Passive seismic imaging of the Ruby Mountains metamorphic core complex
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this dissertation I present new results from passive seismology of the Ruby Mountains metamorphic core complex in northeastern Nevada. For this project I installed a 50-station temporary broadband seismic network over the Ruby Mountains—the first seismic study to image directly beneath the mountains. I use ambient noise tomography to build a velocity model of the region and delineate basin locations surrounding the mountains. Then I employ common conversion point stacking of receiver functions to image the deep crustal structure of the core complex. I observe a Moho depth of ~32 km throughout most of the study region, but reaching ~42 km depth in a narrow N-S welt 20-50 km west of the Ruby Mountains. Shear wave splitting results also show a change in fast polarization direction at this location. Finally, I examine the records of local mine blasts that are routinely detonated in the region as an additional check of the regional seismic velocity, as well as potentially to provide an additional estimate of Moho depth. I combine my observations with previous geologic and geophysical studies to suggest that the formation of the Ruby Mountains may have involved asymmetric crustal flow at the edge of a preexisting orogenic plateau.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2018; ©2018 |
| Publication date | 2018; 2018 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Litherland, Mairi |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Klemperer, Simon |
| Thesis advisor | Klemperer, Simon |
| Thesis advisor | Beroza, Gregory C. (Gregory Christian) |
| Thesis advisor | Sleep, Norman H |
| Degree committee member | Beroza, Gregory C. (Gregory Christian) |
| Degree committee member | Sleep, Norman H |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Geophysics. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Mairi Litherland. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Geophysics. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2018. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2018 by Mairi MacLean Litherland
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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