Refraction and Wide-angle Reflection (R/WAR) Studies of the Lithosphere

Numerical modelling of deep crust and upper mantle reflections from the SIGHT Survey, South Island

This project was started with former MSc student Kira Blaco. Ongoing collaborations with Susan Ellis (GNS Science) and Russ Pysklywec (University of Toronto) are investigating the variable seismic response seen in the lower crust and upper mantle beneath the central South Island.

Lithospheric structure of western North America

Andrew Gorman's PhD research project:

Centred around seismic data recovered from the LITHOPROBE Deep Probe refraction seismic survey which was shot in western North America in July and August 1995. His zone of interest is the sub-crustal lithosphere of the Medicine Hat Block of the Archean Hearne Province.

Official Report of the Deep Probe / SAREX acquisition and initial interpretations

Publications from this work include: a GRL paper on the tau-p interpretation method aplied to these data (Gorman and Clowes 1997), two papers in a Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences special issue on Lithoprobe's Alberta Basement transect which discuss the crustal (Clowes et al. 2002) and lithospheric (Gorman et al. 2002) interpretations of the data, and a paper in Geophysical Journal International discussing the radial-Earth modifications made to the traveltime inversion code of Zelt and Smith (Gorman 2002). Current research includes the seismic characterisation of the Moho and upper mantle using finite-difference waveform modelling.

Continental Rifting in the Gulf of California

The instigation of continental rifting is poorly understood due to the rapid changes that happen in the lithosphere during the development of a new ocean. The National Science Foundation's MARGINS project has highlighted the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Aden as focus sights in trying to understand lithospheric processes and dynamics during and in the period following continental rifting. During September - November 2002 I was chief scientist aboard the Scripps Institution of Oceanography R/V New Horizon for the deployment of ocean bottom seismometers and hydrophones. This was part of a two-ship experiment with the R/V Maurice Ewing providing the airgun source and also recording conventional marine reflection data. In addition, RefTeks were deployed both in Baja California and Sonora to record the shots on land.