Advanced Seismology I - Homework 2

Data preprocessing, receiver functions

12.552 Due: November 19, 2010

Please note: I encourage thoughtful, thorough and succinct answers in your writeups (several sentences should be adequate for the discussion questions). 1. Using the denition of the free-surface transfer matrix provided in class, nd expressions for the P and S velocities of an homogeneous, isotropic half-space as a function of the radial and vertical displacements (UR , UZ ). Assume that the ray parameter p is known and that it is possible to perfectly separate the incident P and S waves. Hint: start by solving for velocities using the incident P-wave. 2. A radial receiver function is generated from the P-coda of a single event recorded at a threecomponent, broadband seismometer located at the surface. The background velocity model used to analyse the receiver function is isotropic and comprises a horizontal layer over a half space. The converted phases considered in this problem are dened in the gure below:

Ppps Ppss

P Ps

P S

a) Show that for a 1D, horizontal discontinuity located at a depth h within the top layer, the delay time t1 = tP s tP between the Ps and P arrivals is given by: t1 = h(S P ) b) For the same discontinuity as in (a), derive the expressions for t2 = tP pps tP and t3 = tP pss tP . c) Now consider a background velocity model with the following parameters: Layer top layer half-space Thickness km 25 km/s 6.00 8.11 km/s 3.46 4.49 g/cm3 2.8 3.4

and an incident P wave with a ray parameter of 0.06 s/km. Calculate the delay time t = tP s tP for a Ps wave converted at a horizontal discontinuity that is colocated with the interface between the top layer and the half-space (i.e., h=25km)?

d) For the same background velocity model and incident P wave as in (c), what would be the depth of a horizontal discontinuity if the receiver function displays a Ps phase arriving 5 s after the P wave? 3. I have sent you a le named tdl.mat by email. The le contains a matrix called data comprising 111 seismograms (rows) with 1501 time samples (columns). These are vertical seismograms recorded at station TDL, located in the vicinity of Mount St. Helens (WA), and showing repetitive seismic events emanating from beneath the volcano. The time sampling interval is 0.01 s. The data was kindly provided by Ken Creager (Univ. of Washington) and is the object of ongoing research, so please do not distribute. a) Write a multichannel cross-correlation program and apply it to the data to align the seismograms relative to the rst break. Remember that in order to be eective, the cross-correlation window should be centered on a manual pick of the rst break (on each normalized trace) and have a shorter duration than the whole trace. Show the data section before and after alignment. b) Perform an eigenimage decomposition of the aligned data section. Plot the eigenvalues as a function of eigenmode number. How many modes are required to explain most of the signal? To support your answer, plot the sections corresponding to the signicant eigenmodes and a section containing the residual image (e.g., for a total of N traces, if you choose that modes 1-to-m are signicant, then the residual section should be built using modes m+1-to-N). c) Take the full data section and deconvolve it by the rst eigenmode. What is the meaning of this operation and what do you observe?