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SUMMARYThe Flores thrust forms the west segment (∼450 km) of a very active, ∼E–W striking, ∼800-km-long backarc thrust along the east Sunda Arc. In 2018, a deadly earthquake sequence composed of ~110 M4+ events rattled the Indonesian island of Lombok near the Flores thrust and caused tremendous damage on the island, however what is the nature of rupturing during this earthquake sequence remains unknown. Here, using a total of 2120 km of high-resolution seismic profiles covering ∼300 km of the Flores thrust off Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa, in addition to earthquake data and InSAR measurements, we investigated the active thrusting during this earthquake sequence. Our seismic interpretation and structural mapping show that offshore north of Lombok and Bali, the remarkable Flores thrust is essentially blind, deforming the seabed by folds, not faults. The Lombok earthquakes were all shallow thrust events with depth 7) that occur directly on the offshore blind thrusts, not beneath the island like the Lombok sequence. The proximity of the Rinjani volcano and thrust earthquakes suggests a possible role of volcanic activity (e.g. magmatic fluids and gas migration, stress change induced by pressurized magma chamber) in inducing the Lombok earthquakes.

The uppermost oceanic crust composes of Layers 2A and 2B, and the boundary between them is debated to be a lava/dike transition or a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the lava unit. Here, we present the analyses of ultralong multichannel seismic data along a 1,500 km long profile covering 0–75 Ma of the oceanic lithosphere on the African plate in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. We find that the Layer 2A is observed along the whole profile, with its urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0001 velocity increasing from 2.5 km/s near the ridge axis to urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-00024 km/s at urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-00034 Ma with slight variations thereafter. We also find that the sediment thickness increases rapidly from 0 m at the ridge axis to 170 m at 4 Ma, suggesting that there is a link between the high sedimentation rate and the increase in Layer 2A velocity. These observations indicate that crust younger than 4 Myr may be influenced by active hydrothermal circulation. The observed thickness of Layer 2A decreases from urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0004850 m near the ridge axis to urn:x-wiley:ggge:media:ggge22094:ggge22094-math-0005600 m at 15 Ma with no significant changes beyond. We also find an increase in Layer 2B velocity from 5.1 km/s at 4 Myr to 5.5 km/s at 46 Myr, suggesting that passive hydrothermal circulation may extend deeper than Layer 2A/2B boundary. We propose Layer 2A/2B boundary to be a lava/dike transition at the ridge axis and a hydrothermal alteration boundary within the extrusive section away from the ridge axis. Published version

SUMMARY Full waveform inversion (FWI) is a powerful method to estimate high-resolution physical parameters of the subsurface by iteratively minimizing the misfit between the observed and synthetic seismic data. Standard FWI algorithms measure seismic misfit between amplitude-preserved seismic data (true-amplitude FWI). However, in order to mitigate the variations in sources and recording systems acquired on complex geological structures and the physics that cannot be modelled using an approximation of the seismic wave equation, the observed and synthetic seismic data are normalized trace-by-trace and then used to perform FWI. Trace-by-trace normalization removes the amplitude effects related to offset variations and only keeps the phase information. Furthermore, trace-by-trace normalization changes the true amplitude difference because of different normalization factors used for the corresponding synthetic and observed traces. In this paper, we study the performance of true-amplitude FWI and trace-normalized-residual-based FWI in the time domain. The misfit function of trace-normalized-residual-based FWI is defined such that the adjoint source used in gradient calculation is the trace-normalized seismic residual. We compare the two inversion schemes with synthetic seismic data simulated on laterally invariant models and the more complex 2-D Marmousi model. In order to simulate realistic scenarios, we perform the elastic FWI ignoring attenuation to noisy seismic data and to the synthetic data modelled using a viscoelastic modelling scheme. Comparisons of seismic data and adjoint sources show that trace-by-trace normalization increases the magnitude of seismic data at far offsets, which are usually more cycle-skipped than those at near offsets. The inverted results on linear-gradient models demonstrate that trace-by-trace normalization increases the non-linearity of FWI, so an initial model with sufficient accuracy is required to guarantee the convergence to the global minimum. The inverted results and the final seismic residuals computed using seismic data without trace-by-trace normalization demonstrate that true-amplitude FWI provides inverted models with higher accuracy than trace-normalized-residual-based FWI, even when the unknown density is updated using density–velocity relationship in inversion or in the presence of noise and complex physics, such as attenuation.

