Exploration and discovery in Yellowstone Lake: results from high-resolution sonar imaging, seismic reflection profiling, and submersible studies     

L. A. Morgan  W. C. Shanks  III  D. A. Lovalvo  S. Y. Johnson  W. J. Stephenson  K. L. Pierce  S. S. Harlan  C. A. Finn  G. Lee  M. Webring  B. Schulze  J. Dühn  R. Sweeney  L. Balistrieri 《Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research》2003,122(3-4):221-242

‘No portion of the American continent is perhaps so rich in wonders as the Yellow Stone’ (F.V. Hayden, September 2, 1874)Discoveries from multi-beam sonar mapping and seismic reflection surveys of the northern, central, and West Thumb basins of Yellowstone Lake provide new insight into the extent of post-collapse volcanism and active hydrothermal processes occurring in a large lake environment above a large magma chamber. Yellowstone Lake has an irregular bottom covered with dozens of features directly related to hydrothermal, tectonic, volcanic, and sedimentary processes. Detailed bathymetric, seismic reflection, and magnetic evidence reveals that rhyolitic lava flows underlie much of Yellowstone Lake and exert fundamental control on lake bathymetry and localization of hydrothermal activity. Many previously unknown features have been identified and include over 250 hydrothermal vents, several very large (>500 m diameter) hydrothermal explosion craters, many small hydrothermal vent craters (1–200 m diameter), domed lacustrine sediments related to hydrothermal activity, elongate fissures cutting post-glacial sediments, siliceous hydrothermal spire structures, sublacustrine landslide deposits, submerged former shorelines, and a recently active graben. Sampling and observations with a submersible remotely operated vehicle confirm and extend our understanding of the identified features. Faults, fissures, hydrothermally inflated domal structures, hydrothermal explosion craters, and sublacustrine landslides constitute potentially significant geologic hazards. Toxic elements derived from hydrothermal processes also may significantly affect the Yellowstone ecosystem.  相似文献   

Seismic imaging of mid-Pleistocene tunnel-valleys in the North Sea Basin—high resolution from low frequencies     

Daniel Praeg   《Journal of Applied Geophysics》2003,53(4):273-298

Seismic reflection methods provide continuous access both to stratigraphy (vertical) and to subsurface morphology (horizontal), for which the scales of interest may differ by orders of magnitude. Seismic surveys of Quaternary successions have generally sought to optimise vertical resolution, through the use of higher source frequency content. Here, I show that low-frequency bandwidth is not necessarily a limiting factor for the seismic resolution of glacigenic morpho-sedimentary features. Observations are presented from a buried network of large mid-Pleistocene (Elsterian) tunnel-valleys in the southern North Sea Basin, across a 100×130 km study area with water depths less than 30 m. Low-frequency 2D and 3D seismic multi-channel data, acquired for deeper hydrocarbon exploration, are compared with previously available high-frequency single- and multi-channel profiles (5–15 km grid spacing). The low-frequency data contribute to a new understanding of the basal morphology and fill stratigraphy of the tunnel-valleys, in part due to higher data densities (≥1 km grid spacing), but also to improved imaging of reflectors at depth. The tunnel-valleys are seen to be overdeepened troughs, shallow (≤0.5 km) relative to their widths (≤6 km). The basal unconformity defines a series of arborescent elements, convergent to the south; erosional overlap by younger elements to the north has resulted in anastomosing patterns in places. The fill is dominated by axially downlapping clinoforms, descending to the north, onlapped and overlain by subhorizontal reflectors. Well data show that sand-dominated glaciofluvial sediments are overlain by glaciolacustrine to marine muds. Better definition of the clinoforms on low- versus high-frequency multi-channel data is suggested to reflect the coarse spatial scale of the backset glaciofluvial strata. The results support a simple interpretation of time-transgressive tunnel-valley formation by coeval glaciofluvial erosion and backfill beneath the outer tens of kilometres of the northward receding Elsterian ice sheet margin. Comparable submarginal interpretations have been proposed for drainage features (tunnel-valleys and eskers) of the last deglaciation of both northern Europe and North America using integrated geomorphologic and stratigraphic methods. Commercial 2D and 3D seismic data are widely available from exploration areas such as the North Sea and are argued to constitute an underexploited resource for Quaternary research.  相似文献   

