ALBERT

Description: In November 2010, intense seismic activity including 29 events with a magnitude above 5.0, started in the western part of the Gulf of Aden, where the structure of the oceanic spreading ridge is characterized by a series of N115°-trending slow-spreading segments set within an EW-trending rift. Using signals recorded by permanent and temporary networks in Djibouti and Yemen, we located 1122 earthquakes, with a magnitude ranging from 2.1 to 5.6 from 2010 November 1 to 2011 March 31. By looking in detail at the space–time distribution of the overall seismicity, and both the frequency and the moment tensor of large earthquakes, we re-examine the chronology of this episode. In addition, we also interpret the origin of the activity using high-resolution bathymetric data, as well as from observations of seafloor cable damage caused by high temperatures and lava flows. The analysis allows us to identify distinct active areas. First, we interpret that this episode is mainly related to a diking event along a specific ridge segment, located at E044°. In light of previous diking episodes in nearby subaerial rift segments, for which field constraints and both seismic and geodetic data exist, we interpret the space–time evolution of the seismicity of the first few days. Migration of earthquakes suggests initial magma ascent below the segment centre. This is followed by a southeastward dike propagation below the rift immediately followed by a northwestward dike propagation below the rift ending below the northern ridge wall. The cumulative seismic moment associated with this sequence reaches 9.1 x 10 17 Nm, and taking into account a very low seismic versus geodetic moment, we estimate a horizontal opening of ~0.58–2.9 m. The seismic activity that followed occurred through several bursts of earthquakes aligned along the segment axis, which are interpreted as short dike intrusions implying fast replenishment of the crustal magma reservoir feeding the dikes. Over the whole period, the opening is estimated to be ~1.76–8.8 m across the segment. A striking feature of this episode is that the seismicity remained confined within one individual segment, whereas the adjacent en-echelon segments were totally quiescent, suggesting that the magma supply system of one segment is disconnected from those of the neighbouring segments. Second, we identify activity induced by the first intrusion with epicentres aligned along an N035°E-trending, ~30 km long at the northwestern end of the active opening segment. This group encompasses more than seven earthquakes with magnitude larger than 5.0, and with strike-slip focal mechanisms consistent with the faults identified in the bathymetry and the structural pattern of the area. We propose that a transform fault is currently in formation which indicates an early stage of the ridge segmentation, at the locus of the trend change of the spreading ridge, which also corresponds to the boundary between a clear oceanic lithosphere and the zone of transform between continental and oceanic crust.

Description: We determine the lateral variations in seismic velocity of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Gulf of Aden and its margins by inversion of Pn (upper mantle high-frequency compressional P wave) traveltimes. Data for this study were collected by several temporary seismic networks and from the global catalogue. A least-squares tomographic algorithm is used to solve for velocity variations in the mantle lithosphere. In order to separate shallow and deeper structures, we use separate inversions for shorter and longer ray path data. High Pn velocities (8.2–8.4 km/s) are observed in the uppermost mantle beneath Yemen that may be related to the presence of magmatic underplating of the volcanic margins of Aden and the Red Sea. Zones of low velocity (7.7 km/s) are present in the shallow upper mantle beneath Sana’a, Aden, Afar, and along the Gulf of Aden that are likely related to melt transport through the lithosphere feeding active volcanism. Deeper within the upper mantle, beneath the Oman margin, a low-velocity zone (7.8 km/s) suggests a deep zone of melt accumulation. Our results provide evidence that the asthenosphere undergoes channelized flow from the Afar hotspot toward the east along the Aden and Sheba Ridges.

Description: Correlating ambient seismic noise allows us to image the subsoil in various contexts and at different scales. Applying this technique to anthropogenic seismic noise can be challenging when the spatial distribution of the sources is not uniform. We have addressed the feasibility of exploiting this kind of noise in addition to microseismic noise to extend the reconstruction of Rayleigh-wave dispersion at periods between 0.2 and 1 s. We used data acquired with two small aperture arrays ( 2 x 7 stations with a 200 m helical distribution) deployed near the deep geothermal site of Rittershoffen (Alsace, France). In this region, the sparse human activity causes strong seismic noise, whose nonuniform spatial distribution limits our ability to determine the surface wave velocity between stations using the classical noise correlation technique at periods of less than 1 s. We have used double beamforming to isolate the noise sources that contribute constructively to the empirical Green’s function between the two arrays and recovered the Rayleigh-wave dispersion curve at periods less than 1 s. Using a probabilistic inversion, we found that such data, combined with surface wave measurements at periods greater than 1 s, are helpful to improve the reliability of VS and VP/VS profiles at depths down to the deep-geothermal reservoir (2.5 km). Such profiles are helpful in a geothermal context because they improve the location of induced seismic events, necessary for reservoir monitoring and risk assessment.

Description: Our knowledge and understanding of the 3-D lithospheric structure of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau is still challenging although numerous geophysical studies have been performed in the region. The GOCE satellite mission has the ambitious goal of mapping Earth's gravity field with unprecedented precision (i.e. an accuracy of 1–2 mGal for a spatial resolution of 100 km) to observe the lithosphere and upper-mantle structure. Consequently, it gives new insights in the lithospheric structure beneath the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Indeed, the GOCE gravity data now allow us to develop a new strategy for joint gravimetry-seismology inversion. Combined with teleseismic data over a large region in a joint inversion scheme, they will lead to lithospheric velocity-density models constrained in two complementary ways. We apply this joint inversion scheme to the Hi-CLIMB (Himalayan–Tibetan Continental Lithosphere during Mountain Building) seismological network which was deployed in South Tibet and the Himalayas for a 3-yr period. The large size of the network, the high quality of the seismological data and the new GOCE gravity data set allow us to image the entire lithosphere of this active area in an innovative way. We image 3-D low velocity and density structures in the middle crust that fit the location of discontinuous low S -velocity zones revealed by receiver functions in previous geophysical studies. In the deeper parts of our velocity model we image a positive anomaly interpreted to be the heterogenous Indian lithosphere vertically descending beneath the centre of the Tibetan Plateau.

Description: We developed and applied a method for ambient noise surface wave tomography that can deal with noise cross-correlation functions governed to first order by a non-uniform distribution of the ambient seismic noise sources. The method inverts the azimuthal distribution of noise sources that are assumed to be far from the network, together with the spatial variations of the phase and group velocities on an optimized irregular grid. Direct modelling of the two-sided noise correlation functions avoids dispersion curve picking on every station pair and minimizes analyst intervention. The method involves station pairs spaced by distances down to a fraction of a wavelength, thereby bringing additional information for tomography. After validating the method on synthetic data, we applied it to a set of long-term continuous waveforms acquired around the geothermal sites at Soultz-sous-Forêts and Rittershoffen (Northern Alsace, France). For networks with limited aperture, we show that taking the azimuthal variations of the noise energy into account has significant impact on the surface wave dispersion maps. We obtained regional phase and group velocity models in the 1–7 s period range, which is sensitive to the structures encompassing the geothermal reservoirs. The ambient noise in our dataset originates from two main directions, the northern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and is dominated by the first Rayleigh wave overtone in the 2–5 s period range.