Constraining Continental Rifting Using a Novel Seismic Imaging Approach

Burdick Scott A, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Scott Burdick has been awarded an NSF EAR Postdoctoral fellowship to carry out a research and education plan at the University of Maryland. The investigation will focus on developing seismic images of rifting continental lithosphere and the underlying mantle in order to provide new constraints on the factors that control continental rifting. Continental rift zones, localized regions where extension occurs and the lithosphere is ruptured, play a central role in continental evolution. Despite progress in modeling of rifting lithosphere, fundamental questions concerning the initiation and evolution of continental rifts remain. The education plan will include developing teaching modules for introductory classes, and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in developing tomographic models To accomplish the goals of the project, Dr. Burdick will use whole-mantle traveltime tomography and a novel reflection tomography method that simultaneously constraints both smooth variations in seismic velocity and locations of seismic discontinuities, such as the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary and mid-lithopsheric discontinuities. The proposed research is focused on two active and well-instrumented continental rifts: the Rio Grande Rift and the Salton Trough. In order to provide a point of reference on the preexisting seismic properties involved in the initiation of rifting, the project will also examine the South Georgia Suture. All study regions are covered by dense broadband seismic arrays. Data from these arrays, as well as the USArray Transportable Array and global catalogues will be used in the continental-scale research component that will help provide a connection to deeper processes.