Seismo Lab Brown Bag Seminar

Understanding crustal structure is fundamental to unraveling the complex tectonic processes of the past and present. Developing this understanding often requires dense instrumentation and multifaceted imaging techniques. Fiber-optic seismology allows for low-maintenance, long-term deployments of dense seismic arrays, which presents new opportunities for exploring earth structure. We use a fiber array that traverses a path through the Mojave Desert to explore local and regional crustal structure at high spatial frequency. With a diverse set of imaging techniques, we uncover new insights into the structural variability across the Garlock Fault and map the bumpy topography of the Moho throughout Southern California. We show that the Garlock Fault has at most a very narrow low velocity zone and hosts a sharp bimaterial contrast at seismogenic depths that was previously hidden by heterogeneity in the shallow crust. We also illuminate high resolution profiles of the crust-mantle boundary that suggest that the Moho hosts abundant low-wavelength topography.