ALBERT

Description: LITHOS-CAPP is the German contribution to the international ScanArray experiment. ScanArray is an array of broadband seismometers with which we aim to study the lithosphere and upper mantle beneath the Scandinavian Mountains and the Baltic Shield. LITHOS-CAPP contributed 20 broadband recording stations from September 2014 to October 2016, 10 in Sweden and 10 in Finland, continuously recordings at 100 samples per second. The stations were deployed by the KIT Geophysical Institute and GFZ section 2.4 (seismology). They form part of the temporary network ScanArrayCore (FDSN network code 1G 2012-2017). This data publication contains the original log-files of the recorders.

Description: Madagascar occupies a key position in the assembly and breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. It has been used in numerous geological studies to reconstruct its original position within Gondwana and to derive plate kinematics. Seismological observations in Madagascar to date have been sparse. Using a temporary, dense seismic profile across southern Madagascar, we present the first published study of seismic anisotropy from shear wave splitting analyses of teleseismic phases. The splitting parameters obtained show significant small-scale variation of fast polarization directions and delay times across the profile, with fast polarization rotating from NW in the center to NE in the east and west of the profile. The delay times range between 0.4 and 1.5 s. A joint inversion of waveforms at each station is applied to derive hypothetical one-layer splitting parameters. We use finite-difference, full-waveform modeling to test several hypotheses about the origin and extent of seismic anisotropy. Our observations can be explained by asthenospheric anisotropy with a fast polarization direction of 50°, approximately parallel to the absolute plate motion direction, in combination with blocks of crustal anisotropy. Predictions of seismic anisotropy as inferred from global mantle flow models or global anisotropic surface wave tomography are not in agreement with the observations. Small-scale variations of splitting parameters require significant crustal anisotropy. Considering the complex geology of Madagascar, we interpret the change in fast-axis directions as a ~150 km wide zone of ductile deformation in the crust as a result of the intense reworking of lithospheric material during the Pan-African orogeny. This fossil anisotropic pattern is underlain by asthenospheric anisotropy induced by plate motion.

Description: To investigate temporal seismic velocity changes due to earthquake related processes and environmental forcing in Northern Chile, we analyse 8 yr of ambient seismic noise recorded by the Integrated Plate Boundary Observatory Chile (IPOC). By autocorrelating the ambient seismic noise field measured on the vertical components, approximations of the Green’s functions are retrieved and velocity changes are measured with CodaWave Interferometry. At station PATCX, we observe seasonal changes in seismic velocity caused by thermal stress as well as transient velocity reductions in the frequency range of 4–6 Hz. Sudden velocity drops occur at the time of mostly earthquake-induced ground shaking and recover over a variable period of time. We present an empirical model that describes the seismic velocity variations based on continuous observations of the local ground acceleration. The model assumes that not only the shaking of large earthquakes causes velocity drops, but any small vibrations continuously induce minor velocity variations that are immediately compensated by healing in the steady state. We show that the shaking effect is accumulated over time and best described by the integrated envelope of the ground acceleration over the discretization interval of the velocity measurements, which is one day. In our model, the amplitude of the velocity reduction as well as the recovery time are proportional to the size of the excitation. This model with two free scaling parameters fits the data of the shaking induced velocity variation in remarkable detail. Additionally, a linear trend is observed that might be related to a recovery process from one or more earthquakes before our measurement period. A clear relationship between ground shaking and induced velocity reductions is not visible at other stations. We attribute the outstanding sensitivity of PATCX to ground shaking and thermal stress to the special geological setting of the station, where the subsurface material consists of relatively loose conglomerate with high pore volume leading to a stronger nonlinearity compared to the other IPOC stations.