Published slip distribution models, based on geodetic, seismological and tsunami data, of the Mw 7.8, 2010 Mentawai tsunami earthquake offshore south-central Sumatra, suggest that the large tsunami wave was generated by a narrow swath of high seafloor uplift along the accretionary wedge front, implying higher vertical throw than that consistent with slip on the shallow-dipping megathrust. Here we present high-resolution seismic reflection profiles across the 2010 rupture zone that image the youngest deformation at the accretionary wedge front. The profiles reveal conjugate, steeply-dipping, active thrust faults that branch upwards from the megathrust and bound triangular pop-ups. The seismologically determined co-seismic slip (≥10 m) on the 6°-dipping decollement probably caused a comparable amount of upward expulsion of these ∼3 km–wide, flat-topped pop-ups. Co-seismic throw on the ≈60° dipping thrusts that bound the pop-up plateaus maximize the uplift of the seafloor and overlying water-column, providing an additional localised tsunami source. Tsunami simulations show that such combined deformation, i.e. the broad-scale seafloor displacement caused by slip on the megathrust and the localized 8–10 m seafloor uplift across a 6–9 km-wide pop-up belt involving up to three pop-ups, is able to reproduce the 2010 tsunami amplitude measured by a DART buoy, and observed run-up heights in the Mentawai Islands. This simple mechanism, observed in analogue sandbox shortening experiments, may thus efficiently generate the oversize waves that characterize Tsunami-Earthquakes. Systematic mapping of pop-ups along accretionary wedge fronts may help identify trench segments prone to produce the special class of seismic events that spawn exceptionally large tsunamis. Published version The Mega-Tera experiment is an international project between the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. SOI provided the R/V Falkorfor the experiment and EOS funded the renting of the seismic equipment. The French participation was funded by IPG Paris and INSU-CNRS. This study is also supported by Guangdong Province Introduced In-novative R&D Team of Geological Processes and Natural Disasters around the South China Sea (2016ZT06N331), the National key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC1500101) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41976197). We would like to thank the Captain and the team of R/V Falkorfor their help and support during the experiment. We thank B. Be-unaiche, E. Duyck and C. Deplus for discussions and help with backscatter data processing. We thank G. Lamarche for com-ments on an earlier version of the manuscript, as well as two anonymous reviewers and editor J.P. Avouac for their construc-tive comments on this version, and E. Hill for discussions. Raw and processed EM302 (multibeam echo-sounder) data are avail-able at http://www.marine -geo .org /tools /new _search /index .php ?&output _info _all =on &entry _id =FK150523. Seismic reflection data are available upon request. SRTM and GEBCO data were accessed in October 2014 here: http://www2 .jpl .nasa .gov /srtmand http://www.gebco .net. This is Earth Observatory of Singapore publication number 287.

Sumatra subduction zone is one of the most seismically active zones on Earth. After having produced three Mw > 8.4 earthquakes and several Mw > 7.5 earthquakes, including the Mw = 7.8 2010 tsunami earthquake, the northern Mentawai segment is still locked and is capable of generating a great earthquake, possibly a disastrous tsunami. We analyzed ultralong offset seismic reflection data from this locked zone to characterize the nature of the accretionary prism and the plate interface using a combination of traveltime tomography, full waveform inversion, and prestack depth migration. In order to enhance the refractions, we downward extrapolate the streamer data to the seafloor, allowing the refraction arrivals to be observed from near‐zero offset up to far offset, and use a traveltime tomography to determine the background velocity in the upper sediments. Starting from these velocities, we perform a multiscale elastic full waveform inversion to determine the detailed P wave velocity structure of the subsurface. Based on this velocity, we perform a prestack depth migration to obtain seismic image in the depth domain and compute the porosity of the sediments to determine fluid content along faults. Our results show a low‐velocity subduction channel with high porosity at the plate interface that connects the likely active frontal thrusts at the toe of accretionary wedge, suggesting that the frontal section of the prism is seismogenic. We have also observed a low‐velocity layer in the middle of wedge separating old sediments below from new sediments above, defining the roots of bivergent thrust faults up to the seafloor, which can be interpreted as a psudo‐décollement. Published version

