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Crustal
Expression of the Vrancea Seismogenic Zone of Romania: Integration of
Active
and Passive Source Seismological Data
Funded by the Petroleum Research Fund
of the American Chemical Society ($35,000)
Project
Description
This project aims to integrate
and analyze
crustal seismicity data and long-record (17-20 s) petroleum industry
seismic
reflection profiles (~100 km) from the southeastern Carpathians to
elucidate
the crustal expression of the Vrancea seismogenic zone (VSZ) of Romania.
Crustal (15-45 km) and mantle (70-200 km) earthquakes in the VSZ are
spatially
separated both vertically (~25 km gap) and horizontally (~50-100 km
offset). While
the mantle seismicity of the VSZ, with strong (Mb>7.0),
volumetrically
confined (30x70x200
km) earthquakes, has drawn wide attention from the seismological
community,
the crustal seismicity, with a much broader epicentral area (150x200x45
km), has been largely ignored. The
proprietary
seismic reflection data for this study were used for industrial
applications,
but to date have not been processed with a focus on the deep (15-45 km)
structure where the VSZ crustal seismicity occurs. Integration of these
data with crustal seismicity, surface geology, and topography through a
Geographic Information System (GIS) approach will place critical
constraints
on the geodynamic setting of the VSZ by (1) identifying the
distribution,
geometry, and type of active crustal faults, and (2) elucidating the
spatial
relationship between the crustal structures and mantle seismicity.
Through
these activities, we will define viable geodynamic mechanisms
responsible
for the enigmatic spatial distribution of VSZ seismicity, and
differentiate
between two primary theories involving either active continental
lithosphere
delamination, or a very unusual geometry of oceanic slab subduction.
Moreover,
this work should further efforts to assess and mitigate seismic hazard
in one of the most active seismogenic regions of Europe.
Personnel
Camelia
Knapp
Dana
Mucuta
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