![[SHIPS Logo]](http://www.ess.washington.edu/SEIS/SHIPS/logo.jpg)
Seismic
Hazards
Investigation
In
Puget
Sound
SHIPS - 1999
WHAT IS SHIPS?
SHIPS is a multi-institutional seismic investigation
of the crust and upper mantle of the Puget Sound region. Airgun explosions
and dry land explosions are used to obtain a high-resolution image of the
wave speed structure of the outer layers of the earth. This aids scientists
in understanding the structures and processes in the earth that give rise
to damaging earthquakes. The results from SHIPS will allow improved modeling
of strong ground motion from earthquakes, increase understanding of the
structure of faults in the earth's crust and possibly aid in identifying
previously unknown faults.
At the University of Washington Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences,
we are analyzing SHIPS data combined with earthquake data to develop a
greatly improved regional model of the earth's seismic structure. This
work will improve our ability to locate and study earthquakes with the
Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network (PNSN), and lead to greater understanding
of our portion of the Cascadia subduction zone structure. By combining
earthquake observations from the PNSN with SHIPS observations, we are able
to "see" much deeper into the earth (to depths of approximately 60 km)
than permitted with SHIPS data alone. We are also using deep reflections
from SHIPS airgun and explosion sources to model the shape of the Juan
de Fuca plate which is subducted beneath the continental margin in our
region.
IMAGES FROM INITIAL UW SHIPS RESEARCH RESULTS
-
ANIMATED
IMAGE of West-to-East cross sections through 3-D seismic P wave
velocity model.
-
ANIMATED
IMAGE of South-to-North cross section through 3-D seismic P wave velocity
model.
-
3-D INTERACTIVE IMAGE of earthquake hypocenters relocated in inversion
for 3-D seismic structure of the Puget Basin region.
-
3-D
INTERACTIVE IMAGE of 3.5 km/s P wave velocity surface from SHIPS data
inversion
-
3-D
INTERACTIVE IMAGE of 4.8 km/s P wave velocity surface from SHIPS data
inversion
-
3-D
INTERACTIVE IMAGE of 5.5 km/s P wave velocity surface from SHIPS data
inversion
DATA REPOSITORY
The Data
subdirectory contains a collection of data files which can be downloaded.
Examples are station and source files for the SHIPS deployments.
Long period records of the 1999 Tiawan earthquake
recorded during the Dry Ships deployment, prepared by Ken Creager (ftp
directory).
MORE GENERAL INFORMATION
Phase I (SHIPS on Water; March 1998):
USGS SHIPS Web Site
Phase II (SHIPS on Land; September 1999):
Ships
Seismic Line
Phase III (Kingdome SHIPS; March 2000):
UW
Kingdome Information
Special
seismic records from Seattle area seismograph stations
Contact Bob Crosson for more
information on the UW Geophysics SHIPS research.
Updated: 5/24/2000