Propagation of fault rupture to the seafloor is a likely cause of enhanced tsunami generation during megathrust earthquakes. New, high‐resolution seismic reflection profiles and swath bathymetry collected across the northern limit of the Mw 7.8, 25 October 2010 Mentawai tsunami earthquake rupture reveal significant and systematic lateral variations in both the stratigraphic level of the frontal Sunda megathrust and the vergence of its frontal ramp faults. Where ramp faults are uniformly seaward vergent, the décollement resides on top of a strong reflector marking the inferred top of pelagic sediments. Where ramp faults are bivergent (both landward and seaward), the décollement is localized within the subducting clastic sequence, above a xseismically transparent unit inferred to be distal fan muds. Where ramp faults are uniformly landward vergent, the décollement is directly on top of the oceanic crust of the subducting Investigator Fracture Zone. Enhanced surface uplift and tsunamigenesis during the 2010 tsunamigenic earthquake appear to have coincided with propagation of rupture into frontal areas with well‐developed structural bivergence. Frontal bivergence is a geological signal of low basal traction during accrual of slip, and offshore of Sumatra this structural style may mark areas of enhanced tsunami hazard posed by small‐magnitude, shallow megathrust ruptures that propagate into the incoming terrigenous sequence at near‐trench levels. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore) MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore) Published version

The Wharton Basin in the Indian Ocean is one of the most extensively deforming ocean basins, as confirmed by the occurrence of several very large earthquakes starting from January 12, 2012 with Mw 7.2 followed by the great earthquakes of April 11, 2012 with Mw 8.6 and Mw 8.2. Although the Mw 7.2 and Mw 8.2 earthquakes seem to have ruptured the re-activated N–S striking fracture zones, the largest event (Mw 8.6) required the rupturing of several faults, oblique to each other, in a very complex manner. In order to understand the nature of deformation in these earthquakes rupture zones, we recently acquired 90 000 km2 of bathymetry, 11 400 km of sub-bottom profiling, gravity and magnetic data covering the rupture areas of the 2012 earthquakes east of the Ninety-East Ridge, in the northwestern Wharton Basin. These new data reveal six N8°E striking re-activated fracture zones (F5b, F6a, f6b, F7a, F7b and F8), where the fracture zone F6a can be followed for over 400 km and seems to be most active. The epicenters of the Mw 8.6 and Mw 8.2 earthquakes lie on the fracture zones F6a and F7b, respectively. The newly observed fracture F5b in the east is short, and has an extensional basin at its southern tip. The fracture zone F8 defines the eastern boundary of the Ninety-East Ridge. The presence of en echelon faults and pull-apart basins indicate left-lateral motion along these fracture zones. In between these fracture zones, we observe pervasive 290° striking right-lateral shear zones at 4–8 km intervals; one of which has cut through a seamount that might have ruptured during the Mw 8.6 earthquake. We also observe another N20°E striking left-lateral shear zones in the vicinity of F7b and F8, which is coincident with the strike of one of the nodal planes of the Mw 8.6 focal mechanism. These N20°E striking shear zones are interpreted as R Riedel shears and the N290°E striking shear zones as R′ Riedel shears. These shear zones are formed by a series of N335°E striking en echelon normal faults. Our data also show the presence of N65°E striking thrust faults east of the Ninety-East Ridge, orthogonal to the regional principal direction of compression. Furthermore, extensive bending-related faulting is also observed close to the Sumatra trench with normal faults also striking at N335°E, similar to the normal faults that form the shear zones. Normal faults with a similar orientation are also present at the southern tip of F5b. We explain all these observations with a single coherent model of deformation in the Wharton Basin, where a dominant part of the regional NW–SE compressional stress is accommodated along the N8°E re-activated fracture zones, and the rest is distributed along shear zones, thrust and normal faults between these fracture zones. The thrust and normal faults are orthogonal to each other and define the direction of principal compressive and extensive stresses in the region whereas the two shear zone systems form a conjugate pair. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore) MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore) Published version