Description: Azimuthal anisotropy derived from multimode Rayleigh wave tomography in China exhibits depth-dependent variations in Tibet, which can be explained as induced by the Cenozoic India-Eurasian collision. In west Tibet, the E-W fast polarization direction at depths 〈100 km is consistent with the accumulated shear strain in the Tibetan lithosphere, whereas the N-S fast direction at greater depths is aligned with Indian Plate motion. In northeast Tibet, depth-consistent NW-SE directions imply coupled deformation throughout the whole lithosphere, possibly also involving the underlying asthenosphere. Significant anisotropy at depths of 225 km in southeast Tibet reflects sublithospheric deformation induced by northward and eastward lithospheric subduction beneath the Himalaya and Burma, respectively. The multilayer anisotropic surface wave model can explain some features of SKS splitting measurements in Tibet, with differences probably attributable to the limited back azimuthal coverage of most SKS studies in Tibet and the limited horizontal resolution of the surface wave results.

Description: The GEOFON program consists of a global seismic network (GE Network), a seismological data centre (GEOFON DC) and a global earthquake monitoring system (GEOFON EQinfo). These three pillars are part of the MESI research infrastructure of the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences aiming at facilitating scientific research. GEOFON provides real-time seismic data, access to its own and third party data from the archive facilities as well as global and rapid earthquake information. The GEOFON Seismological Software can be considered a fourth cross-cutting module of the GEOFON Program. Data, services, products and software openly distributed by GEOFON are used by hundreds of scientists and data centres worldwide. Its earthquake information service is accessed directly by tens of thousands of visitors. The SeisComP software package is the flagship software provided to the community, which is geared for seismic observatory and data centre needs and used extensively to support our internal operations. Like all other MESI (Modular Earth Science Infrastructure) modules GEOFON has the majority of users outside the GFZ as well as an external advisory committee that provides advice to the GFZ Executive Board and to the GEOFON team. This report describes the main activities carried out within the three GEOFON pillars and the software development group.

Description: Volcanic and seismic activities produce a variety of phenomena that put population at risk. In order to assess the seismic and volcanic hazard, many instruments are deployed around active volcanoes and seismic fault zones. Their records are useful to observe the activity of the volcanoes and faults in order to understand better their behaviour and issue warnings to authorities in charge of the public security. In this study, we used optical cables around Etna volcano to observe seismic and pressure signals associated with volcanic activity. The 2018 expedition consisted of three experiments. Firstly, we used a 4-km long telecom line in Zafferana and recorded all geodynamic and other activities for about 20 days. At this site, the fibre is known to cross active faults that are linked to the eastern volcano flank slowly sliding towards the sea. Secondly, we tested a 40 km-long cable from an internet provider at the western side of the volcano. Thirdly, we used a fibre cable deployed at the summit area of the volcano to test its ability to detect small volcanic events. In each of the three parts, a DAS system (iDASTM interrogator provided by Silixa) sent repeatedly coherent light pulses with a gauge length of 10 m and deduced the strain rate from interferometric measurements of the back-scattered light. We were able to measure every 2 metres the strain rate associated with several volcanic event types, earthquakes and many other signals from human activity. We validated the optical records with records from additional sensors such as seismic broadband stations, geophones and infrasound sensors. We present results from all experiments.

Description: BayHunter is an open source Python tool to perform an McMC transdimensional Bayesian inversion of receiver functions and/ or surface wave dispersion. It is inverting for the velocity-depth structure, the number of layers and noise parameters (noise correlation and amplitude). The forward modeling codes are provided within the package, but are easily replaceable with own codes. It is also possible to add (completely different) data sets. The BayWatch module can be used to live-stream the inversion while it is running: this makes it easy to see how each chain is exploring the parameter space, how the data fits and models change and in which direction the inversion progresses.

