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Geological and Planetary Sciences Seminar

Monday, May 21, 2012
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Arms 155 (Robert P. Sharp Lecture Hall)
Measuring time-lapse changes from noise and earthquakes
Roel Snieder, W.M. Keck Distinguished Professor of Basic Exploration Science , Department of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines,
Time-lapse changes in the subsurface or laboratory studies reveals how earth materials are behaving. Seismic or ultrasonic waves that are extremely complicated can successfully be used to extract time-lapse changes. Coda waves that are are strongly scattered can be used to measure velocity changes as small as 0.1%. I will show how such measurements can be used to unravel reversible and irreversible changes in rock samples. Earthquakes recorded over more than 10 years at KiK-net stations all over Japan are a rich source of data to monitor changes in seismic velocity in the near-surface. I will show that the shear velocity changes with the seasons, and that it is reduced by earthquakes. After the Tohoku-Oki earthquake the shear wave velocity is reduced all over the eastern half of Japan.
For more information, please contact Liz Boyd by phone at 626-395-6070 or by email at miura@gps.caltech.edu.