SUMMARY A tomographic inversion method is presented for the determination of 3-D velocity and interface structure from a wide range of body-wave seismic traveltime data types. It is applicable to refraction, wide-angle reflection, normal-incidence and multichannel seismic data, and is best suited to a combination of these that provides good independent constraints on seismic velocities and interface depths. The inversion process seeks a layer‐interface minimum-structure model that is able to explain the given data satisfactorily by inverting to minimize data misfit and model roughness norms simultaneously. This regularized inversion, and the use of smooth functions to describe velocities and depths, allows the highly non-linear tomographic problem to be approximated as a series of linear steps. The inversion process begins by optimizing the fit to the data of a highly-smoothed initial model. In each subsequent step, structure is allowed to develop in the model with successively greater detail evolving until a satisfactory fit to the data is obtained. Parameter uncertainties for the final model are then estimated using an a posteriori covariance matrix analysis. Smooth layer‐interface models are parametrized using regular grids of velocity and depth nodes from which spline-interpolated interface surfaces and velocity fields are defined. Forward modelling is achieved using ray perturbation theory and a two-point ray tracing method that is optimized for a large number of closely-spaced shot or receiver points. The method may be used to generate 1- and 2-D models (from, for example vertical seismic profile data or 2-D surveys) in which the 3-D geometry of a survey is correctly accounted for. The ability of the method to resolve typical target structures is tested in a synthetic salt dome inversion. From a set of noisy traveltime data, the model converges quickly to a well-resolved final model from different starting models. The application of this method to real data is demonstrated with a combined 3-D inversion of refraction and reflection data which provide P-wave velocity constraints on the methane hydrate stability zone in the Cascadia Margin offshore Vancouver Island.

Summary We present a new method of traveltime tomography. In this method, the traveltime between source and receiver is described by an analytical function, which consists of a series expansion of geometrical coordinates of the source and receiver locations. As the traveltime is derived from the eikonal equation, the analytical function must also satisfy the eikonal equation. This condition imposes a strong constraint on the uniqueness of the analytical function. The coefficients of the series expansion are estimated by minimizing the misfit between the observed and the analytical time function in a least-squares sense. Once the coefficients of the series expansion are known, the eikonal equation, which turns out to also be in the form of a series expansion, provides the velocity in the medium. Thus there are two analytical functions, one defining the traveltime and the other defining the slowness, and they can be used for pre-stack depth migration and velocity model definition. The feasibility of this approach is first tested on a synthetic data set and then applied to a real data set. This new method of tomography and pre-stack migration provides a significant gain in computation time compared with ray-tracing techniques. The method can easily be extended to incorporate reflection data and has potential for solving 3-D seismic reflection and global seismology inverse problems.

A sensitivity study of elastic parameters in amplitude-variation-with-slowness (AVS) for small- and large-offset seismic data is presented. In order to handle the non-linearity associated with waveform or amplitude beyond the critical slowness, an inversion algorithm based on Bayes' theory is used. A genetic algorithm was used to obtain the a posteriori probability density (PPD) function. The sensitivity analysis is performed on synthetic data containing P-wave as well as converted S-wave reflections. Four different two-layer models, which represent the typical range of AVS responses associated with the gas-sands normally encountered in exploration, were used to examine how well the elastic parameters can be inverted for different parametrizations by comparing the PPD functions. The sensitivity study results suggest that including wide-angle data in the inversion can greatly enhance the quality of inversion. The converted S-wave reflections can provide valuable extra information that can be used to extract elastic parameters. The results with noisy data demonstrate that the contrast of density and three velocity ratios can be estimated robustly with wide-angle reflection data.