Explosion seismic reflections from the Earth’s core     

H Thybo  A.R Ross 《Earth and Planetary Science Letters》2003,216(4):693-702

Recent seismological studies have presented evidence for the existence of a layer with ultra-low seismic velocities at the core-mantle boundary at ca. 2900 km depth. We report high-amplitude, high-frequency, and laterally coherent seismic arrivals from three nuclear explosions in Siberia. With recording station intervals of 15 km, the seismic phases are readily correlated and show the presence of a thin, ultra-low velocity zone in a region where it was not previously reported. The duration and complexity of the arrivals are inconsistent with a simple core-mantle boundary and require a hitherto unidentified, kilometre-scale, fine structure in the ultra-low velocity zone. The observations may be explained by a ca. 7 km thick, two-layer, ultra-low velocity zone with exceptional low velocities, which indicate the presence of high percentages of melt (>15%), in particular in the lower part of the zone. Waveform variation implies lateral change in the thickness and physical properties of the ultra-low velocity zone with a wavelength of less than 100 km.  相似文献   

Flat mantle reflectors in Eastern China: possible evidence of lithospheric thinning   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Wencai Yang   《Tectonophysics》2003,369(3-4):219-230

Recent 24 s deep seismic reflection records revealed five flat reflectors in the lithospheric mantle in Eastern China. With increasing depth, they are named M1 to M5 and can be seen on both field single-shot and stacked records. Reflector M1 corresponds to the Moho discontinuity, whereas M5 may be the reflection from the bottom of the current lithosphere, which is about 78 km deep according to geothermal measurements. The other three reflectors seem peculiar and might result from interactions between the lithosphere and deeper mantle. Based on lithological and geochemical data, it is suggested that the lithosphere has been thinned from about 150 km to about 60 km in the Late Mesozoic, and then has been thickened to about 78 km during the Cenozoic. The thinning process produced a granulite layer in the old lower crust caused by magmatic underplating, whereas an eclogite layer formed beneath owing to the subduction of the Paleo-Tethys and Yangtze Craton during the Permian and Early Mesozoic. Reflector M2 at about 12 s two-way traveltime (TWT) might result from the Paleozoic Moho, which represents the boundary between the previous granulite and eclogite facies. Reflector M3 at about 14 s might correspond to the bottom of the eclogite layer, beneath which the old lithospheric mantle remained. The old and the newly developed mantle may have different compositions, resulting in reflector M4. The multi-layered mantle reflectors demonstrate a mantle structure that possibly correlates with the lithospheric thinning process that occurred in Eastern China during the Late Mesozoic. The discovery of multi-layered mantle reflectors in the studied areas indicates a high heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Reflection seismology with improved technology, together with velocity and resistivity imaging and rock-physics measurements, can provide more details of the heterogeneity and related dynamic processes that occurred in the lithospheric mantle.  相似文献   

ENSO事件中纬向异常流反向与东西侧边界反射的联系          下载免费PDF全文

严邦良 《大气科学》2003,27(3):354-368

建立一个中等复杂程度的海-气耦合模式研究东、西边界反射,纬向平流项-u′(δ)(T+T′)/(δ)x在ENSO循环位相转换中的作用及东、西边界反射与纬向异常流(u′) 符号改变的关系.结果得到:u′超前Nio3区SSTA位相转变的原因是东、西边界反射造成的.Sverdrup 平衡时所产生的地转流(ur)与东、西边界反射所产生的地转流(ur)的方向在大部分时间里是相反的,同时ur与风应力强迫之间大约有9个月的滞后时间(Kelvin波从180°E出发经东边界反射产生的Rossby波到达180°E时间).在模式ENSO事件消亡过程中的某一时刻以后,边界反射产生的调整过程变为主要过程,u′主要由ur来决定,这样就造成了u′的反向先于Nio区SSTA的反向.它实际上是海洋的调整过程与风应力强迫之间滞后关系的一种反映.敏感性数值试验表明,取消东边界反射,耦合模式能够模拟ENSO循环,但其周期比控制试验的周期短一年(3年).取消-u′(δ)(T+T′)/(δ)x,耦合模式能够模拟ENSO循环,但其周期比控制试验的周期长2年(6年).  相似文献   

