SUMMARY
I am interested in relating upper mantle structure and anisotropy to the tectonic features seen at the surface of the Earth. I participated in the installation of an array of broadband seismometers across two transects in the Oregon High Lava Plains during my postdoc at Arizona State University (pictures taken by Maureen Long here) as part of the HLP project. Undergraduate student Helen Feng and I have been analyzing seismic data collected by these stations and by USArray stations. We measured surface wave dispersion in order to model seismic anisotropy in the region. The High lava Plains, which lie in the northern and less extended part of the Basin and Range Province, have been volcanically very active in the late Cenozoic, but the origin of this large volume volcanism is still unclear. Since seismic anisotropy may be a signal of mantle deformation, this study will help us understand the deformation mechanisms taking place in the upper mantle in that area and will shed light on the nature and origin of the volcanism.
This project was partially funded by UCLA COR
Preliminary results of this work have been presented at the following conferences:
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Feng*, H., and Beghein, C., “Azimuthal Anisotropy in the High Lava Plains of Oregon From Rayleigh Wave Analyses”, Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract, 2010
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Feng, H., and Beghein, C., “Rayleigh Wave Phase Velocity Dispersion Analysis in the High Lava Plains, Oregon”, SSA Annual Meeting, Abstract, 2010
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Feng, H., and Beghein, C., “ Azimuthally Anisotropic Phase Velocity Maps for the High Lava Plains of Oregon”, SCEC Meeting, Abstract, 2010