On the northern Cascadia subduction margin, the multichannel seismic amplitude-versus-offset (AVO) behavior of a bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) suggests a P wave velocity change from high-velocity hydrate-bearing sediment to lower velocity sediment containing a small amount of free gas. The observed nonlinear AVO behavior, constant or slightly decreasing amplitudes at near-to-mid offsets and a large-amplitude increase at far offsets, can be reproduced in the models if an S wave velocity enhancement is assumed as expected from hydrate cementation. The AVO behavior of the hydrate BSR is found not to be as useful as was earlier thought for determining the amount of free gas below the BSR. This is because Poisson's ratio change below the BSR due to gas is likely very small in high-porosity unconsolidated sediments. The uncertainty in the models is large, as there is no reliable S wave velocity information for the sediments containing hydrate or gas. AVO modeling alone is not sufficient to distinguish different velocity models across the BSR. Our interpretation of the BSR amplitude behavior is that a P wave velocity increase above the BSR is the main cause of the BSR reflection amplitude increase at large incidence angles. Caution must be taken in applying AVO analysis, as little is known about S wave velocities. However, subtle differences in BSR amplitude behavior and reflection waveform can provide constraints through very careful full waveform inversion. A well-defined reference velocity-depth profile is also required to represent water-saturated sediment unaffected by either hydrate or free gas. Using full waveform velocity inversion, a high-resolution velocity model for the hydrate BSR has been derived. The best fit model for the seismic data near the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites 889/890 consists of a high-velocity zone above the BSR and a thin low-velocity layer below, in agreement with the ODP downhole velocity data.

We have applied full waveform inversion to wide-aperture seismic reflection data from the southern East Pacific Rise near 14°S. The data contain clear compressional wave and doubly converted shear wave arrivals that provide good constraints on the P and S-wave velocities (Vp, Vs, and hence Poisson's ratio σ) and seismic attenuation (Qp, Qs) structure of seismic layer 2. Layer 2A is highly attenuating (Qp = 18–30 and Qs = 8–15) and layer 2B is moderately attenuating (Qp = 30–50 and Qs = 20–25). Our results show high σ at the seafloor and in layer 2A (σ = 0.48). Across the top of the 2A/B transition the rapid increase in Vp is accompanied by a sharp drop in σ to 0.25 within just 200 m of the seafloor. We perform simple calculations to gain an insight into the porosity and crack distribution with depth. These calculations suggest that porosity is in excess of 30% in layer 2A but reduces to 6–7% at the top of the 2A/B transition and to about 5% at a depth of 600 m below seafloor within layer 2B. Our results suggest that there is an increase in the average aspect ratio with depth across the 2A/B transition. The most likely explanation is that numerous thin cracks either mechanically close or are infilled at depth. Our results show there to be an abrupt change in the pore structure across the 2A/B transition which is consistent with a lithologic transition from extrusives to dykes but is equally consistent with a transition (mechanical or hydrothermal) within the extrusive pile.

Summary Bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs) at the base of the hydrate stability zone are often observed in marine seismic reflection data. The compressional (P-)wave velocity structure of a BSR offshore Costa Rica was analysed by applying a full-waveform inversion technique. The resulting velocity profile indicates that the BSR is caused by a thin low-velocity layer, suggesting the presence of at least a small amount of free gas in the sediment pore space. In undisturbed sediment sections, BSRs offshore Costa Rica are observed over much of the continental margin. They frequently occur at shallow depths beneath the seafloor, usually ~ 100–400 m; at some locations BSRs appear to intersect the seafloor. This was interpreted as an indication that hydrates in the study area form partly from methane which was produced beneath the hydrate stability zone and migrated upwards. In the study area, the vertical movement of the hydrate stability zone relative to a given point in the sediment column, one of the potential factors leading to BSR formation or suppression, is controlled by both sedimentation and vertical tectonism. Both processes may hence play a role in controlling BSR distribution. BSRs are absent in areas which have been affected by slumping, except where the sedimentary section above the BSR remained intact during slumping. This indicates that slope failure can cause the destruction of BSRs.

We have applied waveform inversion to multichannel seismic reflection data collected at the East Pacific Rise at 9°40'N in order to determine the precise velocity structure of the magma body causing the axial magma chamber reflection. Our analysis supports the idea of a molten sill as previously suggested from forward modeling of seismic data from this location. Our inverted solution has a 30-m-thick sill with a P wave seismic velocity of 2.6 km s -1 . Although not well constrained by the data we believe that the S wave velocity in the sill is not significantly different from 0.0 km s -1 . The low P- and S- wave velocities in the sill imply that it contains less than 30% crystals. The molten sill is underlain by a velocity gradient in which the P wave velocity increases from 2.6 to 3.5 km s -1 over a vertical distance of 50-m. The shape of our velocity-depth profile implies that accretion of material to the roof of the sill is minor compared to accretion to the floor. The underlying velocity gradient zone may represent crystal settling under gravity. We suggest that only material from the 30-m-thick layer can erupt.

