Collaborative Research: Deep Structure of the Altiplano and Central Andes From a Transportable Broadband Seismic Transect

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9304949 Beck This PASSCAL field project will examine the deep structure of the South American Altiplano, one of the world's highest and largest plateaus with an average elevation of nearly 4 km, a crustal thickness of 65 km and area of over 600,000 square km at the intersection of southern Peru, western Bolivia, and northern Chile. The investigation will test theories of formation of this plateau and of mountain-building in general. The investigators will deploy 20 PASSCAL seismic stations across the region to determine variations in crustal thickness, structure of the underlying mantle wedge, and shear wave splitting which is an indication of the fabric and distortion history of the rock. A collaboration in deployment and analysis is planned with the French ORSTOM Program and with South American scientists. This active seismic area, where the oceanic plate is subducted under the continent, is an analog to the U.S. Pacific Northwest tectonic regime. This research is a component of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. ***