Testing new passive seismic techniques in South Australia

Field crew–left to right: Armando Arcidiaco, Rajesh Erigela, Dr. Michelle Salmon and Geoff Luton at the last seismic station at the eastern end of the array. Image: Dr. Michelle Salmon

Field crew–left to right: Armando Arcidiaco, Rajesh Erigela, Dr. Michelle Salmon and Geoff Luton at the last seismic station at the eastern end of the array. Image: Dr. Michelle Salmon

In April 2018, ANU seismologists headed to remote northern South Australia to test an exciting proof of concept in seismic surveying: a new and cheaper approach to producing detailed, crustal-scale cross sections of the Earth.

Map showing the locations of the seismic array. The Stuart Highway is shown in yellow, the Oodnadatta track is shown in magenta and the seismic stations are shown as blue squares.

Map showing the locations of the seismic array. The Stuart Highway is shown in yellow, the Oodnadatta track is shown in magenta and the seismic stations are shown as blue squares.

The team aims to use seismic signals from both ambient noise and earthquakes to look at the lithospheric structure in detail. They hope that this project will be able to fill the gap between expensive active source seismic lines and larger aperture arrays to provide a detailed crustal scale cross section.

 
 

For more information on this project, please contact Dr. Michelle Salmon.

EISAuScopeseismology, DLT