Migration velocity analysis, a method for determining long wavelength velocity structure, is a critical step in prestack imaging. Solution of this inverse problem is made difficult by a multimodal objective function; a parameter space often vast in extent; and an evaluation procedure for candidate solutions, involving the calculation of depth-migrated image gathers, that can be prohibitively expensive. Recognizing the global nature of the problem, we employ a genetic algorithm (GA) in the search for the optimum velocity model. In order to describe a model efficiently, regions of smooth variation are identified and sparsely parametrized. Region boundaries are obtained via map migration of events picked on the zero-offset time section. Within a region, which may contain several reflectors, separate components describe long and short wavelength variations, eliminating from the parameter space, models with large velocity fluctuations. Vital to the success of the method is rapid model evaluation, achieved by generating image gathers only in the neighbourhood of specific reflectors. Probability of a model, which we seek to maximize, is derived from the flatness of imaged events. Except for an initial interpretation of the zero-offset time section, our method is automatic in that it requires no picking of residual moveout on migrated gathers. Using an example data set from the North Sea, we show that it is feasible to solve for all velocity parameters in the model simultaneously: the method is global in this respect also.

SUMMARY The reliability of information obtained from surface seismic measurements is an important factor to be considered before one attempts to depth migrate or invert seismic data. The uniqueness of the retrieved model can only be achieved if the observed seismic data contain information on all the wavelengths of the Earth structure. In this study we investigated the sensitivity of model parameters obtainable from elastic multi-offset seismic data. We perturbed a background model, which was defined in terms of longitudinal and shear velocities and density, with quasi-sinusoidal perturbations. The reference and perturbed synthetic seismograms were calculated in the intercept time and slowness (τ-p) domain. The seismic waveform misfit between these two synthetic seismograms computed in a least-squares sense was used as a quantitative measure of the sensitivity of model parameters. We found that middle-wavelength variations of model parameters are sensitive to critical-angle seismic data. This was further confirmed by using a 1-D waveform inversion. These results suggest that all wavelengths of model parameters can be retrieved from waveform analysis of seismic reflection/refraction data: the long wavelengths from traveltime data and the short to medium wavelengths from waveform analysis. The non-uniqueness associated with the information gap for middle wavelengths, as previously proposed for seismic reflection data, can therefore be avoided.

Seismic reflection profiles across many continental margins have imaged bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs), which have been interpreted as being formed at the base of a methane hydrate stability field. Such reflectors might arise either from an impedance contrast between high-velocity, partially hydrated sediments and water-saturated sediments or from a contrast with partially gas-saturated sediments. These alternatives may be hard to distinguish by conventional amplitude-versus-offset or waveform modeling approaches. Here we investigate the origin of a high amplitude BSR in the accretionary wedge offshore of western Colombia by seismic waveform inversion. The inversion procedure consists of three steps: firstly, determination of root-mean-square velocities and hence estimates of the interval velocities between major reflectors by a global grid search for maximum normalized energy along elliptical trajectories in the intercept time-slowness domain; secondly, determination of accurate interval velocities between these reflectors by a Monte Carlo search for maximum energy; and thirdly, a waveform fit in the frequency-slowness domain, using differential reflectivity seismograms and a conjugate-gradient optimization algorithm to minimize the sample-by-sample waveform misfit between data and synthetic. At two locations, near a structural high, we find a ∼30-m thick low-velocity zone beneath the BSR, with the properties of a partially gas-saturated zone, while at a third location, where the BSR amplitude is lower, we find no evidence for anomalously low velocities. The preferential development of the BSR in structures that would tend to intercept fluid flow or migrating gas and the presence of free gas beneath the BSR indicate a mechanism of BSR formation in which free methane gas migrates upward into the hydrate stability field or is carried there in advecting pore water.

