The seismology of geothermal regimes. Final report
The authors have been developing seismological interpretation theory and methods applicable to complex structures encountered in geothermal areas for a better understanding of the earth`s geothermal regimes. The questions the y have addressed in their research may be summarized as ``What is going on in the earth`s crust under tectonically active regions; what are the structures and processes responsible for such activities as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and how can one capture their essence effectively by means of seismological studies?`` First, the authors found clear evidence for localization of scattered seismic energy in the deep magmatic system of the volcano on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. The seismic coda of local earthquakes show concentrated energy in the intrusive zones as late as 30 to 40 seconds after the origin time. This offers a very effective method for defining a zone of strong heterogeneity on a regional scale, complementary to the high resolution study using trapped modes as pursued in the past project. Secondly, the authors identified about 700 long-period events with various frequencies and durations from the data collected during the past 5 years which included three episodes of eruption. They are applying a finite-element method to the simplest event with the longest period and the shortest duration in order to find the location, geometry and physical properties of their source deterministically. The preliminary result described here suggests that their sources may be a horizontally lying magma-filled crack at a shallow depth under the summit area. In addition to the above work on the Reunion data, they have continued the theoretical and observational studies of attenuation and scattering of seismic waves.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-87ER13807
- OSTI ID:
- 578470
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/13807-T4; ON: DE98002743; TRN: AHC29806%%16
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Apr 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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