Passive Seismic Deployments from the Lützow-Holm Bay to Inland Plateau of East Antarctica: The Japanese IPY Contribution to Structure and Seismicity

Masaki Kanao, Akira Yamada, Genti Toyokuni

Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan.
National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan.
Research Center for Prediction of Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/ijg.2013.45077                

Abstract

Deployments of seismic stations in Antarctica are an ambitious project to improve the spatial resolution of the Antarctic Plate and surrounding regions. Several international programs had been conducted in wide area of the Antarctic continent during the International Polar Year (IPY 2007-2008). The “Antarctica’s GAmburtsev Province (AGAP)”, the “GAmburtsev Mountain SEISmic experiment (GAMSEIS)” as a part of AGAP, and the “Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET)” were major contributions to the IPY. The AGAP/GAMSEIS was an internationally coordinated deployments of more than few tens of broadband seismographs over the wide area of East Antarctica. Detailed information on crustal thickness and mantle structure provides key constraints on an origin of the Gamburtsev Mountains; and more broad structure and evolution of the East Antarctic craton and sub-glacial environment. From POLENET data obtained, local and regional signals associated with ice movements were recorded together with a significant number of teleseismic events. Moreover, seismic deployments have been carried out in the Lützow-Holm Bay (LHB), East Antarctica, by Japanese activities. The recorded teleseismic and local events are of sufficient quality to image the structure and dynamics of the crust and mantle, such as the studies by receiver functions suggesting a heterogeneous upper mantle. In addition to studies on the shallow part of the Earth, we place emphasis on these seismic deployments’ ability to image the Earth’s deep interior, as viewed from Antarctica, as a large aperture array in the southern high latitude.

Keywords

Passive Seismic Deployments; Lützow-Holm Bay; East Antarctica; Mantle Structure; Earth’s Deep Interiors

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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