Description: This study presents P- and S-wave velocity variations for the upper mantle in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany based on teleseismic traveltime tomography. Tectonically, this region includes the entire northern part of the prominent Tornquist Zone which follows along the transition from old Precambrian shield units to the east to younger Phanerozoic deep sedimentary basins to the southwest. We combine data from several separate temporary arrays/profiles (276 stations) deployed over a period of about 15 yr and permanent networks (31 stations) covering the areas of Denmark, northern Germany, southern Sweden and southern Norway. By performing an integrated P- and S-traveltime analysis, we obtain the first high-resolution combined 3-D VP and VS models, including variations in the VP/VS ratio, for the whole of this region of study. Relative station mean traveltime residuals vary within ±1 s for P wave and ±2 s for S wave, with early arrivals in shield areas of southern Sweden and later arrivals in the Danish and North German Basins, as well as in most of southern Norway. In good accordance with previous, mainly P-velocity models, a marked upper-mantle velocity boundary (UMVB) is accurately delineated between shield areas (with high seismic mantle velocity) and basins (with lower velocity). It continues northwards into southern Norway near the Oslo Graben area and further north across the Southern Scandes Mountains. This main boundary, extending to a depth of at least 300 km, is even more pronounced in our new S-velocity model, with velocity contrasts of up to ±2–3 per cent. It is also clearly reflected in the VP/VS ratio. Differences in this ratio of up to about ±2 per cent are observed across the boundary, with generally low values in shield areas to the east and relatively higher values in basin areas to the southwest and in most of southern Norway. Differences in the VP/VS ratio are believed to be a rather robust indicator of upper-mantle compositional differences. For the depth interval of about 100–300 km, thick, depleted, relatively cold shield lithosphere is indicated in southern Sweden, contrasting with more fertile, warm mantle asthenosphere beneath most of the basins in Denmark and northern Germany. Both compositional and temperature differences seem to play a significant role in explaining the UMVB between southern Norway and southern Sweden. In addition to the main regional upper-mantle velocity contrasts, a number of more local anomaly features are also outlined and discussed.

Description: We present SCOTER, an open-source Python programming package that is designed to relocate multiple seismic events by using direct P- and S-wave station correction terms. The package implements static and shrinking-box source-specific station terms techniques extended to regional and teleseimic distances and adopted for probabilistic, non-linear, global-search location for large-scale multiple-event location. This program provides robust relocation results for seismic event sequences over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales by applying empirical corrections for the biasing effects of 3-D velocity structure. Written in the Python programming language, SCOTER is run as a stand-alone command-line tool (requiring no knowledge of Python) and also provides a set of sub-commands to develop required input files (e.g. phase files, travel-time grid files, configuration) and export relocation results (such as hypocenter parameters, travel-time residuals) in different formats -- routine but non-trivial tasks that can consume much user time. This package can be used for relocating data sets in local, regional, and teleseimic scales.

Description: The SWATH-D experiment is dense deployment of 154 seismic stations in the Central and Eastern Alps between Italy and Austria, complementing the larger-scale sparser AlpArray Seismic Network (AASN). SWATH-D will provide high resolution images from the surface into the upper mantle, and allow observations of local seismicity. SWATH-D focuses on a key area of the Alps where the hypothesized flip in subduction polarity has been suggested, and where an earlier seismic profile (TRANSALP) has imaged a jump in the Moho. Where mains power is available (at ca. 80 sites) stations are providing realtime data via the cellphone network and are equipped with Güralp CMG-3EPSC (60s) seismometers and Earth Data Recorders EDR-210. The rest of the stations are offline and consist mainly of Nanometrics Trillium Compact (120s) and Güralp CMG-3EPSC (60s) seismometers equipped with either Omnirecs CUBE3 or PR6-24 Earth Data Loggers. All stations are equipped with external GPS antennas and the sampling rate is 100 Hz (Heit, et al., 2018). The network will operate for 2 years starting in July 2017. The Swath-D data will be used directly by 20 individual proposals of the MB-4D Priority Program (Mountain Building Processes in Four Dimensions, 2017) of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and data products derived from it will contribute to additional 13 proposals. SWATH-D is thus an important link between the MB-4D Priority Program and the international AlpArray communities and a scientific service to many of the proposals within the DFG Priority Program. Waveform data are available from the GEOFON data centre, under network code ZS, and are embargoed until August 2023. After the end of embargo, data will be openly available under CC-BY 4.0 license according to GIPP-rules.