, G. A. Thompson, 1981, Seismic Reflections form the Basal Contacts of Batholiths, JGR, V. 86, B11, p. 10633-10638.
• Vejmelek, L., and S. B. Smithson, 1995, Seismic Reflection Profiling in the Boulder Batholith, Montana, Geology, v. 23, #9, p. 811-814.
• Brown, D., and A. Tryggvason, 2001, Ascent Mechanism of the Dzhabyk Batholith, Southern Urals: Constraints from the URSEIS Reflection Seismic Profiling. J. Geol. Soc. London, v. 158, p. 881-884.

3/26/03: Seismic reflection character of the continental Moho

• Hale, L. D., and G. A. Thompson, 1982, The Seismic Reflection Character of the Continental Mohorovicic Discontinuity, JGR, V. 87, p. 4625-4635.
• Cook, F. A., 2002, Fine Structure of the Continental Moho, GSA Bulletin, v. 114, #1, p. 64-79.

4/2/03: More seismic reflection character of the continental Moho - experiment with a spreadsheet-based synthetic seismogram to see what happens when you move reflectors close together.

• Christensen, N.I., 1989, Reflectivity and Seismic Properties of the Deep Continental Crust, JGR, v. 94, #B12, p. 17,793-17,804.
• Christensen, N.I., and W. D. Mooney, 1995, Seismic Velocity Structure and Composition of the Continental Crust: a Global View, JGR, v. 100B, p. 9761-9788.

4/9/03: Receiver Functions (references from the web) (and deconvolution):

Gurrola, Minster, and Owens, 1994, The Use of Velocity Spectrum for Stacking Receiver Functions and Imaging Upper Mantle Discontinuities, Geophysical journal, 117, p. 427-440.
Kao, Gao, Rau, Shi, Chen, Guan, and Wu, 2001, Seismic Image of the Tarim Basin and its Collision with Tibet, Geology, v. 29, #7, p. 575-578.

4/16/03: GEODAYS complications - GPR in the field

4/23/03: Deconvolution of reverberation, Original receiver function papers and discuss your creative reflection/refraction problem for Geology 437:

• Langston, C. A., 1976, A Body Wave Inversion of the Koyna, India,, Earthquake of December 10, 1967, and Some Implications for Body Wave Focal Mechanisms. JGR v. 81, #14, p. 2517-2529.

4/30/03: Flexural rigidity, crustal properties from gravity and topography. A. B. Watts has great web pages and recently wrote a very good book on isostasy and flexure:

• Stewart, J., and A. B. Watts, 1997, Gravity Anomalies and Spatial Variations of Flexural Rigidity at Mountain Ranges, JGR, v. 102, #B3, p. 5327 - 5352.

5/7/02:

• Blakely, R. J. and G. G. Connard, 1989, Crustal Studies Using Magnetic Data, Geological Society of America Memoir 172, p. 45-59.
• Jachens, Simpson, Blakely, and Saltus, 1989, Isostatic Residual Gravity and Crustal Geology of the United States, Geological Society of America Memoir 172, p. 405-423.

5/14/02:

• Lowry, Ribe, and Smith, 2000, Dynamic Elevation of the Cordillera, Western United States, JGR, V. 105, #B10, p. 23,371-23,390.
  

PDF INFO: So far the most convenient and expedient way to distribute the information seems to be to provide the material in Adobe's .PDF format. Thus these exercises and notes are provided as .PDF files and you need Adobe's free Acrobat Reader installed in your browser to view them. If your browser is not currently set up to read and print such files, download Acrobat Reader from Adobe's web page, close your browser (preferably version 4.0 or greater of MS Internet Explorer or Netscape), install the reader, restart your browser, click on one of my links pointing to a set of notes or problems, and Acrobat Reader should pop up with the .PDF file.