SUMMARY Deep seismic-reflection profiles have shown that the lower part of the continental crust often contains many strong, sub-horizontal reflectors. Various suggestions have been made about the origin of such reflections. One explanation, which does not require the invocation of any complex tectonic process, is layering of mafic/ultramafic intrusions of partial melts derived from the upper mantle. We show that the internal layering within large mafic and ultramafic igneous intrusions can form the necessary impedance contrasts with appropriate length scales to produce seismograms similar to those observed from the lower crust, and suggest that such intrusions could be responsible for the character of the observed lower crustal reflections. Such layering could be formed at any stage of crustal formation. This suggestion is consistent with earlier geochemical proposals and does not impose any new constraints on the origin and structure of the continental crust.

We present a three-dimensional upper crustal model of the 9degrees03'N overlapping spreading center (OSC) on the East Pacific Rise that assists in understanding the relationship between melt sills and upper crustal structure at a ridge discontinuity with enhanced melt supply at crustal levels. Our P wave velocity model obtained from tomographic inversion of similar to 70,000 crustal first arrival travel times suggests that the geometry of extrusive emplacement are significantly different beneath the overlapping spreading limbs. Extrusive volcanic rocks above the western melt sill are inferred to be thin ( similar to 250 m). More extensive accumulation of extrusives is inferred to the west than to the east of the western melt sill. The extrusive layer inferred above the eastern melt sill thickens from similar to 350 ( at the neovolcanic axis) to 550 m ( to the west of the melt sill). Volcanic construction is likely to be significant in the formation of ridge crest morphology at the OSC, particularly at the tip of the eastern limb. On the basis of our interpretation of the velocity model, we propose that enhanced magma supply at crustal levels at the OSC may provide an effective mechanism for the migration of ridge discontinuities. This "dynamic magma supply model'' may explain the commonly observed nonsteady migration pattern of ridge discontinuities by attributing this to the temporal fluctuations in melt availability to the overlapping spreading limbs

The delay‐time (τ‐p) parameterization, which is also known as the plane‐wave decomposition (PWD) of seismic data, has several advantages over the more traditional time‐distance (t‐x) representation (Schultz and Claerbout, 1978). Plane‐wave seismograms in the (τ, p) domain can be used for obtaining subsurface elastic properties (P‐wave and S‐wave velocities and density as functions of depth) from inversion of the observed oblique‐incidence seismic data (e.g., Yagle and Levy, 1985; Carazzone, 1986; Carrion, 1986; Singh et al., 1989). Treitel et al. (1982) performed time migration of plane‐wave seismograms. Diebold and Stoffa (1981) used plane‐wave seismograms to derive a velocity‐depth function. Decomposing seismic data also allows more rapid modeling, since it is faster to compute synthetic seismograms in the (τ, p) than in the (t, x) domain. Unfortunately, the transformation of seismic data from the (t, x) to the (τ, p) domain may produce artifacts, such as those caused by discrete sampling, of the data in space.

SUMMARY Deep seismic reflection profiles show that the lower part of the continental crust often contains many strong subhorizontal reflections. Based on forward modelling, these reflections are interpreted as a sequence of alternating high- and low-velocity layers. A waveform inversion provides an optimum model by minimizing the misfit between observed data and synthetic seismograms. However, it is very difficult to invert for the whole data set, partly because of the large computation time needed in modelling and partly because the high amplitude reflected energy in the upper crust dominates the misfit function. To overcome these difficulties we propose a three-step strategy for inverting the deeper part of seismic reflection data over a narrow aperture in which the velocity structure can be assumed to be 1-D. First, both source wavelet and recorded wavefield are propagated in the plane-wave domain downwards to a particular depth for a given 1-D medium. Because the source-receiver distances are short for deep reflections it is assumed that these reflections are at normal incidence. It is also assumed that the near-surface velocity is known or has been estimated using other inversion schemes. The downward propagation algorithm takes account of nearsurface effects, such as multiple reflections and attenuation. Second, starting from a known background-velocity model, a non-linear iterative waveform inversion is applied to the propagated data set. The method is based on minimizing the difference, sample by sample, between observed and calculated wavefields in a least-squares sense. The forward modelling, which consists of calculating the data from the model, uses a reflectivity method to compute the synthetic seismogram in the plane-wave domain. The model perturbation is calculated with the help of the conjugate gradients method. The non-linear inversion gives the short wavelengths of impedance contrast, which is a function of density and velocity, in the lower crust. Third, an interpretational step is tried in order to recover the medium wavelengths of velocity. The algorithm is tested on synthetic data and then applied to a part of the WAM data set, south-west of England. A good fit to the real data with the optimum model predicts that the velocity contrast of the layers in the lower crust varies from 0.2 km s-' to 0.5 km s-' and the thickness from at least 0.075 km to 1 km.

