Seismological array experiment in the deep ocean west of Portugal to test the theoretical improvements in deep structure imaging and phase identification

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Torsten Dahm; Professor Dr. Frank Krüger
• Subject Area: Geophysics
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 196033938

We plan to conduct a seismological array experiment in the deep ocean west of Portugal to test the improvements in deep structure imaging and phase identification in practice which should be gained by using seismological arrays compared to single 3-component stations or sparse networks. Therefore one OBS array consisting of 12 stations (DEPAS Pool) shall be deployed at about 39° N, 17 ° W . New insights regarding the deep lithosphere structure of the eastern part of the northatlantic oceanic plate will be possible. Seismological arrays enable the use of stacking and frequency-wavenumber filter techniques to enhance the signal to noise ratio and to resolve slowness and azimuth of incoming wavelets additional to traveltime, amplitude and polarization information. The ocean bottom midaperture array (about 50 km aperture) will be situated in the deep ocean north of the Gloria fault (main array). The ocean bottom array will be complemented by two mid-aperture landarrays consisting of 12 stations each. The first landarray will be located in Portugal to the East of the ocean bottom array, the second is planned on the island of Madeira.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants