Abstract:
Fault zones are regions within the Earth's crust that accommodate the frictional sliding known as faulting. These fault-zones contain a history of past earthquake events and other tectonic processes. This means they contain valuable information on how earthquake processes work, as well as the Earth's geologic system. The rocks of mature fault-zones are often highly altered and deformed through earthquake processes, which can result in fault-zones having lower seismic velocities than the surrounding rock. It is these lower seismic velocities that allow the fault-zone to behave as a waveguide in which fault-zone trapped waves propagate. It is thought that measurements of fault-zone trapped waves can be used for high resolution (~ 10 m) imaging of the elastic properties and geometry of fault zones. A novel, computationally efficient, finite element type solver for fault-zone trapped waves is developed. This solver allows for an anisotropic velocity model which varies across the fault. It is used to show how fault-zone trapped waves propagating in a, geologically realistic, gradational across-fault velocity model behave significantly differently from waves propagating in a layered across-fault velocity model. This solver is used in the foward model for a proposed inversion methodology. This methodology uses recordings of several faultzone trapped waves as well as the Bayesian approximation error approach to estimate a two-dimensional cross-section of a fault zone. This is significant because the overall approach allows for the velocity models to be gradational in the across-fault and downdip directions. In this thesis, preliminary investigations using fault-zone trapped waves from the Alpine Fault in the South Island of New Zealand are also carried out. These investigations suggest that the effective width and velocity contrast of the Alpine Fault is comparable to other major faults around the world.