Strong bottom-simulating reflectors (BSR) have been mapped over a region of approximately 50,000 km2 on the southeastern U.S. margin and have been associated with possible abundance of natural gas hydrates. In June 1992, coincident single-channel seismic and wide-angle ocean bottom seismic data were acquired in the region, focusing on the Blake Ridge and the Carolina Rise. Wide-angle reflections from the BSRs were clearly observed at offsets up to ∼6 km. Joint travel time inversion was conducted with wide-angle and vertical-incidence data in order to explore possible regional variation, and the resultant two-dimensional average velocity models imply higher background velocities on the Carolina Rise. Full waveform inversion was then performed to determine the seismic origin of the BSRs. The best fit model shows a similar low velocity (∼1.4 km/s) beneath the BSR at both sites, indicating trapped free gas with low saturation (

We report a three-dimensional (3-D) seismic reflection and tomographic survey conducted at the 9°03′N overlapping spreading center (OSC) on the East Pacific Rise to understand crustal accretion at this feature. Inversions of travel time data from 19 ocean bottom hydrophones provide a 3-D image of the shallow velocity structure beneath the nontransform offset and associated discordance zone. Seismic analysis indicates that layer 2A thickness varies between 100 and 900 m and averages 430 m throughout the study area. The heterogeneous upper crustal structure at the OSC region contrasts with the simpler symmetric structure flanking the midsegments of the East Pacific Rise. The crust affected by the OSC migration carries evidence for the complex accretion at the axial discontinuity where the overlap basin may act as a lava pond. An area of thick layer 2A covers the southern half of the overlap basin and the propagating ridge tip and shows good correlation with a high magnetization region. Comparison of the magnetic field anomaly derived from the seismic structure model with the observed sea surface magnetic anomaly suggests that a significant portion of the high magnetization can be related to magnetic source thickness variation rather than solely to the geochemistry of the volcanic rocks.

The theory of a direct inversion method to obtain the P and S wave seismic velocities and the density of a horizontally, finely layered elastic medium from vertical and horizontal component plane wave seismograms in the tau-p (slant stacked) domain has been developed. The method is based on the downward continuation method of Bube and Burridge (1983), but plane wave seismograms with a range of ray parameters are used simultaneously to obtain the velocity and density profiles. A corrected acoustic approximation of the elastic case has also been developed with which one may obtain a model of the P wave velocity and density from vertical component seismic recordings. However, it requires the S wave velocity to be estimated a priori, for instance as a fixed fraction of the P wave velocity. Many direct inverse methods, including the Bube and Burridge procedure followed here, may lack stability when implemented numerically, specially when they are applied to real data which necessarily are band limited at both low and high frequencies. The possibility of a stable implementation of our methods has been investigated, firstly by using synthetic data for layered acoustic media containing a full range of low frequencies. In this case, the inverted velocity and density profiles are in good agreement with the test models. Secondly, the indeterminacy associated with the lack, in practice, of low frequencies has been studied, and a method has been devised to estimate the missing low-frequency data from travel time information. Finally, the inversion algorithm has then been applied to high-quality marine seismic reflection data obtained by the North Atlantic Transect (NAT) group in the deep ocean using an expanding spread profile (ESP). In this test, only the P wave velocity profile was estimated independently, because the move-out data cannot provide low-frequency information about density. Also, the “source wavelet” of the seismic system had to be estimated from the seismic recordings. A stable and plausible estimate of the velocity variation was obtained. Unfortunately, no independent measurement of this velocity structure is available with which to verify the method's accuracy.