Reflection　and　transmission　of　seismic　waves　at　an　interface　betwen　two　saturated　soils   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

杨峻  吴世明 《地震学报(英文版)》1997,10(1):35-42

ＲｅｆｌｅｃｔｉｏｎａｎｄｔｒａｎｓｍｉｓｉｏｎｏｆｓｅｉｓｍｉｃｗａｖｅｓａｔａｎｉｎｔｅｒｆａｃｅｂｅｔｗｅｎｔｗｏｓａｔｕｒａｔｅｄｓｏｉｌｓＪＵＮＹＡＮＧ（杨峻）ＳＨＩＭＩＮＧＷＵ（吴世明）ＺｈｅｊｉａｎｇＵｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｙ，Ｈａｎｇｚ...  相似文献   

Seismic Image Waves     

Peter Hubral  Martin Tygel  Jöurg Schleicher 《Geophysical Journal International》1996,125(2):431-442

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Statistical description of seismic reflection wavefields: a step towards quantitative interpretation of deep seismic reflection profiles   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

C. A. Hurich 《Geophysical Journal International》1996,125(3):719-728

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The S reflector west of Galicia: the seismic signature of a detachment fault     

T. J. Reston 《Geophysical Journal International》1996,127(1):230-244

The so-called S reflector is a group of bright, continuous reflections underlying the landward-tilted fault blocks of the west Galicia rifted margin, S has been interpreted as the brittle-ductile transition, the lop of an intrusion, a detachment fault, and the crust-mantle boundary. To constrain the internal structure of the reflector, we have carried out detailed analyses of these reflections. We compare the waveforms of the seafloor reflection and its first multiple, both to determine the amplitude of the seafloor reflection and to show (hat the seafloor is in effect a spike in the reflectivity series so that the seafloor reflection can be used as the far-field wavelet, including both source and receiver ghosts. We compare (he waveform of the seafloor and 5 and show that, within the resolution of our data, S is a reflection from a step increase in acoustic impedance. This result is confirmed through complex trace analysis, and in particular the determination of the apparent polarity of S, and the examination of the instantaneous frequency function: S is consistently positive polarity, and shows no significant frequency anomaly. Simple modelling shows that S is very unlikely to be a reflection from a thin layer. We thus conclude that S is probably a single steplike interface. From the varying frequency content of the data, we determine a value for the effective Q between S and the seafloor, and use this to assess the amplitude loss due to attenuation and scattering. We use a comparison between the seafloor and the S reflection to constrain the amplitude of S, and estimate a reflection coefficient for S of at least 0.2 in places, decreasing landwards. By analogy with structures developed in the highly extended regions of the western United States, we consider that the most likely interpretation of S is as a sharp west-dipping detachment fault separating a 'granitic' upper plate from a higher-velocity lower plate, locally probably serpentinized mantle.  相似文献   

松辽盆地白垩系的密集段及海水进侵的新证   总被引：37，自引：0，他引：37  

叶淑芬  魏魁生 《地球科学》1996,21(3):267-271,T001

在总结松辽盆地白恶系层地层特征的基础上，阐述了密集段的地质学和地球物理学标志，经分析，大多数重要反射与密集段相关而并非是层序边界，根据扫描电镜分析结果，在密集段中首次发现了钙质超微化石，为区内白垩纪海水进侵的提供了新的证据，由稳定同位素分析，密集段形成了缺氧，相对可容纳空间最大及水体最深时期。  相似文献